June 15, 2012
All-American Photo Gallery
Fullerton, Calif. - Cal State Fullerton sophomore Michael Lorenzen and junior Dylan Floro have earned All-American status and five others earned freshman All-American accolades, increasing an impressive streak for the Titans that began in 1998.
The Titans have had at least one All-American in each of the last 15 seasons, all years of which contained at least one pitcher. The 1997 squad was the last Titan team without an All-American and broke a streak of five previous consecutive seasons from 1992-1996 with a Fullerton All-American.
Despite a late-season dip in batting average, Lorenzen was named a first-team utility All-American by Collegiate Baseball and a third-team utility player by the National Collegiate Baseball Writer's Association (NCBWA).
The first-team All-Big West Conference honoree was a threat in the middle of the Titan batting order, hitting .297 while leading the team in hits (69), doubles (20), triples (3), RBI (43), runs (38) and stolen bases (14) as the Titans' centerfielder. But it was on the mound at the team's closer that he proved his mettle.
The hard-throwing righty from Anaheim and product of local Fullerton High School, closed out 16 ball games for the Titans and posted a stellar 1.23 ERA in 20 appearances without hardly any bullpen sessions. The 16 saves for the right-hander tied Nick Ramirez (2011) for the second most in a single season at Cal State Fullerton and moved him into the program's career Top 10.
Lorenzen finished with a 2-0 record and saved games in his first 12 opportunities. He stumbled just once in save opportunities, but ended up the winning pitcher on Apr. 22 against Cal Poly. He allowed two of his three runs on the year that afternoon. The righty also struck out 17 and walked just five in 22 innings.
Lorenzen will play for USA Baseball in the summer, joining former Titan coaches, George Horton, Dave Serrano and Jason Gill.
Floro was a 13th-round draft pick by the Tampa Bay Rays in last week's major league draft following a season that deemed him the Big West Conference Pitcher of the Year and earned him first-team all-conference honors.
Floro was named a third-team All-American by Collegiate Baseball.
The right-hander from Merced, led the conference with a 10-4 record and 2.83 ERA in 114.1 innings. He fanned 70 and walked just 13 in 2012.
The Titans' loss to the Oregon Ducks in the Eugene Regional proved to be Floro's last appearance as a Titan as he quickly signed with the Rays less than a week following the draft. He is headed for the New York-Penn League where he will join the Rays' Class A short-season affiliate Hudson Valley Renegades in Wappingers Falls, New York.
Floro finished his career with a 21-8 record as a swingman and a starter. He faced the sixth most batters in school history (1,101) in 206.2 career innings and allowed just 1.28 walks per nine innings in his career - good for second all-time at Fullerton behind Wes Roemer (1.02 from 2005-07) and ahead of Jason Windsor (1.60 from 2003-04).
Grahamm Wiest (RHP, Orange, Calif., JSerra HS), Kenny Mathews (LHP, Diamond Bar, Calif. Diamond Bar HS), Koby Gauna (RHP, Torrance, Calif., St. John Bosco HS), Willie Kuhl (RHP (Mission Viejo, Calif., Mission Viejo HS) and Matt Chapman (INF, Trabuco Canyon, Calif., El Toro HS) headlined the Titans' youth movement in 2012 earning Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American honors.
Wiest (5-5, 3.12 ERA), Mathews (6-2, 3.68 ERA), Gauna (5-3, 2.85 ERA) and Kuhl (2-4, 3.71 ERA) brought stability to the Titans' pitching staff that came into the year as a major question mark. Floro was the only returning staff member with any significant innings, and only one of two to return at all from 2011.
The group of greenhorns came out victorious in four of the Titans' six wins against Top 15 opponents and were a key component to the Titans finishing first in the nation in fewest walks per nine innings (1.87), third in WHIP (1.14) and fifth in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.20-to-1).
Chapman, like the Titan hurlers, had to learn on the job, splitting time between shortstop and third base. The right-handed bat hit .286 in his first Div. I campaign and produced one-fifth of the Titans' 10 team home runs (2), good for second on the team.