June 1, 2011

A quick look back at nearly 40 years of Cal State Fullerton baseball.

PLAY BALL: The Titans host their 10th NCAA Baseball Regional (all since 2000) this weekend after winning the Big West Conference championship and an automatic berth into the 64-team field.

Complete Release in PDF Format

Fullerton will be the No. 1 seed and host No. 2 Stanford of the Pac-10, No. 3 Kansas State of the Big 12 and No. 4 Illinois of the Big Ten in a double elimination tournament. The winner advances to the Super Regional round and a best two-out-of-three series with the winner of the Regional at North Carolina. That winner advances to the College World Series in Omaha.

THIS WEEKEND AT THE FULLERTON REGIONAL:

FRIDAY, JUNE 3
&\#8232;Game 1 - No. 2 Stanford vs. No. 3 Kansas State, 4:00 p.m.
Follow the Game: GameTracker / ESPNU / ESPN3.com
Probable Starters: TBA

Game 2 - No. 1 Cal State Fullerton vs. No. 4 Illinois, 8:00 p.m.*
Follow the Game: GameTracker / ESPNU / ESPN3.com
Probable Starters:
CSF: RHP Tyler Pill (6-1, 2.08 ERA)
ILLI: RHP Kevin Johnson 2-6, 4.33 ERA)

SATURDAY, JUNE 4
&\#8232;Game 3 - Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 4:00 p.m.
Follow the Game: GameTracker / ESPNU / ESPN3.com
Probable Starters: TBAp> &\#8232;Game 4 - Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 8:00 p.m.*
Follow the Game: GameTracker / ESPNU / ESPN3.com
Probable Starters: TBA

SUNDAY, JUNE 5
&\#8232;Game 5 - Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4, 4:00 p.m.
&\#8232;Follow the Game: GameTracker / ESPNU / ESPN3.com
Probable Starters: TBA

Game 6 - Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 4, 8:00 p.m.*
Follow the Game: GameTracker / ESPNU / ESPN3.com
Probable Starters: TBA

MONDAY, JUNE 6
&\#8232;Game 7 - If necessary: Repeat of Game 6 Teams, 8:00 p.m.
Follow the Game:
GameTracker / ESPNU / ESPN3.com
Probable Starters: TBA

*or 50 minutes after completion of previous game. Game times are subject to change.

LAST WEEK: Fullerton avoided its first season sweep ever by University of San Diego with a 6-4 home victory on Tuesday night. Michael Lorenzen had the key hits and Nick Ramirez, the seventh Titan hurler, nailed down his 15th save by getting the final 3 outs after the Toreros cut into what had been a 6-1 CSF lead.

The Titans closed out the regular season with a series at Cal State Northridge, needing one win to clinch a championship tie and the automatic berth and two for the outright title. They got their two wins and UC Irvine lost twice to Long Beach State to leave a 3-game gap in the final standings, which Fullerton led or shared the top spot all season.

On Friday, the Matadors pulled out a 5-4 victory. The Titans did little right for six innings and their late-inning rally came up a run short. Noe Ramirez allowed only 2 runs, 1 earned, in 6 innings but took his third loss of the season.

Tyler Pill (7 IP, 5 H) and Ryan Ackland (2 IP, 1 H) combined on a 6-hit shutout for a 6-0 win on Saturday. Nick Ramirez' double keyed a 2-run first and Carlos Lopez' bases-loaded single was the key hit in a 3-run seventh that broke the game open.

Christian Coronado got his first collegiate start on Sunday and got credit for an 11-6 win. He worked the first five innings and allowed only 3 hits and 2 runs. Jared Deacon drove in the run that put the Titans ahead to stay and finished with 3 hits, one of four Titans to do so in a 17-hit assault. Pill drove in 4 runs with a home run and 3-run double. Nick Ramirez had to come into the game in the eighth and he logged his 16th save in 16 tries. It was save No. 34 in his career, tying him with Chad Cordero for the school record.

CAL STATE FULLERTON REGIONAL TIDBITS:
&\#149; This is Fullerton's 33rd NCAA Regional appearance in its 37th year of Div. I baseball. The exceptions were 1985, 1986, 1989 and 1991. The current string of 20 CONSECUTIVE appearances is third longest in the nation behind Miami (39) and Florida State (34).

&\#149; Cal State Fullerton has a national championship in 4 decades (1979, 1984, 1995 and 2004) in just 36 years at the Div. I level.

&\#149; Fullerton is 89-35 (.718) all-time in Regional play - including 30-7 (.811) at Goodwin Field, 16-8 (.667) in Super Regional action, and 34-27 (.557) in 16 College World Series appearances. The Titans are 139-70 (.665) all-time in the NCAA postseason.

&\#149; Fullerton has won eight Regionals in a row and 19 total - 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 this will be their tenth at home (8-1) - they lost the first (USC) and have won the last eight.

&\#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; Since the Super Regional format was begun in 1999, Miami and Cal State Fullerton have won more regional tournaments (10) than any other school. Florida State is next with 9.

&\#149;&\#8239;In Regionals that have gone to seven games... Fullerton is 19-1 in Regional Game No. 7s. The only loss came in 1976 at Washington State, 7-2.

A BIT ABOUT ILLINOIS:
&\#149; Coach: Dan Hartleb, sixth season
&\#149; 28-25 overalll, 15-9 co-champs of Big Ten (29th title)
&\#149; Won the Big Ten Post-Season Tournament for automatic berth
&\#149; NCAA Experience: 9th appearance, first since 2000
&\#149; Common 2011 opponents with Fullerton: 0
&\#149; Series History: CSF leads, 3-1, all in Fullerton; 0-1 vs. former Coach Augie Garrido in 1990
&\#149;The Fightin' Illini swept three games to win the Big Ten Tournament at Ohio State, beating the Buckeyes (5-4) and regular season co-champ Michigan State twice (4-1, 9-1). They have won 8 games in a row and 16 of their last 20 after going 9-14 to start the season.
&\#149;Team offense: .284 average with 28 HRs and 95 SBs &\#149; Team pitching: 4.84 ERA with 31 HRs allowed &\#149;Statistical leaders: Brothers Josh (junior shortstop) and Justin (sophomore utility) Parr are the leaders with 35 RBI and a .333 batting average, respectively. Outfielder Willie Argo has stolen 25 bases. The top starter is John Anderson, 7-6 with a 4.40 ERA in 16 starts. Closer Wes Braun is 2-0 with 6 saves and a 0.49 ERA, allowing only 1 earned run in 18.1 innings.

A BIT ABOUT KANSAS STATE:
&\#149;Coach: Brad Hill, 8th season
&\#149; 36-23 overall, 11-13 6th place in Big 12
&\#149; In tournament with an at-large berth
&\#149; NCAA experience: 3rd appearance
&\#149; Common 2011 opponents with Fullerton: 4-0 vs. Pacific, 1-4 vs. Texas A&M
&\#149;Series History: First meeting. (Kansas State and Kansas are the only current Big 12 baseball programs that have never faced a Fullerton baseball team).
&\#149; The Wildcats had never been to the NCAA Tournament until 2009 and now they are making their third consecutive trip. They went 2-2 at the Big 12 Tournament, twice beating Oklahoma and twice losing to Texas A&M. They had won 6 of 7 games going into that event.
&\#149; Team offense: .280 average with 34 HRs and 123 SBs
&\#149; Team pitching: 4.21 ERA with 31 HRs allowed
&\#149; Statistical leaders: All juniors - infielder Jason King is the leader at .333 with 10 HRs and 57 RBI (and 16 stolen bases); outfielder Nick Martini is hitting .326 with team-best 24 stolen bases. The top two starters are both 5-4 - lefthander Kyle Hunter has a 4.26 ERA and righthander Matt Applegate has a 4.31 ERA. Closes James Allen is 3-1 with a 1.35 ERA and 17 saves.

A BIT ABOUT STANFORD:
&\#149; Coach: Mark Marquess, 35th season
&\#149; 32-20 overall, 14-12 5th place in Pac-10
&\#149; In tournament with an at-large berth
&\#149; NCAA experience: 30th appearance
&\#149; Common 2011 opponents with Fullerton: 3-0 vs. Washington; 2-0 vs. UC Davis and Pacific; 2-1 vs. Long Beach State and UCLA; 1-2 vs. Arizona State and USC; 0-1 vs. Cal Poly.
&\#149; Series History: Stanford leads, 53-42 although Fullerton has won the last four meetings including 6-5 in an elimination game in last year's NCAA Regional at Fullerton. Stanford has a 10-4 edge in NCAA play.
&\#149; The Cardinal is 5-4 in its last 9 games including 2-0 at Cal and 2-1 vs. Arizona to conclude the Pac-10 schedule. The Cardinal played a tough early schedule, going 1-2 against each of three national powers -- Texas, Vanderbilt and Rice.
&\#149; Team offense: .298 average with 23 HRs and 29 SBs
&\#149; Team pitching: 3.50 ERA with 20 HRs allowed
&\#149;Statistical leaders: Stephen Piscotty (sophomore third baseman) has the best batting average at .361 while freshman first baseman Brian Ragira leads with 41 RBI and shares the lead with 4 HRs. Sophomore outfielder Jake Stewart leads with 8 stolen bases. The winningest starter is sophomore Dean McArdle at 7-4 with a 4.15 ERA. The best ERA by a starter is sophomore Mark Appel at 3.02 with a 5-6 record. The closer is junior Chris Reed at 6-2 with 8 saves and a 2.61 ERA (48 Ks in 48.1 IP).