CSF Baseball: May 2011

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Cal State Northridge Preview

Titans at Cal State Northridge (Friday 3 p.m., Saturday, 1 p.m., Sunday 1 p.m.)

Preview by FullertonBaseballFan

Cal State Fullerton is coming off of their bye week in the Big West schedule and took advantage of the opportunity to rest up many of the banged up players on the roster. Before going into their weekend off, the Titans won four straight games against Long Beach and LMU and came back from their time off by beating San Diego on Tuesday and they go into this weekend needing only one win to wrap up their second straight conference championship.

Fullerton opened the series against Long Beach by winning 4-2 on Friday in a matchup of two pitchers – Noe Ramirez and Drew Gagnon – expected to be drafted in the first couple of rounds in June. Gagnon continued to be a hard luck pitcher as Ramirez held the Dirtbags to one run on two hits with seven strikeouts in eight innings and Nick Ramirez allowed an unearned run while finishing things off for the save. The Titans were led at the plate by Michael Lorenzen’s three hits, a run and an RBI, Richy Pedroza’s two hits and a run and Nick Ramirez’s Big West leading ninth HR.

While runs were expected to be difficult to come by on Friday, nothing could have prepared the fans and teams for what happened in Saturday’s wild 14-12 win in one of the crazier games ever played at Goodwin Field. The Titans got out to a 9-0 lead after two innings and most people were figuring that the game was in the bag, except for the Dirtbags. Tyler Pill didn’t allow a hit until there were two outs in the fifth inning but he had already allowed two runs by then thanks to some shaky defense. The next hitter for Long Beach after the no-hitter was broken up hit a three run HR and it was suddenly 9-5. The Dirtbags scored two more runs in the fifth, two more in the sixth to tie the game and two more in the seventh to take the lead. Fullerton came back to take the lead in the seventh on a three run double by Pedroza and scored two more runs in the eighth to put the game away. Jake Floethe pitched a scoreless eighth to get the win and Ramirez picked up another save despite allowing another unearned run in the ninth. Lorenzen had three more hits and four RBI on his way to winning Big West player of the week honors, Pedroza had two hits and four RBI and eight of the starters got hits and Fullerton had a season high nine walks, three of them by Pill.

Fullerton finished off the sweep on Senior Day with a 6-1 win as the Titans defeated Long Beach for the 12th time in 13 games over the last three seasons. Colin O’Connell was dominant as he shut out the Dirtbags for six innings and allowed only three hits before allowing an unearned run in the seventh. Seniors Ryan Ackland and Raymond Hernandez finished things off by retiring all four batters they faced. Fullerton was held scoreless the first time through the lineup but scored runs in four of the last five innings to win going away. Six different Titans drove in runs, Nick Ramirez had three hits, Keegan Dale had two and senior Zach Tanida scored twice.

Fullerton was supposed to play two midweek games last week but the game at UCLA was canceled because they couldn’t get all of the lights to work at Jackie Robinson Stadium. The Titans won the only midweek game they played with an 8-1 win against LMU, the third time the Titans defeated the Lions this season. Seven Fullerton pitchers combined to hold LMU to only five hits and the offense was led by Pedroza’s three runs, Pill’s three hits and Ramirez’s two RBI.

Fullerton came back from their weekend off and extended their winning streak to five games with a 6-4 win against San Diego. Lorenzen drove in two runs with a two out single in the fourth inning to give the Titans the lead and Fullerton scored four more runs in the seventh inning to give them a five run lead with Pill finishing off the scoring with a two run single. The Toreros rallied to score three runs in the ninth and Ramirez was summoned over from 1B to finish things off for his Big West leading fifteenth save and he moved into second on Fullerton’s single season save list and is one away from tying the school career save record.

Fullerton will wrap up the regular season this weekend with a series at Cal State Northridge. The magic number for the Titans is one as they look to finish off the Big West title race early in the series to keep the pressure off. Fullerton is also looking to play well this weekend to stay in position to host a regional next weekend.

Cal State Northridge Matadors

Overall Record – 22-31 in 2011; 29-27 in 2010
Conference Record – 5-16 in 2011 (9th); 9-15 in 2010 (tie for 7th).
2010 Post-Season – None
2011 RPI/ISR – 235/176. 2010 RPI/ISR – 125/73
Current ranking – None
Predicted conference finish – 9th by the Big West coaches and 7th by the Baseball America

2010 Summary and 2011 Preview

Cal State Northridge thought they had a chance to be improved in 2010 with an experienced roster returning both at the plate and on the mound and the Matadors went 29-27 for their first winning record in Steve Rousey’s eight year tenure as the head coach. But, Northridge only finished tied for 7th in the Big West at 9-15 and the results ultimately weren’t enough to save Rousey’s job and he was replaced after the season by Fresno State assistant coach Matt Curtis.

Curtis started making his imprint on the roster by bringing in thirteen newcomers with quite a few of them seeing playing time right away. The Matadors got off to a decent start at 14-11 but many of those games were played against mediocre competition with series against teams like Seattle, Valparaiso, Lafayette and Sacramento State. Northridge wasn’t really prepared for what hit them in Big West play and they started out 1-11 after being swept by UC Irvine and Cal Poly, losing the series to Pacific and being swept by UC Davis with the pitching staff getting abused and allowing at least 20 runs in each series. The Matadors have started to pitch better lately and have gone 4-5 in their last three conf series after winning their series with UCSB, losing their series to UC Riverside and losing a hard fought series at Long Beach last weekend with the final game decided in extra innings.

Northridge’s offensive attack was impacted by the new BBCOR bats more than most of the other Big West teams because they play in a ballpark that favors HR hitters and they also lost three hitters who received All-Big West honors in 2010. The Matadors still lead the Big West with 21 HR’s (after hitting 49 last season) but they have had trouble scoring runs and have been held to four runs or less in 21 of the 27 games they have played over the last nine weekends. Northridge’s offensive numbers are down like they are for most teams and they have played more little ball this season by bunting more often but they are running less after stealing 88 bases in 2010.

Northridge expected to have an improved pitching staff with so many of their starting pitchers back but they haven’t had any consistency from their pitchers until recently. The Matadors have been shuffling pitchers back and forth between the rotation and the bullpen but have started the same three pitchers the last three weekends. Northridge ranks near the bottom of the Big West in almost every pitching category and they have allowed at least six runs in just over half of their games.

Offense

Park Factor according to Boyd’s World – 99 (decreases offense by 1%). The park factor at Northridge is usually in the 110 range and the park has short dimensions – 325 in the corners and 375 in the power alleys.
Batting Average – .263 (6th in the Big West). .302 in 2010 (7th in the Big West)
Runs Per Game – 4.6 (4th). 6.7 in 2010 (5th).
Home Runs – 21 (1st). 49 in 2010 (3rd).
Slugging Percentage – .357 (6th). .452 in 2010 (4th).
Walks – 166 (4th), 3.1 per game. 190 in 2010 (3rd), 3.4 per game.
HBP’s – 55 (4th). 77 in 2010 (3rd).
Strikeouts – 317 (4th), 6.0 per game. 371 in 2010 (3rd), 6.6 per game.
Stolen Bases – 46-65 (4th). 88-111 in 2010 (2nd).
Sac Bunts – 44 (5th). 28 in 2010 (8th).

Lineup

Infield

Northridge had some rebuilding to do in the infield with only two starters returning and one of them hasn’t played for over a month due to injuries. JC transfers are starting at three of five positions.

C – Soph #14 Marty Bowen (RH – .315/.358/.352, 0-21-0; ’10 – .271 in 59 AB’s) was a seldom-used backup in 2010 and was mostly DH’ing and starting once a weekend behind the plate but he has taken over as the starter and has caught 21 of the last 22 games. He is tied for the team lead in AVG but doesn’t walk much with only 11 BB and has very little power with only four extra-base hits. Bowen has been hitting 5th recently.

DH – JC transfer #1 Steven Keller (Both – .272/.369/.370, 3-29-2) was starting most of the time at catcher for the first half of the season but has settled into the DH spot over the last 20+ games. Keller is a solid run producer who is 2nd on the team in RBI while usually hitting cleanup. He has a very good BB/K ratio (22/23).

1B – JC transfer #20 Adam Barry (LH – .283/.321/.349, 0-14-5) was playing mostly LF earlier in the season but has taken over recently at 1B, where Northridge has had issues replacing three year starter Dominic D’Anna. He does a good job of making contact with only 14 K but rarely walks with only 3 BB. Barry has good speed for a 1B but doesn’t have much power for the position. He has recently settled into the second spot in the lineup. Soph #23 Chris Allen (RH – .189 in 74 AB’s) was seeing more playing time earlier in the year but hasn’t played much lately with some of the lineup shuffling over the last few weeks.

2B – SR #2 TS Reed (RH – .239/.326/.310, 1-18-3; ’10 – .323/.376/.395, 0-25-11; ’09 – .234/.317/.266, 0-9-7) is in his fourth year as a starter in the middle infield, starting at 2B as a FR and at SS the last two seasons before moving back to 2B this year. He has had the unenviable task of taking over for Ryan Pineda, who was first team All-Big West and hit 16 HR with 66 RBI in 2010. Reed is a gritty little player who will work counts, crowd the plate (team leading 8 HBP) and rarely strikes out (14 K). He is also a good bunter and has led the team in SAC’s the last two seasons (9 in 2010, 8 this year) and will usually hit 9th. Reed went 3-7 in last year’s series against Fullerton and is 8-33 in his career against the Titans.

SS – Soph #5 Tommy Simis (RH – .256/.333/.387, 4-27-4) barely played last season (6 AB’s) but has been in the lineup almost every day. He played most of the season at 3B before shifting over to SS a few weeks ago. Simis has some pop in his bat and leads the team in HR and is 3rd in RBI and SLG. He has usually been hitting 6th. Soph #6 Kyle Attl (RH – .241/.310/.319, 1-15-0) started most of the season at SS after only getting 5 AB’s in 2010 but hasn’t started in the last few weeks after Simis moved over from 3B.

3B – JC transfer #9 Matthew Moreno (RH – .185 in 27 AB’s) moved into the lineup recently with Simis moving over to SS. He has played solid defense but struggled at the plate and usually hits 8th.

Outfield

Northridge returns two starters in the OF who are two of the best players on the team and they have been platooning at the other spot in the OF.

LF – SR #11 Ridge Carpenter (RH – .304/.388/.498, 3-19-15; ’10 – .298/.371/.399, 2-31-20) came in as a JC transfer in 2010 and made an instant impact with his speed and he was 3rd in the Big West in SB. He was a free swinger and was second in the conf with 56 strikeouts but has done a good job of making better contact as the leadoff hitter and cut that number down to 35. Carpenter is in the top ten in the Big West in R, 3B, SB and BB. He went 3-10 at Fullerton last season.

CF – JR #51 Drew Muren (LH – 315, 407/.464, 3-32-9; ’10 – .290/.388/.396, 3-21-13; medical redshirt in 2009; ’08 – .270/.317/.351, 1-14-2) is one of the best athletes on the team, has been their best player and leads them in AVG and OBP and is in the top ten in the Big West in R, 2B, RBI, TB, SLG and BB. Muren was also among the conf leaders in strikeouts in 2010 but has done a solid job of making more contact this season and has a good BB/K ratio (25/31). He will be hitting 3rd. Muren went 2-10 at Fullerton last season.

RF – FR #13 Miles Williams (RH – .271 in 59 AB’s) has moved into the lineup in the last couple of weeks and been hitting 7th. He has 16 hits in the 26 AB’s when he has made contact but making contact has been a major issue because he has struck out 33 times in 59 AB’s. Williams also isn’t that patient with only four BB.

Defense

Fielding % – .968 (6th) with 64 errors. .959 (9th) with 90 errors in 2010.

Northridge’s defense is better this season, going from bad to average, and part of that has been due to cutting down on the errors by the pitchers from 19 to 10. Barry, Reed, Simis and Moreno are all average around the infield. Carpenter is a good OF and Muren is one of the best OF’s in the Big West.

Stolen Base Attempts – 49-69 (4th). 59-76 (7th) in 2010

Northridge’s defense against the running game improved when Bowen started doing the catching on a regular basis. Runners are only 18-29 against him.

WP’s/PB’s Allowed – 45 (5th). 2010 – 55 (7th).

Bowen does a good job at blocking pitches.

Pitching

ERA – 5.29 (8th in the Big West). 5.81 in 2010 (6th in the Big West).
BA – .313 (8th). .306 in 2010 (4th).
Walks – 183 (8th), 3.8 BB/9 IP. 195 (7th), 3.5 BB/9 IP in 2010.
Strikeouts – 309 (7th), 6.5 K/9 IP. 319 (6th), 5.7 K/9 IP in 2010.
Extra Base Hits – 147 (9th), 2.8 per game. 170 (4th), 3.0 per game in 2010.
HR – 34 (9th). 66 HR in 2010 (9th).

Starters

Northridge returned pitchers who started 49 of their games last season so they expected the rotation to be one of their stronger areas but some of the pitchers they were counting on haven’t pitched well and only one of the weekend starters pitched for them last year with the other two spots being taken over by JC transfers.

FRI – JC transfer #27 Vincent Roberts (RHP – 2-6, 3.75 ERA, 15 apps, 10 GS, 1 SHO, 1 save, 74 IP, 65 H, 28 BB, 50 K, .243 BA, 5 HR, 6 HBP, 9 WP, 9-14 SB) had his struggles earlier in the year as he adjusted to D1 ball and was moved between the rotation and the bullpen. He started to gain some confidence in a six inning relief appearance at Irvine when he allowed only one run and has been effective in Big West games with a 2.58 ERA. Roberts had his first conf start two weeks ago and shut out UCSB for seven innings, struggled against Riverside when he allowed 3 R on 4 H and 4 BB in 4 IP but turned it around last weekend at Long Beach when he threw a shutout and allowed only four hits. Roberts has good stuff and can be tough to hit when his control is on.

SAT – SR #24 Paul Tremlin (RHP – 2-6, 4.11 ERA, 20 apps, 9 GS, 2 saves, 61 IP, 76 H, 13 BB, 30 K, .323 BA, 2 HR, 3 HBP, 0 WP, 8-10 SB; ’10 – 7-6, 6.17 ERA, 19 apps, 12 GS, 1 CG, 70 IP, 80 H, 27 BB, 52 K, .289 BA, 12 HR, 5 HBP, 3 WP, 8-13 SB) is one of the veterans of the pitching staff and has been a swingman between the rotation and the bullpen for the last three years. He was a bit of a good luck charm over the last two years when he led the staff in wins each year when he went 14-7 despite an ERA over five in both seasons. Tremlin is a control specialist who doesn’t throw hard and has to keep the ball down to be successful. He has done a solid job of keeping Northridge in the game in his last three starts against UCSB (6 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 1 K), Riverside (5 2/3 IP, 2 R, 9 H, 0 BB, 1 K) and Long Beach (6 IP, 2 R, 7 H, 2 BB, 2 K). Tremlin has allowed 6 R in 4 IP in four appearances in his career against Fullerton.

SUN – JC transfer #3 Carlos Gonzalez (RHP – 1-3, 5.58 ERA, 16 apps, 9 GS, 40 IP, 50 H, 25 BB, 31 K, .314 BA, 3 HR, 7 HBP, 7 WP, 3-5 SB) is the hardest thrower of the starters but also has had the most issues with his control. He also has been a swingman between the rotation and the bullpen before settling into the weekend rotation over the last month. He struggled in his starts at Davis (4 R in 2 IP) and UCSB (3 R in 2 2/3 IP) but threw better in his last two starts against Riverside (6 IP, 3 R, 5 H, 2 BB, 5 K) and Long Beach (6 IP, 2 R, 5 H, 2 BB, 2 K) when he had better command.

Relievers

Northridge has had lots of guys bouncing back and forth between the rotation and the bullpen so they have eight pitchers who have thrown at least 35 innings and have a fairly deep bullpen. They have done a good job of finishing games and are 18-2 when they lead after seven innings and 18-0 when leading going into the ninth inning.

Closer – JC transfer #10 Josh Goossen-Brown (RHP – 4-3, 4.34 ERA, 18 apps, 4 GS, 5 saves, 48 IP, 68 H, 7 BB, 39 K, .335 BA, 4 HR, 1 HBP, 3 WP, 5-7 SB) is a good athlete who has also been a position player but has been focusing on pitching recently. He has usually thrown well this season, especially out of the bullpen, and his stats were a bit skewed by two bad starts against Cal Poly (7 R in 3 1/3 IP) and Pacific (8 ER in 3 1/3 IP). He has good control but he has had issues with his pitches being too straight and getting teed off on.

SR #32 Ryan Juarez (RHP – 4-6, 5.58 ERA, 21 apps, 4 GS, 2 saves, 61 IP, 85 H, 26 BB, 42 K, .329 BA, 2 HR, 5 HBP, 3 WP, 1-2 SB; ’10 – 3-7, 5.52 ERA, 16 GS, 1 CG, 90 IP, 114 H, 28 BB, 57 K, .302 BA, 12 HR, 5 HBP, 10 WP, 9-11 SB) has mostly been a starter in his first three seasons and was 7-5 in 2009 but has pitched mostly out of the bullpen this year. He was moved back into the rotation at Cal Poly but lost that start and his subsequent starts against Pacific and Davis. Juarez did pick up the win against UCSB with three solid innings of relief before getting hit around by Riverside when he allowed 5 R in 1/3 IP. He has allowed 15 R in 16 IP in three starts against Fullerton in his career, including 5 R on 10 H in 4 IP last season.

JR #4 Justen Gorski (RHP – 3-5, 6.36 ERA, 15 apps, 9 GS, 1 save, 47 IP, 63 H, 17 BB, 34 K, .323 BA, 4 HR, 2 HBP, 4 WP, 9-10 SB; ’10 – 5-3, 5.37 ERA, 1 save, 21 apps, 5 GS, 57 IP, 72 H, 17 BB, 31 K, .309 BA, 6 HR, 4 HBP, 3 WP, 2-6 SB) has also been a swingman between the rotation and the bullpen during his career. His only start during the Big West season was in their opening series at Irvine when he allowed 5 R in 4 1/3 IP. Gorski has allowed 9 R in 10 IP in two starts against Fullerton.

Other relievers who will be available this weekend:

JR #18 Chris DeBoo (RHP –1-1, 3.43 ERA, 14 apps, 24 IP, 26 H, 6 BB, 15 K, .286 BA, 2 HR, 2 HBP, 1 WP, 2-5 SB).

Soph #15 Alex Muren (RHP – 2-1, 4.69 ERA, 13 apps, 5 GS, 40 IP, 42 H, 22 BB, 22 K, .276 BA, 3 HR, 4 HBP, 1 WP, 5-7 SB).

Soph #26 Jacob Petersen (LHP – 3-0, 7.23 ERA, 19 apps, 2 GS, 37 IP, 59 H, 15 BB, 31 K, .369 BA, 4 HR, 5 HBP, 5 WP, 4-5 SB).

Outlook

Fullerton goes into this series almost as healthy as they have been since early in the season and the Titans would like to go into the post-season staying that way. Fullerton is going with their regular starting rotation of Ramirez, Pill and O’Connell but would like to give the rest of the pitching staff some work this weekend to get ready for the regionals.

Northridge has been playing better recently and isn’t going to roll over for Fullerton. The Matadors have been making things difficult for their opponents and have played much better at home during the conference schedule than they have on the road.

Fullerton is obviously the better team in this series with the Titans sitting at the top of the conference standings and the Matadors bringing up the rear. If Northridge keeps playing hard and gets solid pitching like they did last weekend at Long Beach they have a chance to make things interesting but they figure to have trouble scoring against the Fullerton pitching staff and the Titans shouldn’t have much of a problem winning this series.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Diamond Club Newsletter (May 22, 2011)

CSF Baseball will continue to host and archive the Diamond Club newsletters throughout the 2011 season. Click on each page to enlarge:

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Long Beach State Preview

Titans vs. Long Beach State (Friday 7 p.m., Saturday, 6 p.m., Sunday 1 p.m., Goodwin Field)

Preview by FullertonBaseballFan

Cal State Fullerton resumed Big West play last weekend with a trip to one of their least favorite ballparks to play in at UC Riverside but the Titans had most of their walking wounded return to the lineup and, perhaps most importantly, to the Friday night starter spot. The end result of having almost everybody back was Fullerton winning all three games against the Highlanders to build on their lead in the Big West standings and extending their winning streak at UC Riverside to five games and their overall winning streak against the Highlanders to eight games.

Fullerton opened the series at Riverside by welcoming Noe Ramirez back to the rotation after he had missed starts against Cal Poly and Pacific. Ramirez was on his game and held the Highlanders to one unearned run and one hit in six innings to lead the Titans to a 4-1 win. Dylan Floro pitched one scoreless inning and Nick Ramirez finished things off with two perfect innings to pick up the save. Fullerton had 21 batters get on base, including 16 hits, and had the Riverside pitchers in trouble all night but ended up leaving 16 runners on base. Carlos Lopez drove in two runs with a two out RBI single in the first inning to get the Titans off to a fast start, Anthony Trajano had four hits and scored twice, Nick Ramirez had three hits and an RBI and Ivory Thomas, Jared Deacon and Keegan Dale each had two hits.

Fullerton wrapped up the series win on Saturday with a come from behind 5-3 win. Tyler Pill threw seven solid innings and allowed three runs on ten hits to keep the Titans in the game, Chris Devenski threw a scoreless inning to pick up the win and Ramirez picked up another save with a scoreless ninth inning. The Titans were behind 2-0 before tying the game in the seventh inning on a two run RBI single by pinch-hitter Greg Velasquez. After Riverside went ahead in the bottom of the inning, Ramirez tied the game up again with his Big West leading eighth HR. Fullerton continued to put pressure on the Highlanders in the ninth inning and took the lead when they scored two runs on a wild pitch that resulted in the benches clearing when Richy Pedroza and the Riverside pitcher bumped into each other as Pedroza scored the second run. The Titans had fifteen hits in the game with Michael Lorenzen getting three hits in his second game back in the lineup and Pill, Pedroza, Lopez and Deacon each had two hits.

Fullerton finished off the sweep in another close game with a 3-2 win. The Titans continued to scatter hits all over the ballpark and ended up with thirteen hits from nine different players. Pill broke a 1-1 tie in the seventh inning with an RBI single through a drawn in infield and Dale added to the lead with an RBI bunt single in the eighth inning. Floro allowed only one run in five innings while scattering ten hits, Colin O’Connell threw three perfect innings to pick up the win and Ramirez picked up his third save of the series and his Big West leading 12th save to finish things off despite allowing his first run in over two months.

Fullerton had their four game winning streak snapped on Tuesday in a 7-0 loss at Pepperdine. The Titans are looking to bounce back from that game and keep building their lead in the Big West title race as they welcome their long-time rivals from Long Beach to Goodwin Field this weekend.

Long Beach State Dirtbags

Overall Record – 24-22 in 2011; 23-32 in 2010
Conference Record – 8-7 in 2011 (4th); 7-17 in 2010 (9th).
2010 Post-Season – None
2011 RPI/ISR – 66/45. 2010 RPI/ISR – 92/73
Current ranking – None
Predicted conference finish – 5th by the Big West coaches and Baseball America

2010 Summary and 2011 Preview

The wheels fell off of the tracks at Long Beach the past two seasons and the Dirtbags missed the post-season both times after playing in regionals in fourteen of the previous sixteen seasons and the result was a coaching change with pitching coach Troy Buckley taking over for Mike Weathers. Long Beach finished in last place after being swept in their final three series by Fullerton, Northridge and Irvine and ended the season by losing fourteen of their final seventeen games. The Dirtbags expected to contend for a spot in a regional with an experienced team that returned seven starting position players and two starting pitchers but they got off to a slow start, played well for a month when they won four straight series (including Pacific's only series loss during the first ten weeks of the season) before they collapsed down the stretch.

Long Beach pretty much started over this year with seventeen freshmen and five JC transfers coming into the program and thought they might get off to a slow start playing one of the most difficult non-conference schedules in the country. The Dirtbags lost series against Fullerton and Arizona to open the season, won a series against Oregon and took two out of three games at a tournament hosted by Cal before losing series to Oregon State and at Stanford prior to Big West play starting. It hasn’t been surprising that a team as young as Long Beach has been inconsistent during the conference season and they have won series at home against Cal Poly and Riverside but also lost series at UCSB and at home to UC Davis. The Dirtbags were swept last weekend at ASU and it was the first time they didn’t get at least one win in a weekend series. Long Beach has been able to keep their RPI in the at-large conversation and their record over .500 due to their pitching depth that has allowed them to go 8-2 in midweek games, including a 4-2 win on Tuesday against UCLA.

With the change of coaches, Long Beach hasn’t changed their offensive approach, which is to try to get runners on, try to get them over and try to get them in. The Dirtbags have struggled with the getting runners on and getting runners in part of the equation and are near the bottom of the Big West in R, AVG, BB and OBP. Long Beach doesn’t steal much (averaging under a SB per game) or effectively with a success rate that is barely over 60%. The Dirtbags will use the hit and run to get runners moving and will bunt early and often with five players having at least seven SAC’s. Long Beach doesn’t have much power, which isn’t a surprise playing their games at Blair Field, and they are last in the Big West in HR and SLG. The Dirtbags have scored three runs or less in over half of their games and two runs or less nineteen times. Long Beach has hit .288 in Big West games but much of that damage occurred in a 20 run bludgeoning of Pacific’s Friday “staff day” pitching and they have hit .266 in their fourteen other Big West games.

Buckley returned to the program last season after a two year absence and the pitching was improved with the ERA coming down half a run to 4.67 and opponents hit 20 points less at .283 but the bullpen was inconsistent and the Dirtbags only had three saves the entire season and went 4-9 in one run games. Things have improved across the board with two starting pitchers returning, one of the few other returning pitchers doing a good job as the closer and several newcomers stepping up in starting and relieving roles. Long Beach’s ERA has come down by a run to 3.62, teams are hitting only .259 against them and they are among the Big West leaders in strikeouts. The Dirtbags have also done an outstanding job of finishing things off in close games and they are 16-5 in games decided by one or two runs due to a deep bullpen.

Offense

Park Factor according to Boyd’s World – 75 (decreases offense by 25%).
Batting Average – .265 (6th in the Big West). .301 in 2010 (8th in the Big West)
Runs Per Game – 3.9 (8th). 5.8 in 2010 (8th).
Home Runs – 8 (9th). 26 in 2010 (8th).
Slugging Percentage – .332 (9th). .423 in 2010 (7th).
Walks – 111 (9th), 2.5 per game. 161 in 2010 (8th), 2.9 per game.
HBP’s – 50 (3rd). 52 in 2010 (8th).
Strikeouts – 325 (1st), 7.2 per game. 323 in 2010 (4th), 5.9 per game.
Stolen Bases – 38-61 (4th). 57-95 in 2010 (5th).
Sac Bunts – 64 (2nd). 56 in 2010 (3rd).

Lineup

Infield

Long Beach returned experienced players up the middle at 2B and SS and they have gone with newcomers behind the plate and on the corners.

C/3B - JC transfer #8 Mike Marjama (RH – .305/.349/.362, 0-19-6) splits time behind the plate and 3B and has been a productive hitter as one of two hitters on the team batting over .300 and has hit .333 in Big West games. He has been hitting in the middle of the lineup most of the season and has settled into the 3 hole recently. Marjama is a good bunter and has 7 SAC’s although he hasn’t been asked to bunt much lately. He will hack away and has a below average BB/K ratio (11/30). Marjama injured his left hand on Tuesday against UCLA so his status for this weekend is questionable. He had a good series against Fullerton earlier in the year when he went 5-12 with 3 RBI.

C – FR #42 Royce Murai (RH – .239/.292/.269, 0-1-0) has split time pretty evenly with Marjama. He has struggled at the plate with 23 K’s in 67 AB’s and will usually hit 9th. Murai will bunt often with runners on and has 7 SAC’s.

1B - FR #4 Ino Patron (LH – .321/.398/.436, 3-21-3) has been their best hitter and leads the team in AVG, OBP, SLG, HR and TB. He does a good job of squaring up pitches and has one of the better BB/K ratios on the team (14/21). Patron has hit .352 in Big West games and all three of his HR’s have come during the conference season. He has been hitting in the middle of the lineup most of the season and has recently been hitting cleanup. Patron went 2-7 against Fullerton earlier this season.

2B - Soph #10 Matt Duffy (RH – .276/.311/.300, 0-27-6; ’10 – .244/.261/.291; 0-7-2 in 86 AB's) was a part-time player most of his FR season before starting ten straight games down the stretch. He got off to a slow start but has been hitting better recently and has hit .322 in Big West games and leads the team in RBI. Duffy is currently on an eight game hitting streak. He is a free swinger and has only walked nine times. Duffy had a good series against Fullerton earlier this season when he went 5-13 and is 8-26 in his career against the Titans.

SS - JR #2 Kirk Singer (RH – .228/.316/.294, 1-10-2; ’10 – .315/.395/.493, 5-21-5; ’09 stats – .317 in 41 AB’s) played all over the infield his first two seasons but has settled in at SS this year. He was second on the team in HR’s and SLG in 2010 but has had a very poor season and has been moved down in the lineup and usually hits 8th or 9th. He has decent patience at the plate with 18 BB (second on the team) but has a big swing and is second in the Big West with 42 K’s. Singer was projected to possibly be drafted in the first ten rounds but hasn’t played close to that level. He went 2-10 against Fullerton earlier this season and is 4-20 in his career against the Titans.

3B – FR #23 Michael Hill (LH – .235/.276/.296, 0-7-2) was injured and missed most of the first part of the season but has been playing more lately when Marjama is behind the plate as one of the few LH bats on the roster. He has been in the lineup twelve times in the last six weekend series, usually hitting near the bottom of the order although he did hit 2nd in two of the games last weekend. Hill has a poor 3/24 BB/K ratio.

Outfield

Long Beach returned their CF from 2010 and has been using newcomers and players who were seldom used in the corner OF spots and DH.

LF – FR #40 Jeff McNeil (LH – .258/.319/.290, 0-12-2) has settled into the LF spot and has recently started hitting in the top two spots in the lineup as one of the team’s hotter hitters in Big West action with a .340 AVG. He is a very good bunter and is second in the conf with 12 SAC’s. McNeil does a good job of making contact and has only 15 K’s. He is a versatile player who has also played some 2B this season. McNeil went 2-7 against Fullerton earlier this season.

CF – JR #12 Brennan Metzger (RH – .279/.385/.390, 1-13-8; ’10 – .308/.409/.453, 2-22-9; ’09 – .258/.389/.337, 1-9-11) has good speed and was the leadoff hitter in 2010 and most of this season. He was moved down in the lineup to 6th or 7th the last few weeks after struggling at the plate and has hit only .235 in Big West games. Metzger is a scrappy player who will do whatever he can to get on base and leads the team with 10 HBP (he led the Big West with 20 HBP in 2010) and has a very good BB/K ratio (19/22) and leads the team in walks. He is a good bunter and has 7 SAC’s. Metzger went 4-8 earlier in the season against Fullerton and is 5-17 in his career against the Titans.

RF/DH – Soph #9 Juan Avila (RH – .210/.304/.358, 2-6-0; ’10 – .231 in 52 AB's) has started twelve times over the last six weekends and has hit .306 in Big West games with two HR in the series at Pacific. He went 1-7 against Fullerton earlier this season.

RF/DH – SR #1 Matt Hibbert (RH – .297/.390/.374, 0-9-6) has come out of nowhere after barely playing last season to get regular playing time and will usually hit in one of the first two spots in the lineup. He has a bad 5/27 BB/K ratio in 91 AB’s but crowds the plate and is 5th in the Big West with 9 HBP. Hibbert is second on the team with 8 SAC’s.

DH – FR #35 Johnny Bekakis (RH – .273/.333/.318, 0-6-0) has only recently started getting regular playing time and has been in the lineup the last three games with four RBI in the last two games.

1B/DH – FR #27 Jeff Yamaguchi (RH – .221/.282/.263, 0-8-2) was in the lineup on a more regular basis earlier in the season, splitting time with Patron at 1B/DH, but he has had trouble making contact (34 K’s in 95 AB’s) and has seen his playing time dwindle recently.

Defense

Fielding % – .964 (9th) with 63 errors. .965 (7th) with 74 errors in 2010.

Patron is solid at 1B. Singer and Duffy have been below average up the middle with 22 errors, often making good plays but booting routine plays. Hill is poor at 3B with 11 errors and the defense is stronger with Marjama playing there. Metzger is very good in CF, Hibbert and McNeil are solid in the corners and Avila is below average. The leaky defense has resulted in Long Beach allowing 55 unearned runs.

Stolen Base Attempts – 49-69 (7th). 44-68 (3rd) in 2010

Marjama (23-32) and Murai (27-36) have been decent against the running game. Fullerton went 4-7 on SB attempts in the series earlier this season.

WP’s/PB’s Allowed – 41 (5th). 2010 – 48 (6th).

Marjama and Murai are average at blocking pitches.

Pitching

ERA – 3.62 (4th in the Big West). 4.67 in 2010 (3rd in the Big West).
BA – .258 (4th). .283 in 2010 (3rd).
Walks – 139 (6th), 3.1 BB/9 IP. 158 (4th), 2.9 BB/9 IP in 2010.
Strikeouts – 335 (3rd), 7.4 K/9 IP. 322 (5th), 5.9 K/9 IP in 2010.
Extra Base Hits – 107 (7th), 2.4 per game. 149 (1st), 2.7 per game in 2010.
HR – 12 (5th). 34 HR in 2010 (2nd).

Starters

Long Beach returned to of their two of their starters from last year and have been using newcomers in the other weekend spot and have had mixed results after their Friday SP.

FRI – JR #24 Andrew Gagnon (RHP – 4-7, 2.73 ERA, 12 GS, 79 IP, 59 H, 30 BB, 74 K, .211 BA, 3 HR, 8 HBP, 6 WP, 12-20 SB; ’10 – 5-7, 3.28 ERA, 15 GS, 93 IP, 87 H, 27 BB, 65 K, .238 BA, 6 HR, 12 HBP, 5 WP, 12-17 SB) has been a hard luck pitcher with Long Beach scoring two runs or less in nine of his starts and he is among the Big West leaders in ERA, K, AVG and IP. He was 2nd team All-Big West in 2010 when he was 5th in the conf in ERA and 4th in AVG. Gagnon is projected to be picked in the first few rounds of the draft in June and has a low 90’s fastball with a solid changeup and slider and good control and he will pitch inside to move hitters off of the plate. He allowed only one hit in eight innings in his start against Riverside and in his first six innings at UCSB but allowed four unearned runs in the 7th in his loss to the Gauchos and has not pitched well in his last two starts against Cal Poly (6 2/3 IP, 6 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 2 K) and at ASU (7 IP, 5 R, 7 H, 3 BB, 9 K). Gagnon allowed 11 R (7 ER) on 8 H and 6 BB in 4 2/3 IP in two starts against the Titans in his first two seasons but threw very well at Fullerton earlier this season when he shut out the Titans through six innings before allowing two runs in the seventh in a 2-1 loss.

SAT – JR #22 Branden Pinder (RHP – 3-5, 5.53 ERA, 13 apps, 11 GS, 57 IP, 60 H, 13 BB, 51 K, .271 BA, 0 HR, 10 HBP, 2 WP, 8-10 SB; ’10 – 4-7, 4.85 ERA, 17 apps, 15 GS, 85 IP, 106 H, 22 BB, 45 K, .320 BA, 9 HR, 18 HBP, 2 WP, 8-13 SB) had a very good start against Fullerton earlier this season (6 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 4 K) but struggled in six of his next eight starts and ended up having his start skipped against Riverside before throwing well against UCSB (6 1/3 IP, 2 R, 3 H, 1 BB, 6 K) and Cal Poly (7 IP, 3 R, 6 H, 1 BB, 3 K) but got knocked out early at ASU (3 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K). His fastball sits in the upper 80’s and he relies on good control and spotting his fastball to get hitters out. Pinder pitches inside and he has been among the Big West leaders in HBP each of the last two seasons. He allowed 11 R (10 ER) on 21 H and 5 BB in 13 IP in his two starts against Fullerton last season before throwing well against the Titans earlier this year.

SUN – FR #15 Ryan Strufing (LHP – 3-2, 3.92 ERA, 14 apps, 6 GS, 39 IP, 36 H, 17 BB, 27 K, .254 BA, 3 HR, 4 HBP, 4 WP, 4-4 SB) was a middle reliever and midweek starter most of the season before moving into the weekend rotation the last couple of weeks. He threw well in relief at UCSB (4 scoreless innings) and against Cal Poly (5 1/3 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K) but struggled at ASU (4 IP, 8 R, 5 ER, 8 H, 1 BB, 3 K). Strufing has a live arm with a good fastball and a solid changeup and breaking pitches but has had trouble with command of his off-speed pitches. He allowed 2 R in 2 1/3 IP and took the loss in his relief appearance against Fullerton earlier this season.

JC transfer #36 Shawn Stuart (RHP – 3-3, 3.72 ERA, 2 saves, 15 apps, 10 GS, 56 IP, 58 H, 25 BB, 49 K, .275 BA, 0 HR, 5 HBP, 3 WP, 4-7 SB) pitched out of the bullpen the first two weeks of the season but was moved into rotation and allowed two runs or less in four of his six starts. He missed his start against Riverside with shoulder soreness and was only able to pitch one inning at UCSB and missed starts against Cal Poly and ASU. Stuart threw very well against UCLA on Tuesday (5 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 2 BB, 4 K) and could end up starting on Sunday, depending on how his arm bounces back. He has one of the better arms on the staff with a low 90’s fastball. Stuart picked up the save in their only win against Fullerton earlier this season with 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief.

Relievers

Long Beach's bullpen was a liability last season but a couple of returning pitchers and several newcomers have stepped up and given the Dirtbags a deep group of relievers.

Closer – Soph #33 Eddie Magallon (RHP – 2-1, 2.86 ERA, 9 saves, 19 apps, 28 IP, 24 H, 6 BB, 18 K, .220 BA, 0 HR, 5 HBP, 1 WP, 1-1 SB; ’10 – 1-2, 4.79 ERA, 1 save, 14 apps, 5 GS, 47 IP, 54 H, 9 BB, 29 K, .293 BA, 7 HR, 7 HBP, 1 WP, 6-9 SB) doesn’t throw hard but is a strike thrower with very good control who does a good job of mixing his pitches. He has usually been reliable to finish things off with his only blown save coming at Pacific when he allowed 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th.

JC transfer #16 Matt Johnson (RHP – 3-1, 4.42 ERA, 14 apps, 2 GS, 39 IP, 50 H, 6 BB, 38 K, .327 BA, 2 HR, 7 HBP, 3 WP, 3-7 SB) has seen the most innings out of the bullpen and would be the most likely pitcher to be called on to come into a game in the early to middle innings. He has good control but doesn’t have much movement on his pitches, which has resulted in one of the higher averages on the staff. Johnson started one of the games against Fullerton and was knocked out early (2 2/3 IP, 4 R, 1 ER, 7 H, 0 BB, 2 K).

Other relievers who would be likely to come into the game in situational spots, with only one LHP likely to see any action:

Soph #20 Nate Underwood (RHP – 2-0, 2.16 ERA, 1 save, 15 apps, 17 IP, 12 H, 9 BB, 7 K, .197 BA, 0 HR, 1 HBP, 2 WP, 2-2 SB; ’10 – 2-1, 4.11 ERA, 13 apps, 4 GS, 35 IP, 31 H, 7 BB, 7 K, .254 BA)

FR #46 Jon Maciel (RHP – 0-0, 1.59 ERA, 1 save, 14 apps, 17 IP, 14 H, 4 BB, 18 K, .233 BA, 1 HR, 0 HBP, 2 WP, 2-2 SB)

FR #19 Josh Frye (RHP – 0-0, 1.93 ERA, 1 save, 14 apps, 14 IP, 17 H, 5 BB, 10 K, .288 BA, 0 HR, 2 HBP, 1 WP, 3-3 SB)

FR #37 Kyle Friedrichs (RHP – 3-2, 4.58 ERA, 1 save, 17 apps, 39 IP, 42 H, 7 BB, 29 K, .273 BA, 2 HR, 7 HBP, 1 WP, 4-5 SB)

FR #32 Jake Stassi (LHP – 0-1, 3.50 ERA, 10 apps, 3 GS, 18 IP, 16 H, 10 BB, 10 K, .246 BA, 1 HR, 2 HBP, 0 WP, 2-3 SB)

Outlook

Fullerton is starting to get healthy at the right time, although they lost another key player at Riverside when Anthony Trajano injured his hamstring and will not play this weekend. The Titans played at a high level against the Highlanders and needed to do so in order to pull off three close wins. Long Beach has continued to hang tough with a young team but they have started to show a few cracks and have gone 1-6 in their last seven weekend road games.

One of the keys to this series will be who plays better on defense. For two programs that have similar philosophies of being built on pitching and defense, it is surprising that these are the two worst defensive teams in the Big West. Fullerton has fielded at a decent level most of the time but has had their hiccups along the way due to injuries and guys playing out of position while Long Beach has played errorless ball in only eleven games and allowed an average of about an unearned run per game.

Fullerton has had their share of struggles on offense during the season but has been hitting well lately and gotten to double digits in hits in seven of the last nine and 14 of the last 21 games and hit .396 at Riverside. Long Beach has had issues scoring all season and will have trouble coming from behind if the Titans are able to jump on them early and build a lead. The Dirtbags have the pitching depth to keep them in games and the best way that they are going to have a chance to pull off the upset in this series is to keep things tight and low scoring and let their bullpen depth keep them in games.

Fullerton has won nine of the last ten games against Long Beach and outscored them 71-26 during that stretch. The Dirtbags did tighten things up earlier this season and won one game while losing two close games in the first series. The Titans are the better team and played much better last weekend than they did over the previous two weeks. If Fullerton continues to put things together in all areas like they did last weekend they should win this series.

Monday, May 16, 2011

Diamond Club Newsletter (May 15, 2011)

CSF Baseball will continue to host and archive the Diamond Club newsletters throughout the 2011 season. Click on each page to enlarge:

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Long Beach State Preview

Overall Record – 24-22 in 2011; 23-32 in 2010
Conference Record – 8-7 in 2011 (4th); 7-17 in 2010 (9th).
2010 Post-Season – None
2011 RPI/ISR – 66/45. 2010 RPI/ISR – 92/73
Current ranking – None
Predicted conference finish – 5th by the Big West coaches and Baseball America

Park Factor according to Boyd’s World – 75 (decreases offense by 25%).
Batting Average – .265 (6th in the Big West). .301 in 2010 (8th in the Big West)
Runs Per Game – 3.9 (8th). 5.8 in 2010 (8th).
Home Runs – 8 (9th). 26 in 2010 (8th).
Slugging Percentage – .332 (9th). .423 in 2010 (7th).
Walks – 111 (9th), 2.5 per game. 161 in 2010 (8th), 2.9 per game.
HBP’s – 50 (3rd). 52 in 2010 (8th).
Strikeouts – 325 (1st), 7.2 per game. 323 in 2010 (4th), 5.9 per game.
Stolen Bases – 38-61 (4th). 57-95 in 2010 (5th).
Sac Bunts – 64 (2nd). 56 in 2010 (3rd).

ERA – 3.62 (4th in the Big West). 4.67 in 2010 (3rd in the Big West).
BA – .258 (4th). .283 in 2010 (3rd).
Walks – 139 (6th), 3.1 BB/9 IP. 158 (4th), 2.9 BB/9 IP in 2010.
Strikeouts – 335 (3rd), 7.4 K/9 IP. 322 (5th), 5.9 K/9 IP in 2010.
Extra Base Hits – 107 (7th), 2.4 per game. 149 (1st), 2.7 per game in 2010.
HR – 12 (5th). 34 HR in 2010 (2nd).

Monday, May 9, 2011

Diamond Club Newsletter (May 8, 2011)

CSF Baseball will continue to host and archive the Diamond Club newsletters throughout the 2011 season. Click on each page to enlarge:

Thursday, May 5, 2011

UC Riverside Preview

Titans at UC Riverside (Friday 6 p.m., Saturday 6 p.m., Sunday 1 p.m.)

Preview by FullertonBaseballFan

Cal State Fullerton continued to scuffle last week with injuries turning the lineup into a M*A*S*H unit and also impacting the rotation with Noe Ramirez missing his second straight start as the Titans went 2-2, losing their midweek game but winning the weekend series to maintain their lead in the Big West.

San Diego battered the Fullerton pitching staff and sent the Titans to their third defeat in four games in a 12-8 slugfest last Tuesday. All six pitchers who saw time on mound for Fullerton struggled to get hitters out and the defense made three errors and had a couple of more plays that were questionably not ruled errors. The Titans were led at the plate by Carlos Lopez, who had four hits and three RBI, and Tyler Pill, Nick Ramirez and Ivory Thomas each scored two runs.

Fullerton was happy to be home after losing three out of four games on the road and defeated Pacific 12-6 in a sloppy opening game of the series that saw the teams combine to make seven errors. Neither starting pitcher was effective as the Tigers jumped out to a 6-4 lead before the Titans bounced back with three runs in the fifth inning and four more runs in the sixth to put the game away. Keegan Dale led the way at the plate in his second game in a Fullerton uniform with three hits and three RBI, Ramirez and Lopez both had two hits and two RBI and Anthony Trajano had two hits and scored three runs. Raymond Hernandez threw 2 1/3 solid innings of relief to get the win but the story of the night on the mound was Chris Devenski throwing four shutout innings with six strikeouts to get his first career save.

Pacific evened things up on Saturday with an 8-7 win in another sloppy game that saw the teams combine to make five more errors. The Tigers jumped on Fullerton for five runs in the first inning with three of the runs unearned thanks to two errors by the Titans and Fullerton was playing catch up the rest of the game. The Titans attempted to put together a rally late in the game with runs in each of the last three innings but were too far behind to come back for the win. The leading hitters on the night for Fullerton were Greg Velasquez with three hits, including his first career HR, Ramirez with two hits (one of them his Big West leading 7th HR) and Pill with two hits and an RBI.

Fullerton bounced back from splitting two poorly played games with Pacific to win the series deciding game 6-4 in a cleanly played contest that didn’t have any errors. The two teams traded runs in the third and fourth innings before Pacific tied the game in the fifth. The game stayed tied until the eighth inning when Lopez hit a two run HR into the arboretum to settle things. Other leaders at the plate for the Titans were Trajano with a two run single and Ramirez with two hits and an RBI. Dylan Floro had a solid seven inning start and Nick Ramirez retired all six batters he faced to pick up his first win of the season.

Fullerton is looking to add to their lead in the Big West standings this weekend at UC Riverside, a ballpark that has been less than hospitable to the Titans since the Highlanders entered the Big West in 2002.

UC Riverside Highlanders

Overall Record – 23-15 in 2011; 32-23 in 2010
Conference Record – 6-6 in 2011 (5th); 13-11 in 2010 (3rd).
2010 Post-Season – None
2011 RPI/ISR – 108/42. 2010 RPI/ISR – 74/34
Current ranking – None
Predicted conference finish – 2nd by the Big West coaches and 3rd Baseball America

2010 Summary and 2011 Preview

UC Riverside won the Big West in 2007, had a rebuilding year in 2008 when they went 21-33 but tied for 3rd in the conf at 14-10, and had similar records the last two seasons (’09 – 33-20, 12-12, 4th and ’10 – 32-23, 13-11, 3rd) when they were on the fringe of at-large consideration for getting into regionals with RPI’s in the 70’s in both seasons. The Highlanders had won seven of eight series and split two others and were on a roll after winning seven of nine games heading into their series at Fullerton last season. The Titans swept Riverside and finished off any hopes that they had at contending for the Big West title and the Highlanders won two of their final three series to end up finishing in third in the conference.

Riverside came into this season with expectations of having their best season since they won the conference in 2007 with all three weekend SP’s and their closer returning along with most of their lineup. The Highlanders haven’t been too consistent and they got off to a slow start by losing three out of four games with LMU, bounced back won seven in a row in a stretch that included a sweep of Sac State and wins in their first three games at ASU’s tournament before the Sun Devils beat them in the final game in ten innings and lost seven of their next ten games, including a series loss at Cal Poly to start the Big West season. Riverside won their series with Pacific and lost the first two games at Long Beach before winning the final game, which ended up being the first win of another seven game winning streak that was snapped last Sunday by UCSB. The Highlanders bounced back to beat USC 10-6 on Tuesday.

Riverside’s offensive approach last year was to play for the big inning by not playing much little ball as they ended up last in the Big West in SB and SAC’s so it wasn’t much of a surprise that the Highlanders would have some issues adjusting to the BBCOR bats. However, they didn’t expect to struggle as much as they did because Riverside was held to four runs or less in 18 of their first 22 games. The Highlanders have started to be more productive on offense and have scored five runs or more in 12 of their last 16 games. Riverside hit .273 in their non-conf games but has improved to .298 in Big West action. The Highlanders have changed their approach somewhat this season instead of waiting for the big inning. They have been more patient at the plate and have been running more and bunting more, already passing last year’s totals in SB and SAC’s, in an effort to try to generate offense with the deadened bats.

Riverside had the most improved pitching staff in the Big West in 2009 with the second best team ERA at 4.22, two runs lower than it was in 2008. Most of the pitchers who were responsible for putting up those numbers were drafted and the Highlanders ERA shot back up to 5.85 in 2010. Riverside expected their pitching staff to bounce back to where they were in 2009 with an experienced group that returned all of their starters along with their closer. Two of the returning starters have had injury problems but they have been replaced by two of last year’s midweek starters who have both pitched well and the Highlanders ERA has come tumbling down to 3.19. Riverside has held their opponents to three runs or less in half of their games (going 15-4 in those games) to help keep the team over .500 while the offense figured things out. The Highlanders don’t have too many power arms but most of their pitchers except for one of their starters have very good control and they do an excellent job of keeping the ball down and preventing big innings by allowing the fewest extra-base hits in the conference.

Offense

Park Factor according to Boyd’s World – 98 (decreases offense by 2%). Standard dimensions, unique features are a 20 ft wall/batters eye in CF and drainage slopes behind the infield dirt down the 1B and 3B lines.
Batting Average – .281 (3rd in the Big West). .311 in 2010 (3rd in the Big West).
Runs Per Game – 5.5 (4th). 7.1 in 2010 (4th).
Home Runs – 9 (7th). 58 in 2010 (2nd).
Slugging Percentage – .373 (3rd). .491 in 2010 (2nd).
Walks – 149 (2nd), 4.0 per game. 184 in 2010 (5th), 3.3 per game.
HBP’s – 31 (7th). 53 in 2010 (7th).
Strikeouts – 258 (4th), 7.1 per game. 297 in 2010 (7th), 5.4 per game.
Stolen Bases – 26-37 (8th). 22-42 in 2010 (9th).
Sac Bunts – 35 (5th). 25 in 2010 (9th).

Infield

UC Riverside has an experienced infield despite losing starters at C and 1B. The Highlanders have three starters back from 2010 plus a three year starter who redshirted in 2010 along with a veteran catcher who has been in the program for four years.

SR #9 Dan Pellegrino (RH – .238/.270/.295, 0-15-1; ’10 - .283 in 53 AB’s, 2 HR, 8 RBI) has been a solid backup the past three years who could have been starting for many teams but was stuck behind 1st team All-Big West and 2nd round pick Robert Brantly. He hasn’t been the hitter that Brantly was but has done a good job behind the plate. Pellegrino does a solid job of making contact but rarely walks (3/15 BB/K ratio). Soph #36 Bart Steponovich (RH – .311/.415/.333, 0-5-0 in 45 AB’s) is the backup and has been starting once a weekend and has struck out about 40% of the time. Whoever is in the lineup will probably be hitting 8th. Pellegrino has seen enough playing time against Fullerton to go 6-21 in his career against the Titans.

1B/2B – SR #1 Brian Horst (RH – .241/.351/.289, 0-13-3; ’10 – .294/.255/.423, 4-27-1; ’09 - .227/.306/.297, 1-14-4) has been splitting time between 1B and 2B after being the starter at 2B in 2010. Horst doesn’t have much power (only three extra-base hits) but does a solid job of working counts and putting the ball in play. JR #22 Vince Gonzalez (RH – .230/.294/.262, 0-10-1 in 61 AB’s) has been part of the rotation at 1B with Horst and will probably be in the lineup once. He has a poor BB/K ratio (4/15). Whoever is in the lineup will probably be hitting 6th or 7th. Horst went 4-9 last year at Fullerton and is 5-16 in his career against the Titans.

2B – Soph #3 Eddie Young (LH – .257/.339/.295, 0-8-7; ’10 – .270/.362/.357, 0-26-3) was expected to be a reserve infielder in 2010 but was forced into action due to some injuries and saw plenty of playing time against RHP’s at 3B. He is one of the faster runners on the team and leads them in SB’s. Young is also a good bunter and leads them with six SAC’s. He puts together solid AB’s and has a good 14/18 BB/K ratio. Young has been scuffling lately and is 11 for his last 50. He will probably be in the lineup twice and has usually been hitting 9th. Young went 2-9 at Fullerton last season.

SS – SR #10 Trevor Hairgrove (RH – .349/.424/.443, 1-23-3; ’10 – .265/.354/.425, 5-24-0; ’09 – .251/.343/.371, 2-29-3) has been the most improved player on Riverside’s team and is one of the frontrunners for All-Big West honors at SS. He has been a catalyst in the leadoff spot and has been hot and had a 14 game hitting streak snapped last Sunday, improving his average over 100 points during that stretch. Hairgrove had two hits in each of the first two games against UCSB and went 7-13 against both Bakersfield and Long Beach. He is among the conf leaders in AVG, H, 2B and TB. Hairgrove had a good 17/22 BB/K ratio. He went 2-9 at Fullerton last season and is 3-19 in his career against the Titans.

3B – SR #6 Ryan Goetz (Both – .318/.373/.422, 2-23-3; 2010 – Redshirt; 2009 – .340/.386/.502, 5-45-5) started at 3B in his first three years but injured his knee early last year and had to sit out the rest of the season. He got off to a bit of a slow start as he was bouncing back from sitting out last year but has been hitting well lately and is batting .340 in Big West games. Goetz doesn’t walk much or strike out much (11/18 BB/K ratio) and usually puts together good AB’s. He is among the conf leaders in H and 2B and will usually hit 2nd. Goetz is 10-35 in his career against Fullerton.

Outfield

Riverside isn’t quite as experienced in the OF after losing two of the three players who split time between the two corner OF spots and DH but the two players who are returning were both 1st team All-Big West OF’s in 2010.

LF/DH – FR #30 David Andriese (LH – .315/.396/.508, 4-23-1) moved right into the lineup after redshirting last year, replacing Michael Hur who moved on after his SR season. Andriese has been a power bat in the middle of the lineup, usually hitting 5th, and leads the team and is 3rd in the conf in HR and SLG but has a big swing and is among the leaders in the conf with 35 K’s. He got off to a good start and was hitting in the 340’s before going a 6-31 skid but bounced back against UCSB, going 5-11 with an HR and 6 RBI. He will usually start once at DH and twice in LF during the weekend.

CF – SR #15 Tony Nix (RH – .287/.360/.406, 1-30-5; ’10 – .361/.425/.699, 11-43-5; ’09 – .318/.356/.514, 4-39-10) had a tale of two seasons in 2009 and 2010. He was hitting well over .400 going into the Big West schedule in 2009 but barely hit .200 in conf games. Nix got off to a slow start in 2010 but hit a scorching .386 off of Big West pitchers and was among the leaders in HR (7) and RBI (21) during conf games and ended up being one of the 1st team All-Big West OF’s. Nix has been a productive hitter this year in the cleanup spot and is among the conf leaders in RBI and 2B but he hasn’t been consistent and has been in a slump, going 13-58 over the last five weekends. He has only walked eight times but will crowd the plate and is 4th in the conf with 9 HBP. Nix went 2-6 at Fullerton last season and is 3-17 against the Titans in his career.

RF/1B – SR #33 Justin Shults (LH – .297/.439/.422, 2-14-0; ’10 – .390/.458/.695, 11-62-0; ’09 – .310 in 56 AB’s) went from being a reserve in 2009 to one of the most dangerous hitters in the conf on his way to 1st team All-Big West honors when he was among the conf leaders in AVG, HR, RBI, 2B, TB, SLG and OBP. Shults hasn’t adjusted well to the new BBCOR bats and has been struggling in all power categories but he has continued to be patient at the plate and leads the Big West with 33 walks and is 3rd in OBP and R. He has been hitting 3rd and will usually start twice in RF and once at 1B during the weekend. Schults went 2-11 at Fullerton last season.

RF/DH – Soph #4 Phil Holinsworth (RH – .231/.303/.321, 0-8-1; ’10 – 3-10) is the fourth OF and the best defensive corner OF and will usually be a late inning defensive replacement when they have a lead. He has been seeing most of his regular AB’s against LHP’s. Holinsworth will usually be batting 8th or 9th when he is in the lineup.

DH – FR #27 Kyle Boudreau (LH – .258/.372/.303, 0-8-1) has been getting more playing time over the last month against RHP. He doesn’t have much power but he is patient (10 BB in 66 AB). Boudreau has usually been starting twice during a weekend series and hitting 7th.

Defense

Fielding % – .975 (2nd) with 37 errors. 2010 – .971 (3rd) with 63 errors.

Riverside has one of the better infields in the Big West. Horst and Young are both solid at 2B, Hairgrove has been much better at SS and Goetz is a very good 3B. Nix is solid in CF, Shults is average in RF and Andriese is below average in LF.

Stolen Base Attempts – 20-40 (2nd). 2010 – 51-79 (6th).

Pellegrino (14-23) has done a good job at holding down runners and Steponovich (6-14) has been outstanding.

WP’s/PB’s Allowed – 28 (2nd). 2010 – 46 (5th).

Both Pellegrino and Steponovich have been doing a strong job of blocking pitches and giving the pitching staff confidence in throwing off-speed pitches in the dirt.

Pitching

ERA – 3.19 (3rd in the Big West). 5.85 in 2010 (7th in the Big West).
BA – .250 (4th). .321 in 2010 (9th).
Walks – 104 (2nd), 2.8 BB/9 IP. 164 (5th), 3.0 BB/9 IP in 2010.
Strikeouts – 282 (5th), 7.5 K/9 IP. 316 (7th), 5.9 K/9 IP in 2010.
Extra Base Hits – 68 (1st), 1.8 per game. 181 (5th), 3.3 per game in 2010.
HR – 5 (1st). 37 HR in 2010 (4th).

Starters

Riverside returned all three weekend starters from last season but injuries to two of them have shuffled things around. Two of the starters have moved into the rotation after being relievers and midweek starters in 2010.

FRI – JR #35 Matt Andriese (RHP – 3-3, 2.33 ERA, 10 GS, 1 CG, 70 IP, 55 H, 16 BB, 54 K, .215 BA, 0 HR, 2 HBP, 3 WP, 7-10 SB; ’10 – 5-5, 4.95 ERA, 14 GS, 4 CG, 104 IP, 130 H, 18 BB, 69 K, .315 BA, 4 HR, 9 HBP, 6 WP, 6-13 SB) has thrown much better than his record would indicate because he has not gotten much support with Riverside scoring two runs or less in seven of his starts. He has also thrown much better than his already good stats would indicate because 7 of the 18 ER that he allowed came in one inning (Air Force) and his ERA in his other nine starts is an outstanding 1.45. Andriese got outdueled at Cal Poly by Mason Radeke (6 1/3 IP, 4 R, 3 ER, 7 H, 4 BB, 3 K) but has only allowed 3 R in 33 IP in his last four starts, including ten shutout innings at Long Beach in which he allowed only three hits and a CG one-hitter at Bakersfield. He is among the conf leaders in IP, ERA, K and AVG. Andriese has a fastball that sits in the low 90’s and a sharp breaking slider that he buries to make hitters pound the ball into the ground. He allowed 6 R on 12 H in 8 IP in his start at Fullerton last season.

SAT – JR #21 Eddie Orozco (RHP – 3-1, 2.41 ERA, 7 GS, 41 IP, 33 H, 25 BB, 32 K, .223 BA, 0 HR, 2 HBP, 2 WP, 5-9 SB; ’10 – 1-3, 8.71 ERA, 11 apps, 6 GS, 31 IP, 42 H, 15 BB, 21 K, .333 BA, 4 HR, 8 HBP, 8 WP, 2-4 SB) has one of the better arms on the staff but has had trouble with being consistent with his command during his career. He has been much tougher to hit this season but has still struggled with control and has walked at least four batters in four of his starts. Orozco was a midweek starter earlier in the season but moved into the weekend rotation recently and won his starts against Bakersfield (6 2/3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 5 BB, 8 K) and UCSB (6 1/3 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 5 BB, 5 K), which was his longest start of the year.

SUN – Soph #14 Trevor Frank (RHP – 2-2, 3.77 ERA, 9 GS, 62 IP, 63 H, 9 BB, 45 K, .266 BA, 2 HR, 6 HBP, 3 WP, 1-5 SB; ’10 – 3-3, 8.46 ERA, 17 apps, 8 GS, 50 IP, 79 H, 18 BB, 31 K, .374 BA, 5 HR, 8 HBP, 4 WP, 7-11 SB) had a similar season to Orozco in 2010 as a spot starter and long reliever but his command has been much sharper, he has been difficult to hit and he has been in the weekend rotation all season. He is a strike thrower who has been efficient and able to work deep into games, going at least seven innings in five of his starts. Frank threw well in his last three starts on the road at Cal Poly (8 IP, 2 R, 8 H, 2 BB, 6 K), Long Beach (8 IP, 2 R, 5 H, 0 BB, 0 K) and Bakersfield (5 IP, 2 R, 7 H, 2 BB, 6 K) but has not thrown well in his last two starts at home against Pacific (5 1/3 IP, 4 R, 10 H, 0 BB, 2 K) and UCSB (5 2/3 IP, 8 R, 9 H, 2 BB, 5 K).

JR #34 Dustin Emmons (RHP – 4-2, 4.95 ERA, 12 apps, 5 GS, 36 IP, 36 H, 10 BB, 24 K, .271 BA, 1 HR, 3 HBP, 5 WP, 2-4 SB; ’10 – 9-4, 3.99 ERA, 16 apps, 13 GS, 2 CG, 90 IP, 114 H, 24 BB, 51 K, .314 BA, 4 HR, 9 HBP, 5 WP, 9-10 SB) was in the weekend rotation in 2010 after being 2nd team All-Big West as a reliever in 2009. He was injured to start the season and was working his way bay back as a midweek starter and middle reliever to build up arm strength. He made starts against Pacific and Long Beach, allowing 10 R in 9 1/3 IP, and has started the last two midweek games at San Diego State and USC and pitched into the 7th inning in each game. He allowed 8 R on 10 H in 4 2/3 IP in his start at Fullerton last season.

SR #18 Matt Larkins (RHP – 4-1, 2.48 ERA, 5 GS, 33 IP, 26 H, 8 BB, 40 K; ’10 – 6-5, 5.34 ERA, 14 GS, 86 IP, 103 H, 27 BB, 33 K, .316 BA, 6 HR,11 HBP, 3 WP, 4-14 SB) was in the weekend rotation last season and earlier this year, getting off to a good start and winning four of his five starts before having soreness in his forearm after his start at Cal Poly and he has been shut down. He allowed 6 R on 11 H in 6 1/3 IP in his start at Fullerton last season.

Relievers

Riverside has a decent amount of experience in the bullpen and returns their closer and setup man from last year along with some pitchers who saw a limited amount of innings in 2010.

Closer – Soph #17 Mitch Patito (RHP – 1-3, 3.63 ERA, 6 saves, 16 apps, 17 IP, 16 H, 13 BB, 21 K, .254, 0 HR, 4 HBP, 0 WP, 1-1 SB; ’10 – 3-0, 1.33 ERA, 3 saves, 21 apps, 27 IP, 13 H, 13 BB, 27 K, .138 BA, 1 HR, 8 HBP, 1 WP, 3-3 SB) has a good arm with a low 90’s fastball and a solid curveball but command has been an issue and he has allowed nearly a BB/HBP per IP in 2010 and this year. He has been on a short leash lately with other relievers also being used to close games and has been taken out twice in his last three outings when he couldn’t finish up games.

SR #42 Mike Wolford (RHP – 2-0, 2.14 ERA, 1 save, 14 apps, 21 IP, 20 H, 3 BB, 16 K, .267 BA, 0 HR, 1 HBP, 3 WP, 0-2 SB; ’10 – 3-1, 8.78 ERA, 4 saves, 21 apps, 28 IP, 50 H, 8 BB, 26 K, .400 BA, 6 HR, 3 HBP, 3 WP, 8-8 SB) was the closer last year but was removed from that role due to ineffectiveness. He has thrown much better this year and has been getting the chance to throw key innings. Wolford has good control but he has done a much better job this year of missing bats after getting hit around in 2010.

SR #23 Kevin Dickey (RHP – 1-1, 3.24 ERA, 2 saves, 9 apps, 8 IP, 6 H, 1 BB, 4 K, .222 BA, 0 HR, 1 HBP, 0 WP, 0-0 SB; ’10 – 0-1, 12.96 ERA, 12 apps, 17 IP, 33 H, 8 BB, 11 K) didn’t pitch much last season and when he did the results usually weren’t good but he has slowly worked his way into the equation in the late innings and is a strike thrower who has been pitching well and picked up the save last Fri vs. UCSB when Patito was pulled due to his wildness.

Soph #29 Mark Garcia (LHP – 1-1, 4.74 ERA, 12 apps, 1 GS, 19 IP, 22 H, 8 BB, 15 K, .301 BA, 1 HR, 2 HBP, 3 WP, 2-2 SB; ’10 – 0-0, 10.80 ERA, 8 apps, 8 IP, 13 H, 5 BB, 7 K) and FR #5 Dylan Stuart (LHP – 1-1, 1.54 ERA, 12 apps, 23 IP, 24 H, 9 BB, 25 K, .293 BA, 0 HR, 2 HBP, 1 WP, 2-5 SB) give Riverside a good 1-2 LHP combo to bring into games for situational match-ups. Stuart has a very good move and has picked off three runners.

Outlook

Fullerton goes into the series at Riverside in their first rut of the season (aside from the trip to the south) after going 3-4 over the last two weeks and often playing poor defense with so many new faces in the lineup. The Titans are going to have a very difficult time winning this series if they continue to play as poorly on defense as they did against Pacific and at key times at Cal Poly.

Another reason that Fullerton has struggled the last two weeks has been a pitching staff that was the strength of the team for much of the season allowing six or more runs in four of their last seven games. The Titans cannot pitch that poorly and win the series and getting a good outing from Noe Ramirez on Friday night after missing his last two starts is obviously a big key to Fullerton winning this series.

Despite all of the shuffling around of players in and out of the lineup due to injuries, something that has been surprising recently has been the production of the Fullerton offense because the Titans have scored at least six runs in each of their last five games. Fullerton doesn’t expect to score that frequently off of a good Riverside pitching staff but doing enough at the plate to not put their pitchers behind the eight ball would go a long way towards the Titans winning this series.

Riverside enters this series playing their best baseball of the season after winning eight of their last nine games. The Highlanders have held their opponents to four runs or less in seven of those games and have scored at least five runs in their last six games. Riverside is playing with a great deal of confidence and they are looking to make a run during the final month of the season.

Home teams have been faring very well during the Big West portion of the schedule with visitors coming away with only five series wins in seventeen series (one of those series was at last place Northridge). As most people are aware, Fullerton’s lack of success at Riverside is pretty notorious with the Titans losing nine out of ten games out there before winning the final two games of the series two years ago. If the Highlanders get on a roll in this series then Fullerton is going to be in trouble.

Riverside has been playing a more consistent brand of ball over the last few weeks than Fullerton has. The Titans have been up and down on the mound and have been giving away too many outs in the field. Fullerton obviously has a good enough team to win this series but if the Highlanders keep playing like they have been and Fullerton continues to be inconsistent this weekend then it is likely that Riverside will win two out of three games to win this series.