Titans Handle Ducks With Heavy Hearts

Titans defeat Oregon 8-2 (Friday), 5-2 (Saturday), lose 9-1 (Sunday)

By Don Hudson

The Cal State Fullerton Titans (10-1) took their home series against the Oregon Ducks and moved up to the #10 position in the Baseball America rankings, while moving up one spot to #8 in the USA TODAY coaches’ poll.  By winning the first two games against former coach George Horton’s Ducks, the Titans established an all-time program best with ten consecutive wins to start the season.  The Titans are also #8 in Boyd’s “unofficial but extremely accurate” RPI rankings, just a scant .001 points behind the #7 Presbyterian College Blue Hose.


Game 1: Titans 8, Oregon Ducks 2

Thomas Eshelman

The opening game, a match-up between the Titans’ freshman Thomas Eshelman and the Ducks’ sophomore Jake Reed figured to be a low-scoring battle of pitching and defense.  The Ducks entered action with a 7-1 record and were ranked 6th-8th in most polls (7th in USA TODAY coaches’ poll) and 14th by Baseball America.  Oregon arrived with a sensational record of just two errors committed, albeit with all eight previous games this season played on fake turf (four at home at four at Hawai’i).  Bob Aspromonte was playing third-base for the Houston Astros the last time a ball took a bad hop on fake turf, so it is difficult to extrapolate that record to playing on real dirt and grass.

The ball didn’t bounce so kindly for the Ducks on this evening and the Titans rode the complete game pitching performance of Eshelman to win the series opener, 8-2.  Four of the eight runs allowed by the Ducks were unearned.

While Eshelman allowed the first two earned runs of his collegiate career, he continued to pound the strike zone: six strikeouts, zero walks and 74 of 95 pitches thrown for strikes.  For his effort, which improved his record to 3-0, Eshelman earned Big West Conference Pitcher of the Week honors.

Eshelman and Reed matched perfection through the first three innings: nine up, nine down for both sides.  The Ducks finally got a runner aboard with two outs in the fourth when Brett Thomas was plunked by a 0-2 pitch and scored on a solid double by Ryon Healy.  Eshelman was momentarily unsettled and committed a balk, but worked out of additional harm on a groundout.

As they have done all season when allowing runs, the Titans quickly responded with a run in the last of the fourth on a leadoff single by Richy Pedroza, a walk to J.D. Davis and a clutch two-out RBI single by Anthony Hutting.

The Titans took a 4-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth on three of the ugliest runs in history – on just one hit.  After a leadoff single by catcher Chad Wallach, Clay Williamson had a great at-bat that gets lost in the shuffle.  After a fouled bunt attempt, he got into a 0-2 hole before grinding out a tough at-bat and walking, which set the stage for Keegan Dale to sacrifice both runners into scoring position.  Wallach scored on a wild pitch, with Williamson taking third.  After Pedroza walked, he moved up to second and Williamson scored on another wild pitch.  Lopez flied out and Pedroza to advanced to third, after which he scored on a passed ball.  It was a totally uncharacteristic breakdown of a George Horton-coached team.

The Ducks responded in the top of the sixth, though, with a run of their own on two doubles and a sacrifice, to cut the Titans’ lead to 4-2.  Eshelman worked out of the jam by retiring the cleanup hitter, Healy, who represented the tying run at the plate.

Hutting's inside-the-park home run

The Titans put the game out of reach in the bottom of the sixth with a four-run rally, which started when Hutting slammed a sizzler between Healy and the first-base bag, down into the right field corner that has become the home of the visitors’ bullpen.  A little attempted chicanery by the Ducks backfired.

As right fielder Kyle Garlick raced to retrieve the ball, Hutting appeared that he would easily leg out a triple.  Garlick raised his hands – perhaps the work of a small ad hoc quorum formed by the bullpen crew – and tried to induce a ground-rule double call from first base umpire Johnny Pineda.  Blue never signaled stoppage of play. It might have worked if Garlick had gone “all in” with the ruse, but after he threw the ball back to the infield, the Duck’s goose was cooked.  Third base coach Chad Baum never stopped pumping his arm and Hutting circled the bases and slid head-first into home with an inside-the-park home run.  I had to look twice to see if it was Hutting or Baumer who actually slid home.

After that, the Ducks flew south.  Wallach walked and Williamson lined a sharp single but would have been stranded – save for a two-out error on a routine grounder to second, which allowed Wallach to score to make it 6-2.  After a pitching change, stolen base by Dale and walk to Pedroza, Carlos Lopez dropped a two-run single in to make it 8-2 and give Eshelman all the breathing room he needed to just hammer the strike zone and finish it off alone.

The Titans scored their eight runs on just six hits, aided by six walks, three hit-batsmen, wild pitches, a passed ball and a critical error.  By winning their ninth straight game, the Titans surpassed the 2003 team for the best start of a season in program history.


Game 2: Titans 5, Oregon Ducks 2

Whatever elation the Titans players may have felt after the Friday victory was quickly replaced by profound grief and sadness.  Shortly after completing the series-opening victory, the players received a text advising them to return to the field, where they were informed that teammate Nick Hurtado, 21, had passed away after a lengthy and gallant battle with bone cancer.

Courtesy of Robert Hanashiro (USA Today)

The Titans took the field that night with heavy hearts.  With Nick’s family in attendance, there were numerous poignant and touching moments, some public and many private.  Nick’s number 56 jersey was in the Titans’ dugout and Lopez wore the number in his honor.  “56” was on the scoreboard much of the night and served as great inspiration for the team – you just knew in your heart there was no way they were going to lose on this night.

With hard-throwing freshman Justin Garza throwing for the Titans against Oregon lefty Tommy Thorpe, each run and hit figured to be at a premium.  After a moving moment of silence in Nick’s honor, action began.  The leadoff hitter for Oregon, second-baseman Aaron Payne, ripped a scalder down the first-base line in almost the exact spot that Hutting’s inside-the-park home run had gone the previous night.  Just as we were hoping right-fielder Austin Diemer would retrieve the ball quickly and hold him to a double, the lithe and nimble first-baseman Lopez dove and made a spectacular play to record the out.

It looked like a long evening – which it turned out to be – for home plate umpire Pineda when he missed an obvious catcher’s interference call with Pedroza leading off.  But Pedroza came back and singled, followed by a single by Lopez.  Just as it looked like Thorpe was going to wriggle off the hook, Michael Lorenzen launched a high drive down the left field line.  There was no question it had the distance – the only doubt is whether it would stay fair.  Perhaps aided by an angle, the ball struck high up on the left field fair pole and the Titans had a quick 3-0 lead.

Courtesy of Shotgun Spratling (CB Daily)

As has been the case in each of his starts, Garza worked quickly, threw strikes and mowed through the line-up in the early innings.  Through five innings, it was the pitching battle we expected, as Thorpe got into a groove after giving up the three-run bomb to Lorenzen in the first inning.

The Ducks finally got to Garza in the top of the sixth, squaring the ball up and scoring two runs on back-to-back one out singles by Scott Heineman and Healy and a two-out gap-job triple by Garlick.  With the lead cut to 3-2 and Garza on the ropes for the first time of the season, Titans’ freshman second-baseman Jake Jefferies made a huge defensive play – perhaps the turning point in the series – when he dove and made a great backhand stop to rob Ryan Hambright of a hit that would have tied the game.

Hit the Titans – they’ll hit you back!  As they have done all season so far, the Titans responded quickly when their opponents scored.  Lorenzen got the Titans’ first hit off Thorpe since the first inning when he led off with a double, before Wallach was hit by a pitch to put two runners aboard.  Dale was summoned to pinch-hit for Jefferies and he did his job perfectly – a sacrifice bunt to advance both runners.  After a series of coaching moves to play the old lefty/righty match-up maneuvers, it ended up left-handed hitting Jared Deacon pinch-hitting for the Titans against righty reliever Jeff Gold for the Ducks.  Deacon delivered a flyball to medium center field and Lorenzen slid across the plate just ahead of the throw to give the Titans a 4-2 edge on the sacrifice fly.

Diemer then hit a seed to deep center field for a triple to drive in Wallach and give the Titans an insurance run.  The ball was spanked, but after seeing the center fielder from TCU rob the Titans time after time the previous weekend, it was nice to see a ball finally find turf in what had been a black hole against the Horned Frogs.

The insurance runs also took the pressure off Garza and allowed his stint to be extended.  He gave way to closer Lorenzen in the ninth.  The Ducks made it semi-interesting: after ripping a leadoff single against Lorenzen, the next batter laced one between the 3-4 hole which was headed to right field and would bring the tying run to the plate with no outs.  But second-baseman Dale dove to his left and made the play to first.

Garza (3-0) allowed just two runs on six hits in eight inning pitched, with four strikeouts and just one walk.  Lorenzen earned his third save of the season, while also leading the offense with his home run, double and three RBI.  For the second night in a row, the Titans beat a highly ranked opponent with just six hits.


Game 3: Oregon Ducks 9, Titans 1

Despite having their best hit output of the series – ten – the Titans finally saw their winning streak ended at ten games.  While the 2013 team surpassed the 2003 Titans by winning their first ten games, they will need to continue winning to match the 15-1 start posted by their 2003 brethren.

This was the “it’s bound to happen” game which the team was probably overdue for.  Give credit to the Ducks – they made the big pitches when they had to and they hit the ball hard.

Grahamm Wiest

The game started off “business as usual” for the Titans – Grahamm Wiest threw a 1-2-3 first inning and Pedroza (walk) and Lopez (single) got on and it looked like Fullerton would add to its cumulative 14-0 first inning advantage so far this season.  But facing Oregon freshman lefty Cole Irvin, the Titans pushed both runners along on a sacrifice by Matt Chapman but stranded them when J.D. Davis popped up the first pitch and Lorenzen chased a high fastball and struck out.

The Ducks took a 2-0 lead in the second inning on a pair of unearned runs.  Thomas led off with a single just under the glove of the diving Jefferies.  The next batter hit a routine double-play ball to shortstop Pedroza, but his throw to second was over the head of Jefferies and both runners were safe and advanced into scoring position.  An RBI single by Hambright and a safety squeeze plated the two runs.

The Ducks scored their third run – all unearned – in the top of the fourth.  Garlick walked with one out and Wiest had him caught straying far off the bag, but threw wildly on his pickoff attempt and Garlick made it safely to third on the two-base error.  Garlick was driven in on an RBI single by Hambright.

The Titans scored once in the bottom of the fourth to cut their deficit to 3-1 on a single by Davis and an RBI double by Jefferies.  The Titans had further chances the following inning when Diemer and Lopez singled, but Irvin was at his best with runners on base, retiring the dangerous Chapman and Davis to escape peril.

The Ducks posted six runs over the next three innings against Wiest and a trio of relievers (Willie Kuhl, Bryan Conant and Henry Omana).  With the Ducks holding a comfortable 9-1 lead, both coaches gave some playing time to their reserves.  All six Titans pitchers – the aforementioned plus Kyle Murray and Tyler Peitzmeier – gave up at least one of Oregon’s 14 hits and only Murray and Peitzmeier did not allow a run.  It was another solid outing for Peitzmeier (1-0, 0.00 in five appearances.)

Jefferies and Lopez were the offensive bright spots for the Titans with three hits each.  Jefferies’ hits included two doubles and the team’s only RBI.  He also made another outstanding diving backhand play in the field.


So what did we learn this weekend?

Everything that happens between the white lines on a baseball field is trivial compared to the tragic loss of a young man whose smile and spirit were indomitable.  My heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Nick Hurtado, who left us far too soon, but left an impact that will endure throughout the rest of the lives of the legion of people he touched.

Courtesy of Yvonne Bovee

The outpouring of love and remembrances following word of Nick’s passing has been monumental.  The impact of his remarkable life is captured by the myriad posts on his Facebook page.  Kudos to Long Beach State and UC Irvine for the moment of silent each observed before their home games on Saturday.  There wasn’t a dry eye in the house at Goodwin Field during the moment of silence, looking down on the field and seeing his Titan brothers with arms locked in prayer.  With the words pouring straight from the hearts of his Titans brothers – players and coaches – it went:

"Ladies and gentleman, at this time will you please rise and join the student-athletes, alumni, coaches and the Cal State Fullerton community for a moment of silence. 

Last night, Titan Baseball lost a member of its family, when pitcher Nick Hurtado passed away after a battle with cancer. Nick was a tremendous part of the Cal State Fullerton Baseball team, and will always be remembered as a brother to his teammates. He led by example with his work ethic, and cherished every moment he was able spend with his teammates.

Nick never wanted anyone to feel sorry for him, and always approached his fight with that demeanor; whether it was a hitter or cancer, Nick never gave up, and competed until the end. Now as No. 56 prepares to toe the rubber for the first time in heaven, he will always be in our hearts and souls forever. 

We love you Nick,

Your Brothers"

Nick’s funeral will be at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, March 8, at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills, located at 4201 Eucalyptus Avenue, Chino, CA 91710.  Nick’s mom has encouraged guests to wear Cal State Fullerton T-shirts or gear.  There will also be a viewing on Thursday evening, March 7, from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Thomas Miller Mortuary, 1118 E. 6th Street, Corona, CA 92879.

Nick with Mom Patty

To help his family deal with the costs of many years of medical bills and the funeral, donations can be made by check (to Patty and Tony Hurtado, 465 N. Orange Street, Orange, CA 92866) or by PayPal.

Why is it that your baseball mood is determined almost entirely by your last game, whether as player, coach or fan?  As much as I’d like to brag about the amazing action that resulted from two such superbly talented and coached teams clashing in a budding “rivalry series”, the reality is that the Ducks stunk on Friday, the Titans stunk on Sunday and only Saturday’s game was terrific.  In his column last week, Eric “Stitch-Head” Sorenson ranked this series as the #1 place to be for college baseball this weekend, and I left slightly disappointed it didn’t deliver on those high promises, albeit glad that the Titans had won the series.

The series was dominated by freshmen pitchers from both sides:  Eshelman and Garza for the Titans and Oregon’s Irvin, who each improved their records to 3-0.  Is this the start of a new trend in big time college baseball?  There have always been great arms arriving on campus as freshmen, but you can’t help but be impressed with the savvy and maturity that these guys have displayed in stepping right into key roles for their respective programs.  It’s almost unthinkable that freshmen would dominate in the Friday and Saturday starter roles this early in their development.

The Titans had ten home runs for the entire 2012 season and already have seven in just eleven games in 2013.  It’s not a team that can live and die playing Earl Weaver Ball, but it’s nice to know that it is in the team’s arsenal.

Another thing I’ve been impressed with is how the team has received contributions from so many players and positions (both defensively and in the batting order.)  While the Titans’ 3-4 hitters went a combined 1-for-21 with zero RBI in this series against Oregon’s outstanding pitching staff, Davis carried the team opening weekend and Chapman was awesome at TCU and in the previous games.  Wallach (.367 BA, .467 OBP) and Lopez (.349 BA, .431 OBP) have been the steadiest hitters so far, but they too will go through mild slumps and somebody else will pick it up. Jefferies and Dale both turned in stellar plays at second-base subbing for the injured Matt Orloff.  Diemer is following up on his strong freshman season (.370 BA, ,414 OBP) with impact (.389 BA, .522 OBP) batting ninth, with his playing time increased because opponents have started left-handed pitchers in 8 of the 11 games so far.

This is a very difficult game to play well – you’ll rarely (if ever) have everybody clicking at the same time, so it’s nice to know you have so many ways to win games.

Pursuit of Hirsute: with shades of the 2009 journey which led to Omaha, there seems to be a movement afoot for another Moustache March.  This team seems extraordinarily united, but activities like this seem to just strengthen those bonds.

In a related story, I love listening to Bill Handel on his Saturday morning Handel on the Law program on KFI-640.  He is a wordsmith and a wiseass – two traits I admire.  Last week, when a caller identified himself as “Bear,” Handel asked him, “With a name like ‘Bear,’ are you hirsute?”  The caller responded, “No – we were originally from Poland.”  Classic!

Tomorrow night’s game against the San Diego Toreros (7-4) will be an interesting test for how well the Titans move on from Sunday’s loss and flush it out to sea.  The unranked Toreros are playing very well: after being swept in three games at home by San Diego State to start the season, USD has gone 7-1, including a road win at Coastal Carolina before sweeping their way through the UNCW Tournament played this past weekend in Wilmington, North Carolina.  The Toreros posted two shutouts and outscored their opponents (Gardner-Webb, UNC-Wilmington and Stony Brook) by a combined 22-4 score.

The two mid-week games – weather permitting – will be another showcase for the Titans’ pitching depth, which was on display when the Titans began the season with 5 games in 5 days and 8 games in 10 days.  Not only were the extended outings by Eshelman and Garza against Oregon impressive for the moment at hand, they also allowed the Titans to win a series against a ranked opponent and still have Koby Gauna and J.D. Davis fresh for games at USD (Tuesday) and USC (Wednesday).

I can’t wait to see the new Fowler Park and Cunningham Field, which made its debut this season.

Oh, who am I kidding?  What I’m really looking forward to is going to Phil’s BBQ (3750 Sports Arena Boulevard in San Diego, next door to the old San Diego Arena that was the home of the NBA’s Rockets and Clippers and the ABA’s Conquistadors.  (Do you remember when the San Diego Conquistadors gave Wilt Chamberlain a massive $600,000 contract to be their player-coach in 1973-74, but the Lakers sued and he was not allowed to play?  As a coach for the Conquistadors, Wilt was somewhat disinterested, including the time he missed a game so he could autograph books.)

That’s all for now – hope to see you around 2:30 at Phil’s BBQ, which should leave plenty of time to make it over to watch the Titans take BP. Phil’s was featured on Man vs. Food.  Out.

Oregon Series Preview

Oregon at Titans

Friday 7 p.m.; Saturday 6 p.m.; Sunday noon

By FullertonBaseballFan

Cal State Fullerton got the 2013 season started off on the right foot by outscoring their opponents 30-9 while winning all four games in the opening weekend at home against USC and Nebraska and on the road at Cal State Bakersfield, which was the first time that the Titans have come out of the blocks over .500 after the opening weekend since 2008.

Fullerton got this week started with their second local road trip as they drove up to Malibu on Wednesday afternoon to play Pepperdine and the Titans improved their record to 5-0 by defeating the previously undefeated Waves 6-3.  Matt Chapman got things started in the first with a two out walk, stole second after being picked off when he beat the throw from first to second, Big West player of the week J.D. Davis continued his hot hitting with an RBI single, Michael Lorenzen struck out but got on base when the ball got by the catcher and Chad Wallach made Pepperdine pay for that with an opposite field double for a 3-0 lead.  Fullerton added onto the lead in the second when Austin Diemer singled, Richy Pedroza singled him to third and Diemer scored on a wild pitch.  The Waves scored a run in the third but the Titans bumped the lead back up to 5-1 in the fifth when Carlos Lopez singled and stole second, Davis reached on an infield single and Wallach continued his hot hitting with an RBI single.  Pepperdine scored runs in the sixth and eighth innings to cut the lead to 5-3 before Fullerton tacked on an insurance run in the ninth when Pedroza and Lopez were hit by pitches and Chapman followed with an RBI single.  Davis was the starting pitcher and picked up the win on a designated staff day with three solid innings, allowing a run on three hits.  Five relievers followed and were effective in allowing two runs on five hits in six innings with Lorenzen picking up his second save with a 1-2-3 ninth.

Fullerton rolled into Fort Worth with a great deal of momentum to face TCU, a team that got out of the blocks slowly last weekend when they were swept at Ole Miss and scored only four runs in three games.  Both of those trends continued as the Titans won all three games against the Horned Frogs in dominant fashion by a cumulative score of 20-4 after winning the first game 7-2, the second game 6-2 and the final game 7-0 as Fullerton improved to 8-0, which is the best start the Titans have had since 2003.

Fullerton scored first for the sixth straight game when Pedroza led off with a walk, advanced to third on a wild pitch and a passed ball and scored on a groundout by Lopez.  The Titans increased their lead with two runs in the fifth when Diemer singled, Pedroza tripled over a drawn in RF and Chapman greeted the TCU reliever with an RBI single.  As Pedroza scored, he had some choice words for the Horned Frogs catcher and was ejected from the game.  Thomas Eshelman retired the first ten batters of the game before allowing a hit and left the game with two outs in the sixth after giving up two more hits but not surrendering any walks and getting eight strikeouts.  Koby Gauna came in and ended the TCU threat and Fullerton increased the lead in the seventh when Pedroza’s replacement, Keegan Dale, reached on a bunt single and ended up scoring on a two out single by Lorenzen.  The Horned Frogs put together two walks and two hits to score two runs in the bottom of the seventh against Gauna but a botched double steal ended the rally when a runner was thrown out at the plate.  TCU continued to rally in the eighth with a double off of Gauna and after Willie Kuhl retired two batters, he walked and hit the next two hitters and Tyler Peitzmeier induced a ground out to leave the bases loaded.  Fullerton put the game away with three runs in the ninth when Dale singled, Lopez tripled him in on a ball to the gap in right center and scored on a wild pitch, Davis was hit by a pitch and scored on a double by Lorenzen.  Peitzmeier retired all three hitters he faced in the ninth for his first career save as Eshelman improved his record to 2-0.

Fullerton once again got off to the lead on Saturday by scoring two runs in the first when they took advantage of the wildness of TCU starter Preston Morrison and some shaky defense when Pedroza reached on an error, Lopez walked, Clay Williamson was hit by a pitch, Lorenzen drove in a run on an infield single, Anthony Hutting was hit by a pitch and Jake Jefferies walked to force in another run.  That would be all the scoring there would be for a while because Justin Garza and Morrison were both dominant over the next 6 1/2 innings.  Morrison allowed only two hits and no walks over his next six innings but Garza was even better over his first seven innings, allowing only one hit in the fifth inning with no walks and five strikeouts.  The Titans were happy to see a reliever come in to start the eighth and once again broke things open against the TCU bullpen when Chapman bunted for a hit, Williamson and Hutting each singled and Jefferies pulled a line drove over the wall in RF for a grand slam to increase the lead to 6-0.  The Horned Frogs finally got to Garza in the eighth with four singles to score two runs before Davis came in to get the final two outs of the inning and he finished things off with a scoreless ninth as Garza improved his record to 2-0 with the win.

Fullerton didn’t score in the first inning on Sunday for the first time since opening night but they did score first for the eighth straight game when Lorenzen led off the second with a triple and Greg Velazquez’s SF drove him in.  The Titans increased the lead when Diemer led off the third with a single, stole second, went to third on a wild pitch and Chapman’s bunt single drove him in.  Fullerton put the game away with three runs in the fourth when Lorenzen and Wallach started things off with singles, Velazquez walked, Diemer drove in a run with a ground out, Pedroza walked to load the bases, Lopez’s HBP forced in a run and Chapman’s walk forced in another run.  The Titans padded their lead with two runs in the ninth when Diemer walked and stole second, Lopez’s infield single drove him in, Chapman singled to SS and Lopez went to third on an error on the throw and Chapman scored on a passed ball.  Grahamm Wiest was the beneficiary of all of the scoring and allowed two hits in the first four innings and both runners were wiped on double plays, allowed two hits in the fifth but got out of the jam unscathed and had two batters get on base on errors in the seventh but also got out of that jam as he ended up throwing 7 1/3 scoreless innings with one walk and five strikeouts to pick up his first win of the year.  Peitzmeier retired a batter and Gauna got the last four outs to finish things off.

Fullerton hit the ball well against Pepperdine’s midweek pitching with eleven hits but things didn’t come as easy at the plate in Fort Worth.  The TCU pitching staff held the Titans to a .235 AVG (24 for 102) but Fullerton was very opportunistic and took advantage of seventeen free bases (ten walks, seven HBP’s) in order to score twenty runs in the series.  The offensive leaders on the week were Lorenzen (6-16, 3 RBI, 2 H in each game at TCU), Chapman (6-17, 4 RBI, 2 SB), Wallach (4-10, 3 RBI), Lopez (4 RBI) and Diemer (3-6, 5 R) plus Jefferies with the key grand slam on Saturday.  Fullerton’s starters continued to mow thru the opposition by going 4-0 with a 0.77 ERA for the week with one walk and 22 strikeouts.  The relievers for the Titans had a solid week with a 2.92 ERA and protected leads in all four games with Peitzmeier making three scoreless appearances.

Fullerton has played five different teams in winning the first eight games but has won going away most of the time.  Things figure to be much different this weekend as one of the best teams in the country over the last 1+ seasons will be coming to visit Goodwin Field with former Titans coach George Horton bringing his Oregon Ducks to his old stomping grounds in a rematch of last season’s regional in Eugene.


Oregon Ducks (7-1)

• 2012 Overall Record – 46-19
• 2012 Conference Record – 19-11 (3rd place in the Pac 12)
• 2012 Post-Season – Won Eugene Regional (Wins over Austin Peay, Fullerton and Austin Peay), Lost Eugene Super Regional to Kent State two games to one.
• 2012 RPI/ISR – 7/5
• Current ranking – 6th by Collegiate Baseball, 6th by NCBWA, 7th by USA Today/Coaches Poll, 8th by Perfect Game and 14th by Baseball America
• Pre-season ranking  – 6th by USA Today/Coaches Poll, 8th by NCBWA, 10th by Collegiate Baseball, 13th by Easton College Baseball, 14th by Perfect Game and 15th by Baseball America
• Predicted conference finish – 4th by the Pac 12 coaches, Baseball America, Perfect Game and Easton College Baseball today

2012 Summary and 2013 Preview

It has been an interesting six year ride for George Horton since he left Fullerton after the 2007 season to head up to Oregon.  His first year in Eugene in 2008 was spent getting the program ready for their first season of baseball since 1981.  The Ducks predictably struggled in 2009 and finished last in the Pac 10 but surprised the college baseball world in 2010 by winning forty games and making it into a regional, finishing second to Florida State.  Oregon had high expectations of moving past a regional into a Super Regional or Omaha in 2011 but they struggled out of the gate and by the time they started playing well it was too late to save their season and they finished in eighth in the Pac 10 and didn’t qualify for a regional.  The Ducks had a strong pitching staff in 2011 with a 2.95 ERA that was in the top twenty nationally but their offense finished well in the bottom 100 nationally in hitting and scoring.

Oregon didn’t enter last season with sky high expectations like they did in 2011 and they weren’t predicted to do much with the Pac 12 coaches picking them to finish in 7th and the rest of the college baseball media picking them to finish anywhere from 7th to 9th.  The Ducks got out to a hot start at 10-1 didn’t handle prosperity too well and went 5-7 over the next twelve games, responded by going 11-2 over the next thirteen games, which included a sweep of ASU and series wins on the road at UCLA and Stanford, lost a series at home to WSU when they were banged up, started getting healthier and went on a 15-1 run that wrapped up a national seed and put them in position to win the Pac 12.  Oregon needed to win only one game in the Civil War series at OSU to clinch at least a share of the Pac 12 title but the Beavers got revenge for being swept by the Ducks at the end of the 2011 season by sweeping all three games in Corvallis to prevent the Ducks from winning the conference title.  Oregon hosted a regional for the first time and came from behind in the bottom of the ninth to beat Austin Peay, won a close game with Fullerton and rolled thru Austin Peay to sweep all three games.  The Ducks hosted a Super Regional and looked poised to go to Omaha but Kent State had other ideas and surprised Oregon in the first game, the Ducks came back to win the second game and Kent State won the third game in the bottom of the ninth to advance to the College World Series.

Expectations for Oregon are much higher this season as they enter this season with the goal of getting to Omaha and even though they have been picked to finish fourth by the coaches and the media, that just means that the Pac 12 is loaded because the Ducks were ranked in the top fifteen in every major poll going into the season.  Oregon lost only two regulars from their lineup, one of their starting pitchers and one of their primary set-up men but return pretty much everybody else so they will be bringing back one of the more experienced rosters on the west coast.  The Ducks played like an experienced team when they started their season in Hawaii and they didn’t just go out to the islands to get some sun and get out from the damp cold winter for a few days as they won all four games and weren’t challenged too much during the series.  The Ducks returned home to face LMU last weekend and the Lions pulled off a 7-2 upset in the opener before Oregon bounced back to win each of the next two games 6-1 to win the series and followed that up with a 3-1 wini against Portland on Tuesday.


Offense

• Park Factor according to Boyd’s World – 85 (decreases offense by 15%).  Dimensions are 335-375-400-375-325 and the ball usually doesn’t carry well until later in the season.  Field turf so the fielders are getting true bounces on ground balls.
• Batting Average – .221.  2012 – .265 (NCAA ranking – 214, Pac 12 ranking – 10).
• Scoring – 38 (4.8 runs per game).  2012 – 304 runs (219, 7), 4.7 per game.
• Home Runs – 1.  2012 – 29 (138, 6).
• Stolen Bases – 10-14.  2012 – 73-117 (103, 3).
• Slugging Percentage – .317.  2012 – .370 (177, 9).
• On Base Percentage – .342.   2012 – .359 (DNR, 9).
• Walks – 31 (3.9 per game).  2012 – 245 (48, 2), 3.8 per game.
• HBP’s – 13.  2012 – 77 (41, 4).
• Sac Bunts – 9.  2012 – 88 (2, 1).
• Strikeouts – 51 (6.4 per game).  2012 – 400 (DNR, 2), 6.2 per game.  Oregon only struck out 19 times in four games at Hawaii but struck out 29 times against LMU.

Oregon didn’t have a highly productive offense in 2012 so they had to scratch out runs by bunting and putting runners in motion and relying on getting hits in key situations to manufacture runs.  Despite averaging only 4.7 runs per game, the Ducks were efficient at scoring several runs a game because they were only held to two runs or less eight times and their strong pitching staff allowed them to go 21-5 when scoring either three or four runs, the same record Oregon had when scoring five or more runs in a game.

Oregon got off to a solid start at the plate in the Hawaii series by hitting .293 with most of the damage done when they scored nine runs on sixteen hits in the third game.  The Ducks hit .242 and averaged four runs per game in the other three games on the islands and they continued to have issues at the plate against LMU when they only hit .131 with eleven hits in the series.  Oregon has continued to be opportunistic and had nineteen BB’s/HBP’s at Hawaii and twenty BB’s/HBP’s against LMU.  It was more of the same on Tuesday against Portland for the Ducks as they only had three hits in the game but got five BB’s/HBP’s and cashed three of them in for runs and used an outstanding pitching performance to win 3-1.  Oregon has good overall team speed and they have already hit eighteen doubles and ten SB’s and they also have nine SAC’s with plenty of hit and run attempts to put runners in motion.
Lineup

Oregon is experienced at each of the infield positions with starters returning at all four spots but they are breaking in a new tandem at catcher.

Infield

C – Soph #16 Shaun Chase (RH – 2-10.  ’12 – .178/.250/.356, 2-9-0) and FR #18 Josh Graham (RH – 1-16) will be splitting time behind the plate while replacing defensive standout Brett Hambright.  Chase has good power when he makes contact, which was an issue in 2012 when he struck out 30 times in 73 AB’s and he has 6 K’s in 10 AB’s this season.  Graham is talented and will push Chase for playing time.  They combined to only go 2-14 at Hawaii with each of them starting twice.  Graham started twice against LMU and they combined to go 1-9 in the series.  The catchers have been hitting eighth.

1B – JR #25 Ryon Healy (RH – .345/.441/.552, 1-7-1.  ’12 – .312/.378/.419, 4-42-3) is the cleanup hitter and is a big, strong man with raw power potential who should be drafted in the first five rounds in June.  He led the team in hits and total bases and was second on the team in R and RBI in 2012 when he was honorable mention All-Pac 12.  Healy made the all-regional team after going 4-10 with 3 RBI, including a 2-4 game with 2 RBI against Fullerton, and went 9-22 with 6 RBI in the post-season and carried his hot streak into this season when he torched the Hawaii pitching staff by going 8-15 with three doubles, an HR and 4 RBI on his way to winning Pac 12 player of the week honors.  He cooled off against LMU when he went 1-10 but had two key RBI in their win on Saturday.  Healy takes a big swing and led the team with 45 strikeouts in 2012 but has been doing a better job of making contact and only has two strikeouts in 25 AB’s.

2B – JR #20 Aaron Payne (LH – .259/.400/.259, 0-3-3.  ’12 –.277/.405/.357, 1-27-16) is the engine that makes the offense go as the leadoff hitter and led the Pac 12 in 2012 with 25 HBP’s to help him lead the team in R and OBP and earn honorable mention All-Pac 12 honors.  He has very good speed and finished in the top ten in the Pac 11 in triples and SB’s.  Payne is an excellent bunter and will use his speed to beat out bunts and was in the top ten in the conference with fifteen SAC bunts in 2012.  He went 2-5 against Fullerton, whom he was a batboy for as a youngster, but struggled in the rest of the post-season and only went 1-14 in the other five games.  Payne got off to a hot start at Hawaii when he went 6-15 and scored four runs but was one of many guys who struggled against LMU and went 0-8, including three strikeouts in Friday’s game.  Making contact was an issue for Payne in 2012 because he is an aggressive hitter and was second on the team last season with 42 strikeouts.  He doesn’t have any extra-base hits and most of the extra-base power he generates comes from his legs as he runs hits into 2B’s and 3B’s.

SS – SR #22 J.J. Altobelli (RH – .429/.586/.524, 0-4-2.  ’12 – .265/.354/.335, 0-14-6) is the toughest hitter on the team to strike out with only one K, had an outstanding 20/12 BB/K ratio in 2012 and is one of the most likely players that a hit and run play will be put on with.  He missed nearly a month last season with a shoulder injury and was the leadoff hitter before getting hurt and hit 9th after returning and has continued to hit at the bottom of the order.  He went 0-3 against Fullerton and was 4-16 in the post-season.  Altobelli torched Hawaii’s staff and went 6-13 with 4 RBI and was one of the few guys who hit well against LMU and he went 3-6, got on base four more times via BB’s and HBP’s and scored four times.   He shares the team lead with Payne with seven runs and is playing at an All-Pac 12 level in the first two weeks of the season and could end up being drafted in the first ten rounds as a SR sign.

3B – SR #21 Ryan Hambright (LH – 1-28.  ’12 – .265/.321/.333, 1-12-0) only started six times in the first 40 games in 2012 but started 19 of the final 21 games to stabilize things at 3B after starter Scott Heineman injured his foot and was lost for the season.  He had trouble hitting against the solid pitching staffs in the Pac 11 and only hit .178 in conference games and was only hitting .228 going into the regional but went 7-11, including 2-3 with an RBI against Fullerton, to win regional MVP honors.  Hambright was one of the few players not to hit well in Hawaii and only went 1-13 with five strikeouts and that continued against LMU when he went 0-12 with five more strikeouts.  He has been hitting fifth but if he continues to hit this poorly he will have to be moved down in the lineup.

Outfield

Oregon played quite a few players in the OF and at DH in 2012 and returns most of them along with a starter from their 2010 season who missed two years after taking a church mission.

LF – JR #2 Brett Thomas (LH – .194/.257/.290, 0-6-0.  ’12 –.313/.368/.438, 1-25-9) led the team in AVG, 2B’s and 3B’s and helped to make the offense go as the only LH bat in the middle of the order in 2012, hit .330 in conference games and was honorable mention All-Pac 12.  He went 5-13 with 4 RBI in the regional, including 1-4 against Fullerton, and was 9-26 with 5 RBI in the post-season.  Thomas had a poor 14/36 BB/K ratio in 2012, which is something he needs to improve on.  He has good speed and is a threat to run when he is on base.  Thomas has been hitting third and went 5-17 with 4 RBI at Hawaii but had an awful series against LMU when he went 0-11 with eight strikeouts.  He started to hit the ball better against Portland with a hit and an SF.

CF – Soph #6 Scott Heineman (RH – .308/.457/.385, 0-5-1.  ’12 – .189/.342/.278, 1-9-7) played 3B for the first two months of 2012 before being injured and lost for the rest of the season.  He didn’t hit much but he was a very patient hitter with a 19/22 BB/K ratio.  Heineman has very good speed and has been moved to the OF where he can put his speed to good use.  He has been hitting second and got off to a solid start at Hawaii when he went 5-17 and had a good series against LMU when he went 3-8 and got on base five other times via BB’s and HBP’s and he got three more free bases against Portland.

RF – Soph #29 Steven Packard (LH – 4-18.  ’11 and ’12 – DNP.  ’10 – .333/.412/.440, 2-18-0) was a starter as a FR on the 2010 regional team but was away from the program for two years on a church mission.  He got right back into the swing of things in the fall and won a starting job in a crowded OF this season.  Packard hits seventh and went 3-11 in three games at Hawaii but only went 1-7 against LMU.

DH/RF – JR #4 Kyle Garlick (RH – 2-21.  ’12 –.287/.482/.470, 6-41-9) has the best power and speed combo on the team and led Oregon in HR’s and SLG and was second in SB, AVG and RBI in 2012.  He is also the most patient hitter on the team and led the Ducks in walks with a solid 29/38 BB/K ratio for a power hitter and was one the team leaders in OBP.  Garlick only went 2-13 in the regional but did have 2 RBI against Fullerton and his struggles continued in the Super Regional when he went 1-10.  He is average in the OF, which is why he will be the DH most of the time.  Garlick has been hitting sixth and has gotten off to a slow start and only went 2-12 at Hawaii and was 0-7 in the first two games against LMU.

JC transfer #13 Tyler Baumgartner (LH) only had one AB in the first six games before being inserted into the lineup at DH on Sunday against LMU as Oregon tried to shake things up and he came through with a bases loaded double that broke the game open and was the DH again on Tuesday.  The double was his only hit in seven AB’s.

JR #1 Connor Hoffman (LH – ’12 –.239/.315/.331, 3-14-9) was the starting CF most of 2012 and has good speed to patrol the big OF space at Oregon.  He had a poor 13/37 BB/K ratio last season.  Hoffman is an excellent bunter and will try to beat out bunts for hits and had 12 SAC’s in 2012.  He went 1-8 in the post-season, going 1-3 against Fullerton, and with Heineman and Packard in the OF mix has been moved into a role as a late inning defensive replacement.

Defense

Fielding .978 (7, 1) – 55 errors.  Double Plays – 57 (24, 3).  Oregon has one of the best defenses in the country and their infield is helped by playing on field turf.  Healy is a good athlete for his size at 1B, Jones and Altobelli are outstanding up the middle as one of the best DP combos on the west coast, Hambright is solid at 3B.  Thomas, Heineman and Packard all have good range in the OF.  Oregon has only made two errors this season.

Stolen Base Attempts – 25-54 (DNR, 1).  This is a key area to watch with Oregon replacing Brett Hambright, who was an outstanding catcher.  Runners are 3-3 against Graham and are 1-4 against Chase and he gunned down three guys against LMU on Saturday.  The Ducks do a very good job of holding runners to help their catchers and picked off fifteen runners in 2012.

WP’s/PB’s Allowed – 44 (DNR, 6).  The catchers are average at blocking pitchers (8 WP’s/PB’s) but the pitching staff throws lots of power sinking pitches, which doesn’t make their job easy.


Pitching

The strength of Oregon’s team in 2012 without question was their pitching staff and they led the Pac 12 in ERA, AVG and K’s and went 36-3 when they allowed three runs or less.  The Ducks lost Pac 12 Pitcher of the Year Alex Keudell but return just about everybody else so they should have a strong pitching staff once again this season.  Oregon’s pitchers haven’t been quite as tough to hit thus far as they were when they were in the top five nationally in 2012 but they have been doing a much better job of throwing strikes and have cut way down on the number of free bases via BB’s and HBP’s.

• ERA – 2.38.  2012 – 2.99 (NCAA ranking – 12, Pac 12 ranking – 1)
• AVG – .250.  2012 –.225 (DNR, 1).  7.2 H/9 IP was #2 nationally.
• HR – 0.  2012 – 20 (DNR, 4)
• SLG – .295.  2012 – .295
• Walks – 18 (2.3 BB/9 IP).  2012 – 243 (DNR, 11).  3.7 BB/9 IP was #151 nationally.
• HBP – 4.  2012 – 82 (DNR, 1).
• WHIP – 1.17.  2012 – 1.21 (20, DNR)
• Strikeouts – 63 (7.9 K/9 IP).  2012 – 439 (DNR, 2).  6.8 K/9 IP was #118 nationally.

Starters

Oregon returns two of their weekend SP’s from 2012 and has moved one of their main relievers into a starting role and has a big prospect as another option in the rotation.  The starters have been doing their job with a 2.11 ERA over the first seven games.

Soph #5 Jake Reed (RHP – 1-1, 3.27 ERA, 2 GS, 11 IP, 10 H, 2 BB, 15 K, .238 AVG, 0 HR, 1 HBP, 0 WP, 2-2 SB.  ’12 – 8-4, 2.92 ERA, 17 GS, 1 CG, 114 IP, 91 H, 42 BB, 67 K, .230 AVG, 3 HR, 17 HBP, 4 WP, 4-9 SB) was projected to be drafted in the first ten rounds out of HS but due to his strong commitment to going to school he was only drafted in the 40th round and he will probably be drafted in the first five rounds in 2014.  He has a fastball that sits in the low 90’s and a good changeup with good command of his pitches and was 9th in the Pac 12 in AVG.  Reed was effective in almost every start as a FR and allowed three runs or less in fourteen of his starts and his ERA was inflated in his one poor start when he allowed eight runs at Arizona.  He threw very well in winning both of his post-season starts when he threw seven shutout innings and allowed only two hits with eight strikeouts in the regional clinching game against Austin Peay and held Kent State to two runs on five hits with six strikeouts in 6 2/3 IP in the Super Regional and followed that up by pitching in relief for Team USA during the summer.  Reed threw six shutout innings with seven strikeouts to pick up the win at Hawaii but struggled against LMU when he allowed five runs (4 ER) on six hits in 5 IP but did strike out a career high nine batters.  His control has been better this season and he has only walked two batters in his two starts.

Soph #27 Thomas Thorpe (LHP – 2-0, 0.75 ERA, 2 GS, 12 IP, 11 H, 4 BB, 10 K, .262 AVG, 0 HR, 1 HBP, 0 WP, 0-3 SB.  ’12 – 2-0, 2.11 ERA, 35 apps, 1 save, 43 IP, 24 H, 20 BB, 48 K, .176 AVG, 1 HR, 7 HBP, 3 WP, 2-5 SB) was the LHP specialist in 2012 due to the good movement on his sweeping slider that is extremely tough on LH hitters but he can sometimes have trouble with his command.  He didn’t allow a run in eighteen straight appearances at one point during last season.  Thorpe appeared in four of Oregon’s six post-season games, allowing 2 H and 2 R (1 ER) in 4 2/3 IP with 6 K’s.  He has thrown well in winning both of his starts, allowing one run on seven hits in five innings at Hawaii and shutting out LMU for seven innings and allowing only four hits.

FR #19 Cole Irvin (LHP – 2-0, 2.40 ERA, 2 GS, 15 IP, 11 H, 2 BB, 7 K, .212 AVG, 0 HR, 0 HBP, 0 WP, 1-1 SB) went to Servite and was predicted to be drafted in the first ten rounds but had a strong commitment to going to school and fell to the 29th round.  He has beaten out some strong competition to earn a spot in the rotation after finishing the summer as the #5 prospect in the West Coast League.  His fastball sits in the upper 80’s to 90 range and he has a good changeup and very good control.  Irvin picked up a win in his debut when he allowed three runs on five hits in seven innings at Hawaii and followed that up by throwing eight strong innings against LMU, holding the Lions to one run on six hits with no walks and three strikeouts.

Relievers

Oregon didn’t have a deep bullpen in 2012 and relied primarily on three relievers but those three pitchers have been lights out and all three of them are capable of going 2-3 innings.  They have their All-American closer Jimmie Sherfy back but one of the set-up men (Thorpe) is in the rotation and the other has moved on so Oregon is relying on pitchers returning from injuries or who haven’t pitched much as the bridge between their starters and their closer.  The bullpen has had some issues with the five relievers other than Sherfy and Christian Jones having allowed nine runs in 9 1/3 IP over the first two weekends.

JR #30 Jimmie Sherfy (RHP – 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 6 apps, 3 saves, 6 IP, 8 H, 3 BB, 5 K, .348 AVG, 0 HR, 1 HBP, 0 WP, 0-0 SB.  ’12 – 5-3, 2.20 ERA, 36 apps, 19 saves, 61 IP, 36 H, 34 BB, 93 K, .172 AVG, 2 HR, 13 HBP, 4 WP, 5-6 SB) barely pitched in 2011 because he had absolutely no command of his pitches.  He worked hard going into 2012 and was one of the best relievers in the country, finishing second nationally in saves, and was an All-Pac 12 and All-American selection and pitched for Team USA last summer and should be drafted in the first five rounds in June.  He is a power pitcher with a good fastball that sits in the low 90’s but his best pitch is an outstanding slider with great movement that he uses as his out pitch and he led the staff and finished sixth in the Pac 12 in strikeouts despite not making one start and had an amazing 13.7 K/9 IP rate.  Oregon is not afraid to bring him in before the ninth inning and he threw over one inning in seventeen of his appearances in 2012.  Sherfy has gotten off to a bit of a slow start by his standards and allowed eleven baserunners in six innings but he has still only allowed one run, which was unearned.

JR #24 Christian Jones (LHP – 1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 save, 4 apps, 1 GS, 9 IP, 4 H, 1 BB, 9 K, .143 AVG, 0 HR, 1 HBP, 1 WP, 0-1 SB.  ’12 – Medical redshirt.  ’11 –  7-2, 3.24 ERA, 16 apps, 12 GS, 78 IP, 69 H, 34 BB, 73 K, .249 AVG, 2 HR, 8 HBP, 4 WP, 4-10 SB) was expected to be the Fri or Sat SP in 2012 and already pitching in the minors but he had elbow surgery in the fall and was a medical redshirt.  Before the injury his fastball was sitting in the 92-94 range but it has been in the upper 80’s this season and his slider has been his most effective pitch.  He has been very effective in three relief outings as he works his way back towards rejoining the weekend rotation and made another step in that direction with three scoreless innings and allowed two hits with five strikeouts in a midweek start against Portland.

JR #44 Jeff Gold (RHP – ’12 – 8-4, 3.66 ERA, 19 apps, 13 GS, 1 CG, 76 IP, 75 H, 24 BB, 46 K, .262 AVG, 5 HR, 8 HBP, 5 WP, 2-6 SB) was a midweek starter and middle reliever in 2012 until he was moved into the weekend rotation due to an injury to one of the SP’s in late April and was effective for a Sunday SP with a 3.62 ERA in Pac 12 games.  He isn’t a hard thrower and does a good job of getting sink on his fastball and letting his infielders do the work behind him.  Gold didn’t throw well in the post-season and allowed five runs on thirteen hits in six innings in his two starts.  He will be one of the options as the midweek SP and left his start early in the fifth inning at Hawaii when he was hit in the ankle on a comebacker.  He made his first appearance since then on Tuesday night against Portland and was on fire, throwing four hitless innings with seven strikeouts.  Gold will provide depth to the bullpen that has had issues other than Jones in getting the ball to Sherfy.

FR #35 Garrett Cleavenger (LHP) is another lefty in the bullpen and he is gaining the confidence of the coaching staff.  He had two good outings in Hawaii (1 2/3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 K) but was wild in an inning against LMU when he allowed three walks and he allowed a run on two hits in an inning against Portland.

JR #51 Darrell Hunter (RHP) was an infielder on the 2009 team but missed the last three seasons due to health issues but has returned to the program as a pitcher.  He has made three appearances (4 2/3 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 2 K).

Soph #23 Jordan Spencer (LHP – 4-2, 4.26 ERA, 12 apps, 6 GS, 1 CG, 38 IP, 31 H, 18 BB, 19 K, .230 AVG, 2 HR, 3 HBP, 1 WP, 3-5 SB) was a swingman who split time between the bullpen and a midweek SP role in 2012 but has only pitched once (1 R in 1 2/3 IP at Hawaii).

JR #3 Brando Tessar (RHP – ’12 – 4-1, 3.42 ERA, 11 apps, 9 GS, 1 CG, 53 IP, 44 H, 33 BB, 37 K, .235 AVG, 0 HR, 6 HBP, 3 WP, 1-4 SB) was in the weekend rotation in 2012 until straining a muscle in his forearm in the middle of April and didn’t pitch again until making an appearance in the Super Regional.  He is battling shoulder issues and hasn’t pitched yet this season.

Outlook

Fullerton has had a pretty easy go of it thus far against a schedule that looked tougher in the first two weekends when it was made but hasn’t turned out that way with Nebraska and TCU combining to start the season 1-13.  Things are about to get much more difficult for the Titans this weekend against the team that is most likely the best team that they will play in a weekend series.  Conversely, Oregon has only had trouble in one game this season and Fullerton will be the best team that the Ducks will face until they get into conference play in what figures to be a gauntlet in the Pac 12.

If it seems like Fullerton and Oregon are kind of mirror images of each other, that shouldn’t be much of a surprise considering Horton’s influence on the Fullerton program as the head coach for eleven years with the two head coaches that followed him having served on his staff when he was the head coach of the Titans.  Both teams emphasize grinding out offense by taking advantage of mistakes that the other team makes and using strong pitching to finish things off.

Fullerton has scored first in all eight games and the best way to neutralize an offense like Oregon’s is to get ahead and keep them from bunting and stealing bases.  However, that is easier said than done with the Ducks pitching staff allowing two runs or less in five of eight games, including one run in each of the last three games.  Oregon has been averaging 5.5 free runners by walks and HBP’s and have had trouble hitting the ball with a .183 average other than their 16 hit outburst in one game.  The best way for Fullerton to keep the Ducks off the scoreboard is to simply not give them free bases.

There don’t figure to be too many runs scored this weekend and the higher the run totals get, the more that will most likely favor Fullerton because the Titans have had the better offense this season.  Oregon’s best chance to win this series will be if their pitchers control the Fullerton offense and the Titans are walking and hitting batters, which they haven’t been doing.  If Fullerton is able to play their game like they have been doing the first two weeks then the Titans have a solid chance of winning this series but it won’t be easy and all of the games will likely be close.

Regional Preview: Oregon

Eugene Regional (PK Park, Eugene, Ore.)

Titans vs. Oregon, Game 4: Saturday 6 p.m.

By FullertonBaseballFan


#1 Seed – Oregon Ducks

• Overall Record – 42-17
• Conference Record – 19-11 (3rd place)
• How they qualified for a regional – At-large
• Last regional appearance – 2010 (2-2 at Norwich, CT regional)
• RPI/ISR – 6/3
• SOS – 23 (RPI)/4 (ISR)
• Record vs. tournament field – 11-8
• Record vs. top 50/top 100 RPI – 15-8/28-16

Season Summary

It has been an interesting five year ride for George Horton since he left Fullerton after the 2007 season.  His first year in Eugene was spent getting the program ready for their first season of baseball since 1981.  The Ducks predictably struggled in 2009 and finished last in the Pac 10 and surprised the college baseball world in 2010 by winning forty games and making it into a regional.  Oregon had high expectations of moving past a regional and into a super regional or Omaha in 2011 but they struggled out of the gate and by the time they started playing well it was too late to save their season and they finished in eighth in the Pac 10 and didn’t qualify for a regional.  The Ducks had a strong pitching staff with a 2.95 ERA that was in the top twenty nationally but their offense finished well into the bottom 100 nationally in hitting and scoring.

Unlike last season when Oregon had sky high expectations, they weren’t predicted to do much this season with the Pac 11 coaches picking them to finish in 7th and the rest of the college baseball media picking them to finish anywhere from 7th to 9th.  After the Ducks lost their opening game at Hawaii, they won their next three games on the Islands and swept their next two series at Vanderbilt and their home opener against Long Beach to start out 10-1.  Oregon didn’t handle prosperity too well and went 5-7 over the next twelve games, including a series loss to Washington.  The Ducks responded in a big way and went 11-2 over the next thirteen games, including a sweep at home against ASU and series wins on the road at UCLA and Stanford.  Oregon was pretty banged up when they lost their next series at home to WSU and started getting healthier as they went on a 15-1 run that wrapped up a national seed and put them in position to win the Pac 11 as they swept Cal, won a key series at Arizona, swept USC and swept a non-conference series against Seattle.  The Ducks needed to only win one game in the Civil War series at OSU to clinch at least a share of the Pac 11 title but the Beavers got revenge for being swept at the end of the 2011 season and being knocked out of the Pac 10 title chase by sweeping Oregon in Corvallis to deny them of a chance to win the conference title.


Offense

·       Park Factor according to Boyd’s World – 85 (decreases offense by 15%).
·       Batting Average – .266 (NCAA ranking – 216, conference ranking 10).
·       Runs – 272 (185, 8), 4.6 per game.
·       Home Runs – 28 (109, 6).
·       Stolen Bases – 67-107 (103, 3).
·       Slugging Percentage – .376 (160, 9).
·       On Base Percentage – .357 (DNR, 9).
·       Walks – 218 (148, 2), 3.7 per game.
·       HBP’s – 67 (83, 4).
·       Sac Bunts – 76 (11, 2).
·       Strikeouts – 373 (DNR, 2), 6.3 per game.

Oregon doesn’t have a productive offense so they have to scratch out runs and rely on getting hits in key situations to manufacture runs.  The Ducks are patient at the plate and will move runners over by bunting, hit and runs and stealing bases to get them in.  Despite averaging only 4.6 runs per game, Oregon was efficient at putting a few runs a game up on the board because they were only held to two runs or less eight times and their strong pitching staff allowed them to go 20-4 when scoring three or four runs, the same record that they had when scoring five or more runs in a game.

Batting Order

2B – Soph #20 Aaron Payne (LH – .287/.407/.375, 1-26-15) is the engine that makes the offense go and led the Pac 11 in HBP’s to help him lead the team in R and OBP.  He has very good speed and finished in the top ten in the Pac 11 in triples and SB’s.  Payne is an excellent bunter and will use his speed to beat out bunts and was in the top ten in the conference with fifteen SAC bunts.  He is an aggressive hitter and struck out 36 times.

DH/RF – Soph #9 Aaron Jones (RH – .294/.364/.469, 6-38-5) is a good athlete and is draft eligible and projected to possibly go in the first five rounds.  He has split time between the 2nd and 3rd spots in the lineup and leads the team in HR and RBI, was second in SLG and R and was honorable mention All-Pac 11.  Jones is another aggressive hitter and has struck out 38 times.

1B – Soph #25 Ryon Healy (RH – .303/.370/.420, 4-36-3) is a big, strong man with raw power potential.  He led the team in hits and total bases, was second on the team in R and RBI and was honorable mention All-Pac 11.  Healy has a big swing and led the team with 41 strikeouts.

LF – Soph #2 Brett Thomas (LH – .309/.371/.451, 1-20-8) led the team in AVG, 2B’s and 3B’s and helped to make the offense go as the only LH bat in the middle of the order and hit .330 in Pac 11 games.  He injured his hamstring last Tuesday and didn’t play against Oregon State and is questionable for this weekend.  If Thomas is unable to play, it would be a big loss because the Ducks were only able to score five runs in three games without him in the lineup at OSU.  Jones hit cleanup last weekend in Thomas’ absence.  JR #15 Andrew Mendenhall (RH – .226 in 53 AB’s) started in LF twice at OSU against LHP’s.

RF/DH – Soph #4 Kyle Garlick (RH – .307/.407/.497, 6-36-9) has the best power and speed combo and led the team in HR’s and SLG and was second in SB, AVG and RBI.  He is also the most patient hitter on the team and led them in walks with a solid 27/36 BB/K ratio for a power hitter and tied for the team lead in OBP.

3B – JR #21 Ryan Hambright (LH – .228/.291/.316, 1-9-0 in 79 AB’s) only started six times in the first couple of months but has started in 13 of the last 15 games to stabilize things at 3B after starter Scott Heineman injured his foot and was lost for the season.  He had trouble hitting against the solid pitching staffs in the Pac 11 and only hit .178 in conference games.

C – SR #33 Brett Hambright (RH – .237/.361/.281, 0-11-1) got off to a terrible start at the plate but rebounded and got hot during Pac 11 play and was second on the team with a .312 AVG in conference games.  He had the best plate discipline on the team with a 23/22 BB/K ratio and it was even better in Pac 11 games (16/9).  Hambright is also a good bunter and had ten SAC bunts.

CF – Soph #1 Connor Hoffman (LH – .254/.329/.354, 3-14-7) has good speed to patrol the big OF space at Oregon.  He can hit a ball out when he gets ahold of one but he has to take a big swing to do it and has a poor 12/35 BB/K ratio.  Hoffman is an excellent bunter and will try to beat out bunts for hits and has 11 SAC’s.  SR # 37 Vernell Warren (RH – .346 in 26 AB’s) started all three games in CF at Oregon State and figures to play against any LHP’s that Oregon might face if Thomas is out.  He went to school on a track scholarship and has good speed and didn’t play baseball until this season.

SS – JR #22 J.J. Altobelli (RH – .266/.337/.337, 0-12-6) is the toughest hitter on the team to strike out with only 12 K’s and is one of the most likely players that a hit and run play will be put on with.  He missed nearly a month with a shoulder injury and returned to the lineup three weeks ago.  Altobelli was the leadoff hitter before getting hurt and has usually hit 9th since getting back although he hit second at OSU with Thomas out.  He is projected to be drafted in the 8th-10th rounds.


Defense

Fielding .981 (6, 1) – 47 errors.  Double Plays – 51 (56, 4).  Oregon has one of the best defenses in the country and their infield is helped by playing on field turf.  Healy is a good athlete for his size at 1B, Jones and Altobelli are outstanding up the middle and have made only eight errors, R. Hambright is solid at 3B.  Thomas, Hoffmann, Garlick and Jones all have good range in the OF and Jones has the best arm.

Stolen Base Attempts – 24-51 (DNR, 1).  Runners are 17-34 against B. Hambright and he is very effective at controlling the running game.

WP’s/PB’s Allowed – 40 (DNR, 6).  B. Hambright is average at blocking pitches but the pitching staff throws lots of power sinking pitches, which doesn’t make his job easy.


Pitching

The strength of Oregon’s team without question is their pitching staff and they lead the Pac 11 in ERA, AVG and K’s.  The Ducks lost two starting pitchers who were high draft picks and another one expected to be next week despite being injured but they haven’t skipped a beat, getting about the same results from their pitching staff as they did in 2011 when they had a 2.95 ERA.  Oregon has been very effective at holding teams off of the scoreboard and gone 34-2 when they have allowed three runs or less.

·       ERA – 3.02 (NCAA ranking – 14, conference ranking – 1).
·       AVG – .226 (DNR, 1).  7.2 H/9 IP is #2 nationally.
·       Walks – 218 (DNR, 11).  3.7 BB/9 IP is #146 nationally.
·       HBP – 79 (DNR, 1).
·       WHIP – 1.21 (20, DNR)
·       Strikeouts – 393 (DNR, 1).  6.7 K/9 IP is #131 nationally.
·       SLG – .293
·       HR – 17 (DNR, 2).

Starters

FRI – SR #47 Alex Keudell (RHP – 10-4, 2.12 ERA, 15 GS, 3 CG, 1 SHO, 110 IP, 90 H, 26 BB, 65 K, .228 AVG, 1 HR, 4 HBP, 5 WP, 2-6 SB) finished in the top ten in the Pac 11 in W, ERA, IP and AVG and was the conference pitcher of the year.  He was the somewhat overlooked starting pitcher last season because he wasn’t a prospect like the other three starters despite going 7-3, 2.89 ERA and was drafted in the 38th round and returned for his SR year.  Keudell throws from a 3/4 arm slot with an upper 80’s fastball that he commands very well and gets good sink on it and has a good slider and changeup and gets hitters to pound the ball into the ground.  He has been excellent in almost every start, holding teams to two runs or less in eleven of them, before struggling last week at OSU and he allowed five runs in 5 1/3 IP.  Keudell has an outstanding move to first and picked off six runners.

SAT – FR #5 Jake Reed (RHP – 6-4, 3.14 ERA, 15 GS, 1 CG, 100 IP, 84 H, 36 BB, 53 K, .241 AVG, 2 HR, 17 HBP, 4 WP, 4-9 SB) was projected to be drafted in the first ten rounds out of HS but due to his strong commitment to going to school he was only drafted in the 40th round.  He has a fastball that sits in the low 90’s and a good changeup with good command of his pitches and was 10th in the Pac 11 in AVG.  Reed has been effective in almost every start and allowed three runs or less in twelve of his starts and his ERA was inflated in his one poor start when he allowed eight runs at Arizona.  Reed has a bright future and projects to be Oregon’s Friday SP next season.

SUN – Soph #44 Jeff Gold (RHP – 8-4, 3.33 ERA, 17 apps, 11 GS, 1 CG, 70 IP, 62 H, 22 BB, 41 K, .241 AVG, 4 HR, 7 HBP, 5 WP, 2-6 SB) was a midweek starter and middle reliever until he was moved into the weekend rotation due to an injury in late April and has been effective for a Sunday SP with a 3.62 ERA in Pac 11 games.  Gold allowed one earned run in four straight starts before allowing two runs in four innings last Sunday at OSU.  He isn’t a hard thrower and does a good job of getting sink on his fastball and letting his infielders do the work behind him.

Soph #3 Brando Tessar (RHP – 4-1, 3.58 ERA, 9 GS, 1 CG, 50 IP, 44 H, 40 BB, 47 K, .244 AVG, 0 HR, 6 HBP, 3 WP, 1-4 SB) was in the weekend rotation until straining a muscle in his forearm in the middle of April and only recently resumed throwing.

Relievers

Oregon doesn’t have a deep bullpen and relies primarily on three relievers but those three pitchers have been lights out and all three of them are capable of going 2-3 innings.

Soph #30 Jimmie Sherfy (RHP – 4-2, 2.29 ERA, 31 apps, 17 saves, 55 IP, 33 H, 31 BB, 84 K, .176 AVG, 2 HR, 13 HBP, 4 WP, 5-6 SB) barely pitched in 2011 because he had absolutely no command of his pitches but worked hard in the summer and the fall and has been one of the best relievers in the country and is fourth nationally in saves, an All-Pac 11 selection and likely All-American and will pitch for Team USA this summer.  He is a power pitcher with a good fastball that sits in the 90’s but his best pitch is an outstanding slider that he uses as his out pitch and he led the staff in strikeouts and finished sixth in the Pac 11 despite not making one start and had an amazing 13.7 K/9 IP rate.  Oregon is not afraid to bring him in before the ninth inning and he threw over one inning in fourteen of his appearances.

FR #27 Thomas Thorpe (LHP – 2-0, 2.11 ERA, 31 apps, 1 save, 38 IP, 22 H, 18 BB, 42 K, .177 AVG, 1 HR, 7 HBP, 1 WP, 2-5 SB) will be the pitcher called upon to get out LH hitters and has good movement on his pitches but can sometimes have trouble with his command.  He didn’t allow a run in eighteen straight appearances before giving up two runs last Sunday at OSU.

JR #40 Joey Housey (RHP – 2-0, 2.08 ERA, 19 apps, 1 save, 30 IP, 27 H, 11 BB, 24 K, .241 AVG, 0 HR, 3 HBP, 2 WP, 4-6 SB) has been the other reliever that Oregon has leaned on to get the ball to Sherfy on the back end of games.  He isn’t a hard thrower but gets good sink on his fastball to get batters to pound the ball into the ground.

Others

FR #23 Jordan Spencer (LHP – 4-2, 4.26 ERA, 12 apps, 6 GS, 1 CG, 38 IP, 31 H, 18 BB, 19 K, .230 AVG, 2 HR, 3 HBP, 1 WP, 3-5 SB) has been used more recently as a midweek starter with Gold moving into the weekend rotation.

FR #7 Billy Flamion (LHP – 1-0, 4.85 ERA, 11 apps, 13 IP, 4 H, 11 BB, 12 K, .091 AVG, 2 HR, 3 HBP, 5 WP, 0-1 SB)

JC transfer #32 David Wylie (RHP – 1-0, 5.30 ERA, 9 apps, 1 save, 19 IP, 19 H, 11 BB, 12 K, .279 AVG, 3 HR, 4 HBP, 1 WP, 1-2 SB)


Outlook

Oregon has played outstanding baseball this season against one of the more difficult schedules in the country with only a few slip-ups along the way.  When the Ducks pitching and defense are dictating things and keeping their opponents off of the scoreboard, they are very tough to beat at PK Park where they have gone 25-6.

Austin Peay is an experienced team that beat #1 seed Georgia Tech in the opening game of the Atlanta regional in 2011 so they will not be phased by playing in a post-season environment.  Austin Peay easily has the best offense in this regional and could give Oregon trouble if Sunday starter Gold isn’t effective.  However, the Ducks should be able to win their opening game and that would set up the game that everybody wants to see if Fullerton can get by Indiana State earlier in the day.

Both Fullerton and Oregon are holding back their Friday starters, who were both the pitcher of the year in their conferences.  The winner of that game should be able to move on and win the regional because the loser would have to win their next three games.  Oregon is the favorite to advance out of the regional as a national seed playing at home and as long as they don’t let their nerves get to them as a young team dealing with the pressure of playing at home, they have a good chance to win the regional.

2010 Season Opening Weekend Preview

By FullertonBaseballFan

It’s time for another year of Titan Baseball with the potential for a return visit to Omaha in the last year of venerable Rosenblatt Stadium. Fullerton is ranked in the top five in every major poll on the strength of a pitching staff that returns all three weekend starters and several position players that are pre-season All Americans. Instead of starting the season with a weekend series this year the Titans get things going against three different opponents on opening weekend. Here is a preview for each of Fullerton’s opponents.

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Friday – Oregon Ducks

Overall Record – 14-42
Conference Record – 4-23 (10th place)
RPI/ISR – 235/186
Predicted conf finish – 10th place

2009 Summary and 2010 Preview

Oregon fielded their first baseball team in 28 years in 2009 and they chose a very familiar face to Fullerton fans to lead the effort with former Titan head coach George Horton. They rode the wave of emotion of having a new program to a solid 9-9 start but once the Pac 10 season started things headed south for the Ducks and they only went 5-33 the rest of the way and ended the year with a thirteen game losing streak. Oregon had a solid Fri SP (7th round pick Erik Stavert) and a solid closer (Drew Gagnier, brother of former Fullerton pitcher Lauren Gagnier) but didn’t have much pitching depth after those two and had a staff ERA of 5.07 and struggled in conference games with a 5.95 ERA. To say the Ducks struggled offensively would be an understatement because they were the lowest scoring team in the country at 2.8 RPG. Oregon hit .227 as a team, which was the 2nd worst batting average in the country, and hit .201 in Pac 10 games. Oregon returns most of their starters except for Stavert and OF Caleb Tomassini so there should be improvement due to the experience they have, another recruiting class with some talented players and the coaching of George Horton.

Offense

Batting Average – .227 (NCAA ranking – 287 out of 288)
Runs Per Game – 2.8 (288)
Home Runs – 16 (280)
Stolen Bases – 60 (132)
Slugging Percentage – .304 (286)
Walks – 134 (277)
HBP’s – 45 (215)
Sac Bunts – 49 (26)

Lineup

C – JR Mitch Karraker (LH – .216 BA/.275 OBP/.281 SLG, 1 HR-18 RBI-1 SB) and Soph Paul Eshelman (.247 in 77 AB’s) were the catchers last season and figure to share time again this year.

1B/DH – Soph Darrell Hunter (RH – .175 in 63 AB’s) and JR Andrew Schmidt (Both – .212 in 85 AB’s) got most of the starts at 1B last season. JC transfer Stephen Kaupang (6’5”, 235 lbs) is expected to be in this mix to provide some power to a lineup that desperately needs it.

2B/3B – Soph Danny Pulfer (RH – .240/.340/.257, 0-15-4) and FR Jack Marder (RH) will be the starters at these two spots. Pulfer is a scrappy player but it shows how poor Oregon’s offense was that he usually hit in the middle of the lineup despite having only two extra base hits all season. Pulfer led team with 11 SAC bunts. Marder was the leading hitter in the California Collegiate League last summer. SR Josh Hogan (RH - .219/.270/.234, 0-5-3) is the backup infielder.

SS – Soph KC Serna (RH – .228/.281/.317, 3-19-9) led the team in HR and RBI.

CF – SR Curtis Raulinaitis (LH – .291/.354/.369, 0-12-9) was the only player who hit above .260 last season.

LF/RF – SR Jett Hart (RH – .207/.248/.333, 2-10-10) and Soph Antony Kreitz (LH – .258/.327/.461, 2-10-0) are the other two OF’s with the most experience. Hart was 2nd on the team in SB’s. FR Steven Packard and FR Darryl Jones (both are LH hitters) look likely to also get playing time in the OF.

Defense

Fielding % .961 (159) – 85 errors. Oregon fielded an inexperienced team and defense was another area in which they struggled. Serna has potential at SS and should cut down on his errors as should Pulfer. Raulinaitis has good range in CF.

Stolen Base Attempts – 44-69. Baserunners were 32-46 against Karraker.

WP’s/PB’s Allowed – 65. Oregon was below average at blocking pitches.

Pitching

ERA – 5.07 (74)
BA – .271
HR – 46
H’s/9 IP – 9.28 (31)
BB’s/9 IP – 4.45 (210)
K’s/9 IP – 6.7 (162)

Starting Pitchers

FRI – Soph Tyler Anderson (LHP – 2-9, 6.26 ERA, 15 starts, 82 IP, 98 H, 39 BB, 66 K, .296 BA, 9 HR, 7 HBP, 8 WP). Sat SP last season. “Crafty lefty”. Started out well in non-conf when he didn’t allow any HR’s but struggled in Pac 10 games and went 1-7 with a 7.77 ERA and allowed 9 HR’s. 9-13 SB’s. Picked off four runners so runners will have to be careful.

SAT – SR Justin LaTempa (RHP – 1 IP). Hard thrower with a fastball that gets into the mid 90’s when healthy, which has been an issue. He has had an interesting journey thru college, starting out in 2006 pitching at Irvine for Dave Serrano before transferring to Golden West College, undergoing arm surgery and ending up at Oregon. He has a chance to be drafted in the first 10 rounds with a good SR season.

SUN – FR Christian Jones (LHP). One of the better FR in the country and was expected to be drafted in the first 5-6 rounds last June but had a strong commitment to Oregon and ended up not being drafted. Fastball sits in the upper 80’s.

Midweek – Soph Madison Boer (RHP – 1-8, 6.97 ERA, 17 apps, 10 starts, 62 IP, 67 H, 31 BB, 37 K, .289 BA, 4 HR, 6 HBP, 5 WP). Sunday SP most of last season. Ground ball pitcher who struggled putting hitters away.

Relief Pitchers

Closer – JR Drew Gagnier (RHP – 1-0, 2.70 ERA, 23 apps, 7 saves, 30 IP, 14 H, 25 BB, 30 K, .137 BA, 1 HR, 3 HBP, 5 WP). Hard thrower with a fastball that gets into the mid 90’s who had control issues last season. 14th round draft pick last June who returned to school and should be drafted in the first 10 rounds this year.

Soph Chris Garrison (RHP – 0-3, 4.45 ERA, 12 apps, 3 starts, 32 IP, 32 H, 19 BB, 15 K, .274 BA, 4 HR, 1 HBP, 2 WP).
Soph Alex Keudell (RHP – 0-6, 5.15 ERA, 15 apps, 6 starts, 44 IP, 40 H, 18 BB, 24 K, .252 BA, 6 HR, 6 HBP, 2 WP).
Soph Scott McGough (RHP – 1-0, 5.21 ERA, 18 apps, 19 IP, 24 H, 5 BB, 15 K, .312 BA, 2 HR, 1 HBP, 4 WP).
SR Ryan Fleckenstein (LHP – 1-1, 5.40 ERA, 28 apps, 22 IP, 22 H, 14 BB, 11 K, .272 BA, 2 HR, 1 HBP, 2 WP).
SR Zach Thornton (RHP – 0-1, 6.17 ERA, 15 apps, 23 IP, 25 H, 15 BB, 16 K, .287 BA, 2 HR, 3 HBP, 3 WP).
SR Geoff Nicholls (RHP – 1-2, 6.63 ERA, 20 apps, 19 IP, 28 H, 10 BB, 18 K, .322 BA, 2 HR, 3 HBP, 3 WP).

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Saturday – Pepperdine Waves

Overall Record – 31-23
Conference Record – 12-9 (3rd place - tied)
RPI/ISR – 139/71
Predicted conf finish – 2nd

2009 Summary and 2010 Preview

Pepperdine went into last season with high expectations after playing in six straight regionals and returned an experienced roster. The Waves got off to a 16-6 start against a soft schedule before crashing during a seven game losing streak that included losing their first five WCC games. Pepperdine played better down the stretch in an attempt to get back in the conf race but couldn’t dig their way out of their deep hole and ended up finishing tied for 3rd and not qualifying for a regional for the first time since 2002. The Waves struggled with their hitting last season and scored three runs or less 20 times and were in the bottom half of the country in most hitting categories. Pepperdine’s hitting was their undoing because their team ERA was in the top 40 nationally and they had the second best fielding % in the country. The Waves return five starting position players and their two best SP’s but need to replace their middle infield, most of their outfield and most of their bullpen.

Offense

Park Factor according to Boyd’s World – 81 (decreases offense by 19%).
Batting Average – .284 (223)
Runs Per Game – 6.0 (218)
Home Runs – 43 (177)
Stolen Bases – 46 (209)
Slugging Percentage – .408 (230)
Walks – 167 (235)
HBP’s – 66 (88)
Sac Bunts – 36 (89)

Lineup

SR C Trent Diedrich (RH – .346/.447/.423, 0-9-0 in 76 AB’s) and Soph Nate Johnson (LH – .242/.327/.371, 5-24-1) provide an experienced tandem behind the plate. Diedrich was the starter in ’08 (.291-2-32) and last year before breaking his foot in early April. Diedrich is much better at getting on base while Johnson has more power.

SR 1B Ryan Heroy (RH – .290/.409/.494, 7-28-2) is a big guy who is in his third year as a starter and one of the main power threats (2nd on team in HR’s last season). He has a big swing and led the team with 47 K’s last year.

2B/SS – Pepperdine is breaking in a new middle infield after losing both of their starters and is looking at a couple of FR to take over with 2B Joe Sever and SS Zachary Vincej (both RH hitters). Soph Miles Silverstein (RH – .273 in 77 AB’s) will be the backup in the middle infield.

SR 3B Colin Rooney (RH – .327/.412/.503, 6-31-0) is a solid run producer who was 2nd on the team in SLG % and 3rd in HR’s and RBI’s.

Soph CF Brian Humphries (LH – .305/.336/.400, 2-38-8) is a pre-season all-conf selection. Good speed and a productive hitter who was 2nd on the team in RBI’s.

LF/RF and DH – Soph Aaron Gates (LH – .309/.377/.404, 2-8-0) will be in the mix in the OF when he’s not pitching and at DH when he’s pitching. Lots of players will be getting their first shots at extensive playing time at the corner OF spots including Soph Ryan Van Amburg (RH – .260 in 77 AB’s), Soph Tyler Brubaker (RH – .211 in 19 AB’s), JC transfer Floyd Given (LH) and FR Mike Hole (RH).

Defense

Fielding % .982 (2) – 36 errors. Pepperdine was one of the best fielding teams in the country but lost their 2B and SS who combined made only seven errors. Rooney made only two errors at 3B. Humphries is very good in CF.

Stolen Base Attempts – 46-59 against Diedrich and Johnson.

WP’s/PB’s Allowed – 74. One of the few areas that Pepperdine was below average in defensively was at blocking pitches.

Pitching

ERA – 4.52 (32)
BA – .240
HR – 30
H’s/9 IP – 7.82 (2)
BB’s/9 IP – 4.25 (184)
K’s/9 IP – 9.1 (14)

Starting Pitchers

FRI – Redshirt Soph Cole Cook (RHP – 7-3, 3.69 ERA, 16 apps, 8 starts, 1 CG, 83 IP, 57 H, 20 BB, 79 K, .195 BA, 4 HR, 4 HBP, 7 WP) is a big guy who throws hard (fastball into the mid 90’s) and has a good breaking ball. Good control for a hard thrower. 7th in the country in H/9 IP last year at 6.18. Baserunners were 7-10 on SB attempts. FR All-American last season and pre-season all conf selection. He has the potential to be drafted in the first few rounds with a good season.

SAT – JR Matt Bywater (LHP – 6-1, 3.57 ERA, 12 apps, 10 starts, 63 IP, 50 H, 24 BB, 66 K, .217 BA, 6 HR, 3 HBP, 5 WP). Fastball in the upper 80s with a good changeup. Baserunners were 3-7 on SB attempts and he picked off two runners. 1st team all conf last season and a pre-season all conf selection.

SUN – SR Robert D*ckmann (LHP – 2008 stats, 3-5, 5.44 ERA, 14 starts, 67 IP, 88 H, 18 BB, 37 K, .332 BA, 9 HR, 4 HBP, 2 WP). Injured in his first start last year and was a medical redshirt. Crafty LHP with solid changeup and curveball.

Midweek – Soph Aaron Gates (LHP – 3-3, 6.14 ERA, 17 apps, 11 starts, 44 IP, 45 H, 30 BB, 43 K, .280 BA, 6 HR, 7 HBP, 2 WP). Gates will be the midweek SP and focus on hitting on the weekends.

Relief Pitchers

JR Kevin Inman (RHP – 10 IP) and Soph Brad Jesernig (RHP – 12 IP) are the only relievers returning so the roles for pitchers in the bullpen are in a state of flux. The pitchers who looked the best during the fall were FR RHP’s Cory Jones and Daniel Patrick and FR LHP’s Alex Najera and Jordan Luvisi.

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Sunday – Long Beach State Dirtbags

Overall Record – 25-29
Conference Record – 11-13 (5th place - tied)
RPI/ISR – 117/73
Predicted conf finish – 4th

2009 Summary and 2010 Preview

Long Beach has been used to competing for Big West championships since Dave Snow arrived on campus for the 1989 season. The Dirtbags entered last year with an inexperienced team after sharing the conf title with Fullerton in 2008 and had their first losing season since 1988. Long Beach got off to a slow start and lost their first five series, rebounded in the middle of the season to win five of the next six series but struggled down the stretch and lost nine of their last ten games. They struggled both offensively, ranking in the bottom half of the country in most offensive categories except for SB’s, and on the mound where they had a very uncharacteristic 5.18 team ERA. Expectations for the Dirtbags are higher this season and they are expected to contend for a spot in a regional this year with a much more experienced team. Long Beach has seven starting position players and two weekend starting pitchers returning and a recruiting class heavy on pitchers to fill out the bullpen, which is the only inexperienced area on the team. They also welcome back pitching coach Troy Buckley, who was instrumental in the development of many high draft picks and the team annually being among the national leaders in ERA.

Offense

Park Factor according to Boyd’s World – 84 (decreases offense by 16%).
Batting Average – .289 (197)
Runs Per Game – 6.0 (220)
Home Runs – 24 (263)
Stolen Bases – 118 (12)
Slugging Percentage – .394 (255)
Walks – 176 (225)
HBP’s – 72 (59)
Sac Bunts – 61 (9)

Lineup

C – SR Kellen Hoime (RH – .252/.338/.291, 0-19-5) split time during non-conf games but started 16 of the last 18 games. Went 0-5 in two games against Fullerton.

1B – SR Steve Tinoco (RH – .343/.379/.543, 5-30-5) was 2nd on the team in HR’s and SLG %. Went 2-12 with an HR last season against Fullerton. Predicted to contend for all conf honors.

2B – Soph Derek Legg (Both – .304/.382/.376, 1-20-11) started last year as a FR. Handles the bat well and has good speed. Went 2-13 last season against Fullerton.

SS – JR Devin Lohman (RH – .307/.409/.432, 4-36-14) is projected to be selected in the first 10 rounds of the draft. Was 2nd on the team in RBI’s and hit in the middle of the lineup. 2nd in the conf last year with 48 K’s. Went 2-11 last season against Fullerton.

3B/DH – Soph Kirk Singer (RH – .317 in 41 AB’s) started to get more playing time late last season. Projected to be one of the better defensive players at 3B on the west coast. Soph Joey Terdoslavich (Both – .293-5-25-2 in 2008) sat out last season after transferring from Miami. He will be in the lineup at either 3B or DH and will provide some much needed power to the lineup and is expected to contend for all conf honors.

LF – JR Jonathon Jones (RH – .307/.388/.375, 1-23-15) has good speed and was the starting CF in 2008. Jones was 5-9 last season against Fullerton. Other OF’s who could also see playing time in LF or at DH are SR Tre Dennis (LH – .232/.348/.326, 1-13-10) and Soph Brennan Metzger (RH – .258/.389/.337, 1-9-11), who was 2nd on the team in SAC’s.

CF – JR Jordan Casas (LH – .308/.335/.362, 0-25-22) was the leadoff hitter last season and was 2nd in the conf in SB’s. He went 2-13 against Fullerton last year while playing with a broken finger. He is expected to contend for all conf honors.

RF – SR TJ Mittelstaedt (LH – .316/.416/.551, 6-46-6) led the team in HR’s, RBI’s, BB’s, OBP, 2B’s, 3B’s and SLG last season and was one of the few bright spots in a miserable season for Long Beach. He is 10-30 with 4 RBI’s in his career against Fullerton, including 3-11 last season when all three hits were triples.

Defense

Fielding % .966 (88) – 68 errors. Struggled early before fielding better during the conf season. Potential to have a good defensive infield with improvement by Lohman and Legg. Very good defensive outfield.

Stolen Base Attempts – 30-47 against Hoime (15-26 in conf games). He also picked off four runners.

WP’s/PB’s Allowed – 42. Solid at blocking pitches.

Pitching

ERA – 5.18 (95)
BA – .303
HR – 40
H’s/9 IP – 10.82 (154)
BB’s/9 IP – 3.10 (27)
K’s/9 IP – 6.3 (202)

Starting Pitchers

Fri SP – JR Jake Thompson (RHP – 4-7, 5.61 ERA, 14 starts, 85 IP, 103 H, 13 BB, 42 K, .302 BA, 9 HR, 10 HBP, 5 WP) has a low 90’s fastball and very good control but he doesn’t miss too many bats and had trouble keeping the ball down. He does a good job of holding runners (4-8 SB’s). He has allowed 12 R on 19 H in 11 IP in his two starts against Fullerton in his career.

Sat SP – Soph Andrew Gagnon (RHP – 3-7, 6.32 ERA, 13 starts, 73 IP, 96 H, 23 BB, 44 K, .327 BA, 5 HR, 11 HBP, 9 WP) is a talented pitcher with a low 90’s fastball who was drafted in the 10th round out of HS. He has had trouble being consistent with his command. Baserunners were 8-12 on SB attempts against him. Allowed 6 R in 2 2/3 IP in his start against Fullerton last season.

Sun SP – Projected to be JC transfer Branden Pinder (RHP). The Sun SP could be rotated among several pitchers until somebody takes control of this spot.

Relief Pitchers

Long Beach lost most of their relievers from last season so the bullpen is up for grabs. The only experienced relievers are SR Jason Markovitz (LHP – 1-1, 4.42 ERA, 18 apps, 20 IP, 21 H, 9 BB, 15 K, .304 BA, 1 HR, 3 HBP, 0 WP), SR David Brown (RHP – 2-0, 6.30 ERA, 15 apps, 20 IP, 26 H, 12 BB, 10 K, .329 BA, 3 HR, 3 HBP, 0 WP) and Soph Josh Corrales (RHP – 1-2, 6.64 ERA, 1 save, 17 apps, 20 IP, 27 H, 10 BB, 11 K, .333 BA, 1 HR, 2 HBP, 2 WP). Pitchers who figure to contend for the Sun SP, midweek SP and innings in the bullpen are JC transfers Troy Watson, Cris Trout and Kenny Arnerich (all RHP's), redshirt FR Ryan Donohue (LHP) and FR Jordan Mejia, Eddie Magallon, Nate Underwood (all RHP's).

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Outlook

Fullerton goes into this weekend looking to play like a team on a mission. The Titans had a good season but were inconsistent in the middle of the year and often didn’t come up big when they needed to, especially in Omaha. Each of the teams that Fullerton is playing this weekend figure to be much better this season than they were last year. But, the Titans look like they are better than all three of the teams they are playing this weekend. Fullerton should win at least two of the three games and it wouldn’t be a major surprise if Fullerton won all three games to start the season.