FULLERTON, Calif. – Coming off another series win, Cal State Fullerton will host UC Riverside in the final regular season series of the year. The Titans have a chance to clinch another NCAA postseason appearance as well as their third straight Big West crown.
The offense is led by Jenna Curtan who is hitting a remarkable .387 on the season leads the Big West. Her .487 OBP ranks second, 63 hits rank third, 14 doubles rank fourth, 29 walks rank tied for fourth, and .521 slugging is good for seventh. Hannah Rodriguez is their next best hitter at .348 and coming off her first Player of the Week award.Brittney Garcia leads the team with 4 home runs and 31 RBI.
In the circle, UCR has two main arms; Hailey Dolcini and Tayler Misfeldt. Misfeldt leads the way with 33 appearances and 147 innings, but Dolcini leads in just about every other category. Her 1.95 ERA is good for third best in the conference and she is only allowing opponents to hit .192 against her.
The Titans offense is coming off a game where they were shutout for the first time in conference play, but still collected 7 runs on 16 hits over this past weekend. Bryanna Ybarra continues to lead the charge as she leads the Big West in average and ranks top five in virtually every offensive category through the 18 conference games. She is hitting .431, slugging .686, and sports a .508 on-base percentage in Big West play. Zoe Richard remains red hot at the plate for the Titans currently on an 11-game hitting streak, where she is hitting .452 over that span. Julia Valenzuela has been on a tear in conference hitting .364 in Big West games and coming off a weekend where she came up with a game-winning 3-run triple in game one against Cal Poly.
The pitching staff continues to be all about Sophie Frost and Trish Parks. Frost pitched games one and three against Cal Poly, throwing two complete games including a two-hit shutout in game one not allowing either baserunner to get further than first base. Parks basically came back in game two and basically matched Frost throwing a three-hit shutout in game two. She has lowered her overall ERA to a 2.78 mark.
The Titans and Highlanders matchup on Friday night on the big stage as ESPNU will be broadcasting the game with first pitch happening at 7:30 p.m. The series will wrap up with a double-header on Saturday and Fullerton will celebrate senior day.
Photo: Nick Allen, SportsLingo.com
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