May 31, 2012

Eugene, Ore. - PLAY BALL: The Titans won the Big West Conference championship on the final day of the regular season with a 5-1 win at Long Beach State on Sunday. They later were seeded No. 2 in the Eugene, Oregon, Regional where they will be matched up with No. 3 seeded Indiana State on Friday at 2 p.m. Host Oregon with former Titan coach George Horton is the No. 1 seed (and No. 5 nationally) and Austin Peay is the No. 4 seed.

Fullerton is playing in its 34th NCAA Regional and 21st in a row. But it's only its third Regional away from Goodwin Field - and the first to require air travel - since 1999 when it went 3-0 at Notre Dame.

Left-hander Kenny Mathews, designated hitter J. D. Davis and outfielder/pitcher Michael Lorenzen were the heroes Sunday. Mathews allowed only an unearned run through 8 innings before giving way to Lorenzen for the final three outs. Lorenzen singled in the game's first run and had a sacrifice fly for the final run. Davis' two-out, three-run homer broke the game open in the seventh.

Long Beach forced the title game by winning Saturday night by that same score, 5-1. Brennan Metzger's 3-run homer was the big blow off Grahamm Wiest.

Dylan Floro tossed a shutout on Friday night to clinch at least a tie for the championship with a 4-0 win. Long Beach errors set up a 3-run sixth inning which was plenty of support for Floro.

VIDEO STREAM: A video stream will be provided for all games at the Eugene Regional, free of charge, at GoDucks.tv. The Oregon boradcast team will provide the commentary for all games that the Ducks are involved in. In games that do not involve the host team, the home team will provide the audio for the video stream.

PITCHING MATCH-UP FOR GAME 1
CSF: Grahamm Wiest (5-5, 2.78 ERA)
ISU: Dakota Bacus (7-4, 2.37 ERA)

A BIT ABOUT UNIVERSITY OF OREGON DUCKS (No. 1seed):
&\#149; Location: Eugene, OR (110 miles south of Portland)
&\#149; Coach: George Horton, 4th season (128-107-1) - spent 11 seasons (1997-2007) as head coach at Fullerton
&\#149; 42-17 overall, 19-11 for third place in the Pac 12
&\#149; In tournament with an at-large bid and the No. 5 national seed
&\#149; Bad momentum: The Ducks lost their final three regular season games at Oregon State (7-3, 3-2 and 5-0) to finish one game behind co-champs UCLA and Arizona
&\#149; NCAA experience: 4th appearance - most recent: 2010
&\#149; Hosting experience: last hosted in 1954, winning the Dist. 8 title to advance to Omaha
&\#149; Common 2012 opponents with Fullerton: 3-0 vs. Long Beach, USC and Arizona State; 2-1 vs. UCLA; 1-2 vs. Washington State
&\#149; Series History: 1-0, Oregon (7-3 win on Feb. 19, 2010, at Goodwin Field) &\#149; Fullerton connection: See Coach Horton
&\#149; Team offense: .266 batting average with 28 home runs and 67 stolen bases in 107 attempts
&\#149; Statistical leaders: Brett Thomas (.309, 1 HR, 20 RBI); Kyle Garlick (.307, 6 HRs, 36 RBI); Ryon Healy (.303, 4 HRs, 36 RBI)
&\#149; Team pitching: 3.02 ERA, .226 opponent batting average and 17 HRs allowed &\#149; Statistical leaders: Alex Keudell (10-4, 2.12 ERA, 110l1 IP, 65 SO, .228 opp. avg.), Jake Reed (6-4, 3.14 ERA, 100.1 IP, 53 SO, .241 opp. avg.), Jeff Gold (8-4, 3.33 ERA, 70.1 IP, 41 SO, .241 opp. avg.), Jimmie Sherfy (4-2, 2.29 ERA, 17 saves, 55.0 IP, 84 SO, .176 opp. avg.)
&\#149; Major leaguers: 22, most notably infielder Joe Gordon of the Yankees and Indians (late 1930s, early 1940s) and catcher Earl Averill (late 50s, early 60s) with several teams

A BIT ABOUT INDIANA STATE SYCAMORES (No. 3 seed):
&\#149; Location: Terre Haute, IN (77 miles southwest of Indianapoilis)
&\#149; Coach: Rick Heller, 3rd season (105-64); career record 666-536-4 in 25th season &\#149; 41-17 overall, 14-7 for first place in the MVC
&\#149; In tournament with an at-large bid after winning their first outright Missouri Valley Conference regular season title
&\#149; Bad momentum: lost last 4 games - two to Missouri State after clinching title and one game each to Creighton and Evansville in the MVC tourney
&\#149; NCAA experience: 6th appearance - most recent: 1995
&\#149; Common 2012 opponents with Fullerton: None
&\#149; Series History: First meeting
&\#149; Fullerton connection: ISU volunteer coach Ronnie Prettyman was starting third baseman and scored winning run in 2004 NCAA championship game for Fullerton, 3-2, over Texas
&\#149; Team offense: .290 batting average with 35 home runs and 48 stolen bases in 63 attempts
&\#149; Statistical leaders: Jeremy Lucas (.350, 9 HR, 52 RBI); Jon Hedges (.307, 7 HR, 42 RBI); Rob Ort (.293, 7 HR, 53 RBI).
&\#149; Team pitching: 3.18 ERA, .251 opponent batting average and 29 HR allowed.
&\#149;Statistical leaders: Ryan Torgerson (8-3, 3.03 ERA, 86 IP, 51 K, .283 opp. avg.); Dakota Bacus (7-4, 2.37 ERA, 114 IP, 89 K, .234 opp. avg.); Sean Manaea (5-2, 3.50 ERA, 97.2 IP, 106 K, .246 opp. avg.)
&\#149; Major leaguers: 23, most notably Houston shortstop Clint Barmes
&\#149; Trivial nugget: Legendary basketball Coach John Wooden had a 7-7 record in 1948 as the Sycamores' baseball coach

A BIT ABOUT AUSTIN PEAY STATE GOVERNORS (No. 4 seed):
&\#149; Location: Clarksville, TN (40 miles northwest of Nashville)
&\#149; Coach: Gary McClure, 25th season - second winningest coach in 63-year history of the OVC with 750 wins
&\#149; 38-22 overall, 19-7 to tie for first in Ohio Valley Conference
&\#149; In tournament with an automatic bid after winning OVC tournament
&\#149; Good momentum: The Governors became the first team to win the OVC tourney after losing their first game (4-3 to SoutheastMissouri). They came back to beat Jacksonville State (7-6 in 11 innings), Southeast Missouri (106) and Eastern Illinois twice (7-0 and 3-0)
&\#149; NCAA experience: 5th appearance - most recent: 2011 (won both regular season and tourney)
&\#149; Common 2012 opponents with Fullerton: none
&\#149; Series History: First meeting
&\#149; Fullerton connection: former Austin Peay president Sal Rinella went to Clarksville in 1994 from his position as vicepresident of administration at Cal State Fullerton
&\#149; Team offense: .295 batting average with 60 home runs and 72 stolen bases in 104 attempts
&\#149; Statistical leaders: Greg Bachman (.339, 16 HRs, 67 RBI); Jordan Hankins (.332, 9 HRs, 63 RBI); Reed Harper (.331, 3 HRs, 36 RBI)
&\#149; Team pitching: 4.65 ERA, .266 opponent batting average and 48 HRs allowed
&\#149; Statistical leaders: Casey Delgado (8-4, 6.13 ERA, 94.0 IP, 57 SO, opp. avg. .296); Zach Toney (5-3, 2.89 ERA, 87.1 IP, 82 SO, .196 opp. avg.); Ryan Quick (5-2, 4.54 ERA, 81.1 IP, 56 SO, .260 opp. avg.); Tyler Rogers (4-3, 2.05 ERA, 11 saves, 57.0 IP, 52 SO, .204 opp. avg.)
&\#149; Major leaguers: 5 (thru 2011 season), most notably Dodgers' catcher A. J. Ellis

TITANS IN THE POSTSEASON:
&\#149; Fullerton has made 34 NCAA appearances in its 38 years at the Div. I level. The exceptions were 1985, 1986, 1989 and 1991. The current string of 21 CONSECUTIVE appearances is third longest in the nation behind Miami (40) and Florida State (35).

&\#149; Fullerton's streak of eight consecutive Regional victories came to an end in 2011. Overall it has won 19 Regional titles - including a national best 11 on the road (two each in Fresno and Baton Rouge and one each at USC, Austin, Starkville, Stillwater, South Bend, Tempe and San Diego). The Titans NEVER hosted a regional before 2000 but have since hosted 10 at home (8-2) - they lost the first (USC, 2000) and won eight in a row before being eliminated by Illinois in 2011. Two-thousand twelve marks just the third time since 2000 that the Titans have been on the road for the Regionals (2002 - Stanford, 2007 University of San Diego at San Diego State and 2012 at Oregon).

&\#149; The Titans have NEVER gone winless in Regional play. They have gone 0-2 only once in a Super Regional (2008) and five times in Omaha (1975, 1982, 1990, 2007 and 2009).

&\#149; The Titans' all-time NCAA record is 140-72 (.660) including 106-45 (.702) in Regional (90-37, .709) and Super Regional (16-8, .667) play and 34-27 (.557) in Omaha. The Titans' last trip to Omaha in 2009 was their 16th College World Series appearance, which tied them with Stanford for seventh most. Fullerton is tied for No. 1 with Texas in the Super Regional Era (since 1999), making seven appearances in Omaha (Stanford, Miami and Rice have made six). And since 1975, Fullerton's first year of Div. I competition, only Miami (22 times) and Texas (18) have made as many trips. Close are Arizona State (16), LSU (15), Florida State (15) and Stanford (14).