FULLERTON, Calif. – Cal State Fullerton assistant coaches Jason Dietrich and Chad Baum have assumed a greater role on the Titans baseball coaching staff this fall with Dietrich having served as recruiting coordinator and working with the pitchers while Baum took over as the second assistant coach after serving as the volunteer assistant with the Titans since 2012.
Dietrich has been the pitching coach since he joined the Fullerton coaching staff in 2012 while Baum has worked with the catchers and helped with the hitting instruction while also serving as the third base coach last season. New volunteer assistant Ronnie Prettyman rounds out the coaching staff.
In his first two seasons at Cal State Fullerton, Dietrich helped develop one of the best pitching staffs in Titans history. In his first season with the program, the 2013 Titans pitching staff set new single-season records at Fullerton including earned run average (2.47), fewest walks (86), walks per nine innings pitched (1.41), hits per nine innings pitched (7.59) and shutouts (11).
In 2014, the Titans staff shattered the earned run average record set the previous season, posting a miniscule 2.24 ERA. The Titans allowed 136 earned runs in 545.1 innings pitched, the second fewest amount in school history. Along with the best ERA in school history, the 2014 Titans pitching staff ranked near the top of the school record book in the following categories: lowest opponent batting average (4th, .234), fewest walks allowed per nine innings (2nd, 1.52), most shutouts (t2nd, 9), fewest hits (7th, 471), fewest runs (2nd, 136), fewest walks (2nd, 92) and fewest home runs allowed (2nd, 12).
Under Dietrich's tutelage, pitchers Thomas Eshelman and Justin Garza have been stellar in their first two years in the Titans starting rotation. Both were named All-Americans as freshman and Eshelman set the NCAA record with a 0.23 walks allowed per nine innings mark in 2013.
Eshelman earned another All-American selection as a sophomore in 2014 while Garza pitched the fourth no-hitter in Cal State Fullerton history, holding CSUN without a hit on May 23, 2014.
After two seasons, Garza currently ranks sixth in the Titans career record book in fewest walks allowed per nine innings (1.49) and is tied for eighth with a 5.0 strikeout-to-walk ratio. His 2.49 career ERA also currently ranks eighth while his .224 opponent's batting average ranks 10th in the record book.
During the summer, both pitchers were selected to the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team, becoming the 24th and 25th Titans to represent Cal State Fullerton on the team dating back to 1987. It was also the sixth time multiple Titans have been named to the squad.
Baum will be entering his ninth season as a coach at Cal State Fullerton in 2015 and fourth since joining Rick Vanderhook's coaching staff in 2012. Overall, Baum has 15 years of experience as a college coach and is a veteran of four College World Series appearances as a Titans player and coach. He spent seven seasons as an assistant coach at both UC Irvine and Santa Clara.
Baum first served on a Titan staff in 2000 as an undergraduate assistant coach for then-Titan skipper George Horton. The next season he assumed the volunteer position and completed a coaching staff that led Fullerton to three College World Series appearances and the school's fourth national championship between 2001 and 2004.
His expertise behind the plate helped him tutor 2004 All-American and Johnny Bench Award winner Kurt Suzuki, who has since gone on to an eight-year major league career with the Oakland Athletics, Washington Nationals and Minnesota Twins. In all, Baum has worked with 25 Titan position players who were selected in the major league draft including five from the 2014 squad. He has also worked with Titan major leaguers Mike Rouse (2001), Shane Costa (2002), Justin Turner and Blake Davis (2004).
In his past three years at Cal State Fullerton, Baum has coached third base and tutored the team's catching staff, including 2013 MLB fifth-round draft pick Chad Wallach. In 2013, the Titan offense batted .285 with 89 doubles, 24 triples and 35 home runs while driving in 339 runs. Baum also tutored Jared Deacon in 2014, who went on to be selected by the San Francisco Giants in the 33rd round of the 2014 MLB Draft.
Baum, who graduated with a degree in kinesiology in 1999, was a Titan team captain in 1998 and again in 1999, when Fullerton reached the College World Series. Baum appeared in 38 games over the two-year stretch and hit three home runs in just 44 at-bats. He was also reliable behind the plate, turning in a perfect 1.000 career fielding percentage (70 chances).
Prior to his pair of seasons in a Titan uniform, Baum spent a season each at Santa Ana College and Golden West College in Huntington Beach. Baum batted .306 in 1997 for the Dons, who were ranked No.1 in the country during most of the season. The San Francisco Giants selected him in the 42nd round of the 1997 MLB draft.
Baum earned his master's degree in education in 2005 from Azuza Pacific. He, his wife, Kristin, and daughter, Kennedy, live in Anaheim Hills.
