Titans Squeeze By the Beach

By Don Hudson

In a series sandwiched around dire weather forecasts – which generally came true – the Cal State Fullerton Titans were able to gain a pair of narrow 2-1 victories in a Friday day-night double-header in a non-conference series against the dreaded Long Beach State Dirtbags before losing the finale on Sunday, 7-2. The Titans have now won their fourth consecutive weekend series heading into their match-up with Oral Roberts University, and they were rewarded by moving up two notches to #13 in the Baseball America rankings.

Game 1: “Pitching Plus Pedroza”

Titans 2, Dirtbags 1

In a game in which the Titans left a small village of runners on base, they prevailed on the strength of the pitching of Dylan Floro, a late two-out rally highlighted by Richy Pedroza’s two-run single and a save by Michael Lorenzen, his seventh in seven attempts. That uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach throughout the game was a result of the 13 Titans runners left on base: 16 batters reached base (12 hits, two walks and 2 HBP), but just two scored. (Okay, the spicy sausage sandwich with onions and red peppers I bought from the roach coach might have also had something to do with it.)

After both hurlers notched 1-2-3 first innings, the Dirtbags got on the board with a single, stolen base, walk and RBI single. This is when the turbulence began for the Titans offense.

Carlos Lopez led off with an infield single and went to third on a perfectly executed hit-and-run single by Anthony Hutting, giving the Titans runners at the corners with one out. Derek Legg was hit by a pitch – the first of three times that happened in the series, but catcher Casey Watkins was retired with the bases loaded.

Floro (left) got locked into a groove, but the Dirtbags’ starter, Shaun Stuart, was able to maintain the slim 1-0 lead by working out of jam after jam. In the fourth inning, the Titans loaded the bases after two were out on a walk to Hutting and infield singles by J.D. Davis and Legg before Watkins was retired to end the threat. In the fifth inning, Ivory Thomas led off with a single and advanced on a sacrifice by Pedroza, but the Titans’ big guns, Lorenzen and Lopez, were unable to break the scoring drought.

Sixth inning? More frustration – again Watkins was retired to end a threat with two runners aboard. (Matt Chapman had singled and Legg walked.) The job that Floro and his defense did was the saving grace for the Titans. The Beach had a threat in the seventh inning on a lead-off single and sacrifice, but the runner strayed too far from second base on a groundball to shortstop Chapman, who played it perfectly by running directly towards the runner and making the play on him unassisted.

With the frustration of leaving so many runners aboard, the Titans gambled in the bottom of the seventh inning and were once again denied by those pesky Dirtbags. Facing reliever Matt Johnson, the Titans got singles by Pedroza and Lopez to put runners on first and second with two outs. Chapman bounced a ball deep into the shortstop hole – the throw went to second, but Lopez easily beat it, which would have loaded the bases for Hutting. But third base coach Chad Baum kept Pedroza wheeling towards home, where he was thrown out to end the inning. Tough call – Hutting has been squaring the ball up lately and also has a great eye at the plate, but the instantaneous decision to try to force the action seemed like a reasonable risk to me at the time.

Floro kept churning out scoreless innings, sending the game to the fateful bottom of the eighth with the Dirtbags clinging to their 1-0 lead.

Johnson easily retired the first two Titans before plunking Legg with a pitch on a bunt attempt. A brief brouhaha ensued, as Dirtbags skipper Troy Buckley challenged why plate umpire Brad Hungerford had earlier disallowed a Dirtbag from taking a base when struck by a Floro pitch while awarding Legg a base. (I had a good look, Skip – the difference might be your right-handed batter went across the plate into the path of the pitch while attempting a bunt, while Legg was batting left-handed and moving away from the pitch when struck.)

After Austin Diemer pinch-ran for Legg, Greg Velazquez pinch-hit for Watkins and delivered a solid base hit to leftfield. Thomas hit a soft bouncer to second-baseman Jeff McNeil, who fielded the ball cleanly but hesitated slightly on his throw, which Thomas beat out for a single to load the bases.

A lengthy battle then ensued between pitcher Johnson and hitter Pedroza, who quickly fell behind before battling back to make it a full count. With the runners moving on the pitch, Diemer and Velazquez scored easily (left) when Pedroza lined the ball into centerfield to drive in the tying and go-ahead runs.

Now clinging to a 2-1 lead, Lorenzen was called on to preserve the margin in the ninth inning. Lorenzen did what he does best: he pounded the strike zone for 11 strikes out of the 12 pitches he threw. Even though he surrendered a solid single, Michael seemed in complete command and was able to finish the job successfully.

Dylan Floro (2-2) got the win, scattering seven hits and just one walk in his eight innings of work, throwing 99 pitches.

Just enough time between games to eradicate the aftertaste of the spicy sausage sandwich by making a quick trip to The Hat for their world-famous pastrami dip!

Game 2: “Second Verse, Same as the First”

Titans 2, Dirtbags 1

(Damn! Will I ever get that dreadful Herman’s Hermits’ song out of my head?)

Kenny Mathews was once again brilliant for the Titans in posting his second win, with excellent relief help from Grahamm Wiest. Mathews was dominant, facing just one over the minimum in the final 20 batters he faced.

With the end-of-winter storm approaching and the chilly evening temperatures quickly cooling off my leftover chili fries from The Hat – they taste great no matter how cold they get – Mathews and the Dirtbags’ Matt Anderson locked into a pitchers’ duel.

The Titans had an early threat to continue the momentum over from the scintillating comeback in Game 1 and kick the Dirtbags while they were down. Thomas led off with a single and Pedroza reached base when Long Beach kicked his sacrifice bunt. When you have runners on first and second resulting from a misplayed bunt, what do you do? You bunt again! Unfortunately, Anderson’s pitch sailed inside and struck Lorenzen on the hand as he attempted to bunt – more on that later – and Lorenzen eventually struck out and slammed his bat in pain and frustration. Both runners advanced on a groundout by Lopez, but the threat was thwarted when the Dirtbags got a major break: a pitch went all the way to the backstop and Thomas broke for the plate. But the ball bounced right back to the catcher, who flipped to the pitcher to retire Thomas.

Mathews also faced an early threat, when two Dirtbags singled in the second inning, but he worked out of it with a strikeout and flyout to Thomas. Another Titans’ opportunity went by the wayside in the third inning. Catcher Chad Wallach singled and advanced on a sacrifice by Thomas and a groundout by Pedroza (left), but was stranded when Lorenzen grounded out. Lorenzen threw his bat – perhaps disgust added to his pain and frustration – and was given a warning by the plate umpire.

Just as happened earlier in the day, the Dirtbags grabbed a 1-0 lead. First-baseman Ino Patron, a notorious Titans killer, singled and advanced around the bases on two wild pitches and a sacrifice fly.

The Titans finally cashed in some chips in the fourth inning, not waiting as late as they had in the lid-lifter. Infield singles by Lopez and Hutting put two runners on base with one out, followed by a walk to Velazquez that loaded the bases. The plate-hugging Legg was hit by a pitch to drive in the tying run.

With Wallach now batting with the bases loaded, there was pitch that eluded the catcher, who had trouble finding the ball after it got past him – but Hutting held up at third. We lightning-quick base-runners sitting in the stands all knew that we would have successfully attempted to score, but the memory of a lost base-runner at the plate earlier in this game and also on Tuesday vs. Washington State was fresh in the players’ minds. Wallach lifted the second pitch thrown to him deep enough into leftfield to score Hutting on a sacrifice fly to give the Titans a 2-1 lead.

After that, it was like déjà vu all over again. The Titans managed to get guys on base with frequency – sometimes even on the same base – but were unable to punch across any insurance runs.

With Lorenzen’s availability to potentially close Game 2 uncertain because of the finger injury he suffered on the attempted bunt earlier in the game, the Titans hoped to get Mathews at least through the eighth inning still clinging to the 2-1 lead. He retired the first two Dirtbags in the inning, but when he gave up a solid single and a right-handed pinch-hitter was announced, the Titans went to the bullpen for Grahamm Wiest, who had been a major hero in the rubber game of the series win the previous weekend at Texas A&M. The Dirtbags went to a left-handed pinch-hitter to face Wiest, who induced a line drive to shortstop Chapman to end the inning.

In the bottom of the eighth, Lopez somehow worked his way out of a rundown between home and third when he tried to score on a “contact” play. Lopez slid back into third-base ahead of the attempted tag and saw teammate Austin Kingsolver heading towards the same bag. Lopez seemed to momentarily play “possum” and act like he was out, which may have lulled the Dirtbags into a momentary lapse that allowed Kingsolver to scamper back to second unscathed. It was quite calamitous and should have been enough to break the backs of the dispirited Dirtbags – but they maintained their composure and executed a 4-6-3 double-play to escape the inning scorelessly.

Wiest came out to face the top of the Dirtbags line-up in the ninth inning. He was smooth and looked almost effortless in retiring the side to nail down the win and clinch the series for the Titans. It was the first career save for Wiest.

(More photos from the Titans' sweep of Friday doubleheader)

Game 3: “We Would Have Won 2-1 (Except for that 6-Run Inning)”

Dirtbags 7, Titans 2

It rained all day Saturday – just as the weatherwoman had predicted – so there was no game played on St. Patrick’s Day. Perfect – green beer for you and corned beef and cabbage for me. (Great job, Peppertree Café in Glendora!) The weather on Sunday morning was a little more varied: hailstorms here, bright sunshine there, cold and windy everywhere. Play ball!

Sunday is the day the Titans usually win and hit the stuffing out of the ball: they came in with a record of 5-0 on Sundays (counting both outcomes of the Sunday games completed at Texas A&M) and averaged eight runs per game. Not today. All good things must end someday.

It had a bad feeling from the start. The leadoff Dirtbag lined a routine single to rightfield, which scooted by Thomas and resulted in a runner on third with no outs. I wasn’t down there, so I can’t say, but the field looked to be in great shape considering the amount of rain it took from late Friday night through Sunday morning. Titans pitcher J.D. Davis then surrendered an RBI single to Matt Duffy, and the Dirtbags had a 1-0 lead for the third straight game.

What, me worry? The Titans threatened to tie the score in the bottom of the second when they had runners on the corners with one out (double by Lopez, groundout and walk by Velazquez), but LBSU pitcher Ryan Strufing induced a line-out by Diemer and a flyout by Legg to escape peril. Meanwhile, Davis continued his recent trend of allowing lots of hits but not many runs. He went four innings, allowing five hits, one walk and two hit-batsmen, but just the solo run in the first inning.

Davis was taken off the hook when the Titans tied the score, 1-1, in the bottom of the fourth. With one out, Lopez hit a hard groundball that appeared to me and the entire Dirtbag dugout to be foul – even Lopez remained at the plate momentarily until he realized first-base umpire Hungerford was emphatically signaling ‘fair ball.’ (Hmmmm….isn’t Hungerford the ump who tossed Lopez out of the game against LMU?) Lopez went to third on a groundout by Chapman and scored on a two-out RBI single by Velazquez. The Dirtbag playing rightfield momentarily misjudged Diemer’s opposite field drive, but he recovered and made a circus catch as his feet slipped to limit the damage.

Koby Gauna took over for Davis and worked a scoreless fifth inning, albeit with a four-pitch walk followed by a hit batsman which proved to be a portent of bad things to come.

The Titans took a 2-1 lead in the last of the fifth inning. Legg led off with an infield single, and Watkins was sent up to bunt him over. There was apparently a missed sign, resulting in a not-so-subtle admonition from the dugout for him to bunt the next pitch. With everybody in the house knowing what was happening next, the Dirtbags fielded Casey’s bunt and cut down the lead runner. Ivory Thomas followed with a long double off the wall in right-centerfield, which allowed Watkins to score from first when the Dirtbags missed their cutoff man. The Titans had gained their familiar 2-1 lead, and all seemed right with the world when they loaded the bases on walks to Pedroza and Lopez. (By this time, Lopez had worn out their pitching so much that they would have probably walked him even if the bases were loaded.) But once again, the bases were left loaded and the Titans clung to their slim 2-1 lead. What would be the odds of sweeping three games by identical 2-1 scores?

Answer: not good. Freshman outfielder Richard Prigatano led off with a single and stole second base. The next batter attempted to sacrifice the tying run to third, but his bunt was good enough for a hit that put runners on the corners with nobody out. Gauna walked the next Dirtbag to load the bases. Then the wheels really came off the Titans’ wagon.

Long Beach tied the score, 2-2, when a dinky chopper towards second base turned into an RBI single, chasing Gauna with the bases still loaded and no outs. Wiest came in to try to work out of another crisis, but he did not have the magic on this day. He walked the first batter he faced on four pitches and suddenly the Titans trailed. A groundball in the shortstop hole resulted in another RBI hit. A passed ball by Wallach, who had replaced Watkins, led to more pain. Pedroza left his feet to field a high chopper and it turned into an error. The Dirtbags scored six runs on five hits, two walks, an error and a passed ball. Of the five hits, only one left the infield: there was a bases-loaded RBI single that resulted in Lorenzen gunning a runner out at home, with Wallach deftly blocking the plate. Ugliness was raised to a new height.

That was pretty much the ballgame. Jared Deacon made his first appearance of the season for the Titans, catching three innings and batting once (he walked). Dimitri De la Fuente also notched two scoreless innings – “Papi” has been nails since he received his one-on-one mentoring from Coach Vanderhook on the mound in the middle game at Texas A&M.

The Titans had something going in the seventh inning, which might have been a huge spark if they had overcome such a shitty inning and a five-run deficit. They loaded the bases on singles by Thomas and Pedroza and a semi-intentional four-pitch walk to Lopez, bringing Chapman to the plate with a chance to make the game closer. He hit a screamer down the third-base line, seemingly ticketed for a double that would bring the tying run to the plate. But Long Beach State third-baseman Michael Hill dove and made a great grab of the line drive, practically landing on the base to double off Thomas, who had absolutely no chance to get back.

Sometimes games like this are the easiest to flush – they played poorly in all facets of the game. There were eight hits and seven walks, but eleven runners were stranded. The defense made two errors and the pitching gave up twelve hits, four walks and three hit batsmen. Flush it and move on to the next series against Oral Roberts.

(More photos from the Dirtbags' Game 3 victory)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

So what did we learn this weekend?

The Titans scored two runs in each of the three games. It wasn’t lack of hits or base-runners that was their problem; it was lack of hits with runners on base. The pitching was great in the two wins, but the offense sputtered every time they had the chance to inflict harm on the Dirtbags.

• Game 1: 16 runners reached base (12 hits, 2 walks and 2 HBP), just 2 scored – 13 LOB.
• Game 2: 13 runners reached base (7 hits, 4 walks, a HBP and the fielder’s choice on the botched rundown play), just 2 scored – 9 LOB.
• Game 3: 15 runners reached base (8 hits, 7 walks), just two scored – 11 LOB.

That’s 33 runners stranded in three games – 11 per game.

Many of the fans have been clamoring for a revised batting order – myself included – and this weekend we got pretty much what had been the consensus on the message boards: Thomas leading off, followed by Pedroza, Lorenzen and Lopez. Despite pretty good productivity from the table-setters, there were no runs scored this weekend by the top three batters in the order. Zero. Thomas was 5-for-12 (.417) with a walk (.462 OBP), while Pedroza was 4-for-11 (.364) with one walk (.417 OBP) and the two huge RBI in the series opener. Clean-up man Lopez also had a great series, going 6-for-11 (.545), with three doubles, two runs scored and two walks (.615 OBP).

Lorenzen had a rough series: 1-for-14 (.071). We’ll never know how much of it was good pitching by Long Beach against a great ballplayer, or how much was just the normal ups and downs of hitting a baseball or whether his hand injury in the Friday night game was a factor. Twitter posts after the game by “Shotgun” Spratling (@SoCal_CBDaily) and Kendall Rogers (@KendallRogersPG) quoted Coach Vanderhook that Lorenzen suffered a blood blister which apparently “busted open” when he went down to the bullpen: “blood was everywhere.” Vanderhook has already shown his willingness to have Lorenzen work both ends of a double-header (see last week at Texas A&M), so the fact Wiest closed out the win Friday night may have been related to the injury. Lorenzen played with a bandaged finger on Sunday. Lorenzen is a total stand-up guy and wouldn’t make excuses for his performance or uncharacteristic displays of frustration on Friday – but I think he deserves a lot of slack for this series.

Runs in baseball are like rain: you can have an extended drought followed by a deluge. Both Texas and Southern California were in the midst of sustained droughts – until the floodgates opened the last couple weekends. I’m optimistic the same is going to happen to the Titans offensively. All it will take is a break here and a clutch hit there and all the pieces will fall into place. This team has too many capable hitters to continue to score as few runs as they have lately.

The common link in all seven losses by the Titans: they have fallen victim to a big inning. I think this is an area where we will see steady improvement as the team matures: experienced pitchers are better able to overcome a mistake (either their own or by a teammate) and limit damage control to just a run or two, not a big crooked number.

Kenny Mathews continues to impress. He is 2-0, 2.25 ERA and leads the team with 25 strikeouts. He moved the ball all over the place on Friday, generally relying on his fastball but changing speeds just enough to keep the opposing hitters off-stride all night. When he gets in a groove, he is virtually unhittable. I also like the way he holds runners on base.

It will be interesting to see how the catching position playing time is divvied up going forward. Both catchers were yanked from the game Sunday: one following an apparently missed sign and the other following a passed ball. Jared Deacon made his 2012 debut and drew a walk in his only plate appearance. If he has recovered from off-season elbow surgery, the left-handed-hitting Deacon will probably figure into a platoon situation with the right-handed-hitting Watkins and Wallach.

Interesting-but-not-surprising stat: in 19 games (including today’s 12-2 shellacking by Pepperdine), Long Beach State has hit zero home runs and allowed just one. Also not surprisingly, there were no home runs in the series this weekend. I’m sure a lot of that has to do with Blair Field, but they’re playing the same on the road.

Finally, kudos to whoever worked out the schedule that allowed all three games to played without subjecting the teams and fans to endless hours of rain, cold and wind. I like the flexibility that was displayed, presumably by officials of both programs, who heeded the forecast and made reasonable adjustments. Nice job!

Let’s get behind the team this weekend – don’t wait for something good to happen to cheer!

Go Titans!

Ticket Policy for Long Beach Series

The Cal State Fullerton Athletic Ticket Office has released the following ticket information regarding this weekend's change in schedule for the non-conference baseball series between the Titans and Long Beach State 49ers:

Tickets for Sunday's (March 18) game should be used for the 2:30 p.m. game on Friday (March 16).

Tickets for Friday (March 16) night's 7 p.m. game and Saturday (March 17) night's 6 p.m. game are unaffected.

Should Saturday's game get rained out, Saturday and Sunday tickets will be honored Sunday. If Sunday's game is rained out, they will be honored at a make-up game on Tuesday, May 8, at 6 p.m.

For all up to date information, please visit www.fullertontitans.com.


Sincerely,

Athletic Ticket Office
Cal State Fullerton
phone: (657) 278-2783
email: athletictixs@fullerton.edu

Long Beach State Series Preview

Long Beach State at Titans (Goodwin Field)

Friday 2:30 p.m. and 7 p.m., Sunday 1 p.m. PT

By FullertonBaseballFan

Cal State Fullerton has played one of the tougher schedules that anybody has faced thus far with three series in the first four weekends against teams that were ranked in the top fifteen nationally when each series was played. The Titans only won once against #1 Florida but that is the only blemish on the Gators 16-1 record as they head into SEC play this weekend. Fullerton followed that up the next weekend by winning a series at home against #15 TCU and last weekend headed down to #5 Texas A&M and became the first team to win a non-conference series in College Station since 1995 after losing the first game 6-1 by winning the final two games 6-5 in eleven innings and 4-3.

Fullerton played their first game away from Goodwin Field since the Florida series when they traveled up to USC last Tuesday night and saw their seven game winning streak snapped in a 7-4 loss. The game was scoreless until the fifth inning when the Titans scored four runs on an RBI groundout by Greg Velasquez, an RBI single by Michael Lorenzen and a two run triple by Richy Pedroza. It looked like Koby Gauna might make that lead stand up as he took a shutout into the bottom of the sixth before the Trojans scored two runs off of him and Tyler Peitzmeier and scored five runs off of Peitzmeier and Willie Kuhl in the bottom of the seventh to take the lead for good. Fullerton only had five hits in the game with four of them coming in the four run fifth as the Titans struggled at the plate most of the night.

Texas A&M extended Fullerton’s losing streak with a 6-1 win on Friday night. The Aggies jumped on the Titans early with four runs in the first two innings off of Dylan Floro and Fullerton never recovered. Texas A&M got an outstanding start from All-American Michael Wacha, who shutout the Titans for five innings and gave up only two hits. Fullerton broke up Wacha’s shutout after an hour long rain delay when they scored an unearned run in the sixth inning on a SF by Matt Chapman, who also had two of the Titans four hits. Texas A&M completed the scoring for the night with two runs off of the Fullerton bullpen in the eighth inning and the Aggies bullpen held the Titans scoreless for the final three innings.

Texas A&M scored three runs in the second inning for the second straight game and it looked like they were on their way to winning the series before the Titans put together a rally in the fourth inning. Lorenzen and Carlos Lopez led off the inning with doubles and Pedroza’s groundout drove in the second run. The Aggies scored in the bottom of the fifth before Fullerton scored three runs in the top of the sixth to take the lead with some help from Texas A&M. Derek Legg and Lorenzen led off the inning with singles, Lopez bunted them over and Pedroza drove them both in with a two out single and when the throw from LF to the plate got away, Pedroza advanced all the way to third and when the C’s throw to 3B got away he came around to score to give the Titans a 5-4 lead on two of the Aggies four errors in the game. Kenny Mathews held Texas A&M to one run after the second inning until tiring in the eighth when he allowed the tying run. Peitzmeier and Kuhl got out of a jam in the bottom of the ninth when they each struck out a batter with the winning run on third and the score would stay tied 5-5 for 21 hours when a rain delay suspended the game until Sunday. Fullerton jumped on Texas A&M’s closer in his third inning of work (one on Sat and two on Sun) in the 11th when Anthony Trajano pulled a double down the LF line and Austin Kingsolver bounced a ball up the middle for the go ahead RBI. Lorenzen came in from CF to finish things off for his fifth save with a 1-2-3 inning and two strikeouts. Four Titans had two hits and Pedroza had three RBI.

Texas A&M looked determined to win the final game and the series when they scored three runs in the second inning for the third straight day before Fullerton rallied in the fourth inning. Legg got things started with a bunt single for the second straight game, Lorenzen doubled him in and Chapman tied the game with a two run HR that hit the top of the fence and bounced over. Grahamm Wiest made his first appearance since the Florida series when he came into the game in the fifth for starter J.D. Davis and held the Aggies scoreless for four innings and allowed only two hits with five strikeouts. There was a travel curfew that came into play like it did in the TCU series because Fullerton had a plane to catch out of Houston so both teams knew that the game would end after nine innings. Chapman got things started in the top of the ninth when he singled and Pedroza followed with a single up the middle and Chapman advanced to third on the throw with Pedroza going to second. After an intentional walk, pinch-hitter Anthony Hutting hit a hard grounder that the 1B couldn’t handle that drove in Chapman with the go ahead run. Lorenzen came in from CF and retired Texas A&M 1-2-3 with two strikeouts for the second straight time on Sunday for his Big West leading sixth save of Wiest’s first win as a Titan.

Fullerton returned to Goodwin Field on Tuesday and played Washington State in another game that was settled late and lasted nearly four hours. The Titans were the ones putting together a three run inning early this time after they jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the third on an Ivory Thomas walk (one of his three walks), a double by Legg, a two run RBI single by Lorenzen and an RBI single by Pedroza. It looked like Gauna might have a chance to make the lead stand when he took a 3-1 lead into the sixth before the floodgates opened after an error extended the inning and the Cougars followed that up with a single, a three run HR and two doubles to take a 6-3 lead. Davis singled to lead off the sixth and eventually scored on a SF by Thomas. WSU extended the lead to 8-4 in the seventh before Fullerton rallied for four runs to tie the game in the bottom of the inning. Lorenzen tripled, Lopez singled him in, Chapman followed with a single, Pedroza bunted the runners over, Davis hit a SF and pinch-hitter Hutting hit a two run HR to tie the game. Things stayed tied until the Cougars scored a run in the top of the eleventh and the Titans were held off the scoreboard for the fourth straight inning to end the game.

Fullerton stays home this weekend and welcomes their long-time rivals from Long Beach State to Goodwin Field. This will be a non-conference series in what was an annual tradition for the teams to play two series each season from 2001-2008 and after a two year break, the tradition was continued last season when the teams played a non-conference series to open up the schedule. The Titans have been getting the better of the Dirtbags over the last three years, who have gotten off to a slow start but would like nothing better than to turn their season around this weekend.

Long Beach State Dirtbags

• Current Record – 5-10
• Overall Record in 2011 – 29-27
• Conference Record in 2011 – 12-12 in 2011 (4th)
• 2011 Post-Season – None
• RPI/ISR – 40/114. 2011 – 65/48.
• Current/pre-season ranking – None
• Predicted conference finish – 3rd by the Big West coaches, Baseball America and Easton College Baseball, 4th by Perfect Game.

2011 Review and 2012 Summary

The wheels fell off of the tracks at Long Beach in 2009-2010 and they 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. The Dirtbags finished in last place in the Big West in 2010 after expecting to contend for a regional with an experienced team that returned seven starting position players and two starting pitchers. Long Beach pretty much started over last year with seventeen freshmen and five JC transfers entering the program and as would be expected, they were inconsistent during the season against one of the most difficult schedules in the country. The Dirtbags won series against three out of four teams in the top part of the Big West standings (UC Irvine, Cal Poly, UC Riverside) but lost series to also-rans UCSB and UC Davis. Long Beach finished over .500 due to their pitching depth that allowed them to go 9-2 in midweek games.

Long Beach didn’t change their offensive approach with the switch from Weathers to Buckley and their philosophy continued to be to try to get runners on, try to get them over and try to get them in. The Dirtbags struggled with the getting runners on and getting runners in part of the equation and ended up near the bottom of the Big West in R, AVG, BB and OBP. Long Beach didn’t steal much or effectively with a success rate that was barely over 60% but often used the hit and run to get runners moving and bunted early and often with five players having at least seven SAC’s. The Dirtbags didn’t have much power, which isn’t a surprise playing their games at Blair Field, and they were last in the Big West in HR and SLG and scored three runs or less in over half of their games and two runs or less twenty-four times. Only two position players hit over .280 for Long Beach and both of them have moved on.

Buckley returned to the program in 2010 after a two year absence and the pitching was improved with the ERA coming down half a run to 4.67 and Long Beach’s ERA came down by another run to 3.55 in 2011 with teams hitting only .259 against them and they were among the Big West leaders in strikeouts. The Dirtbags also did an outstanding job of finishing things off in close games and were 21-10 in games decided by one or two runs due to a deep bullpen.

Long Beach won their first two series at home this season against VCU and California with five of the six games being decided by one run. The Dirtbags luck in one run games ran out when they went up to Oregon and the Ducks scored the winning run in their final at bat in all three games. Long Beach returned home to play Arizona State last weekend and lost the first game in 12 innings, won the second game and lost the final game on Sunday. Unlike last season when the Dirtbags were very successful in midweek games, they have gone 0-3 on Tuesdays thus far.

Long Beach is struggling once again to score runs and they have been held to four runs or less in 11 of 15 games. The Dirtbags weren’t running much in their first eleven games with only six SB’s before stealing ten bases in four games last week. Long Beach is continuing to bunt often and is averaging over two SAC’s per game with five players already having at least three SAC’s. The Dirtbags have already played 11 games that have been decided by one or two runs and that is due to pitching staff doing a good job of keeping them in games and allowing four runs or less nine times.

Offense

• Park Factor according to Boyd’s World – 81 (decreases offense by 19%).
• Batting Average – .226 (9th in the Big West). .258 in 2011 (8th in the Big West)
• Runs Per Game – 3.4 (9th). 3.9 in 2011 (8th).
• Home Runs – 0 (9th). 10 in 2011 (9th).
• Slugging Percentage – .254 (9th). .324 in 2011 (9th).
• Walks – 48 (6th), 3.2 per game. 133 in 2011 (9th), 2.4 per game.
• HBP’s – 21 (5th). 69 in 2011 (4th).
• Strikeouts – 83 (8th), 5.6 per game. 389 in 2011 (2nd), 6.9 per game.
• Stolen Bases – 16-23 (2nd). 51-82 in 2011 (4th).
• Sac Bunts – 32 (1st). 75 in 2010 (2nd).

Lineup

Infield

Long Beach lost their SS and another player who split time between 3B and C but returns experienced players to take over for those two players as well as having experienced players back at the other spots.

C – Soph #50 Royce Murai (RH – .136/.136/.182, 0-6-1. ’11 – .231/.277/.256, 0-1-0 in 78 AB’s) split time pretty evenly in 2011 with Mike Marjama, who was second on the team in RBI, and struggled at the plate with 25 K’s in 78 AB’s. Murai will usually bunt with runners on and had 8 SAC’s in 2011 and has 2 SAC’s this season. SR #3 Kellen Hoime (RH – .273/.304/.273, 0-4-0. ’10 – .252/.338/.291, 0-19-5) is splitting time with Murai after sitting out 2011 as a medical redshirt and was the regular C for most of 2010. They have combined to walk once in 44 AB’s and whoever starts will hit ninth.

1B/DH – Soph #4 Ino Patron (LH – .260/.387/.280, 0-6-0. ’11 – .277/.363/.372, 3-24-3) was leading Long Beach in most hitting categories going into the last three weeks of the season but slumped down the stretch and saw his average drop over 30 points after he was hitting .321 going into the Fullerton series. He does a good job of squaring up pitches and had one of the better BB/K ratios on the team in 2011 (18/25) and has been outstanding with his plate discipline this year with an 11/2 ratio and leads the team and is 3rd in the conf in BB. Patron has been splitting time between 1B (9 games) and DH (6 games) and will be hitting cleanup. He went 4-19 against Fullerton in 2011.

1B – Soph #5 Jeff Yamaguchi (RH – .167/.318/.167, 0-2-1. ’11 – .263/.320/.305, 0-12-2) was in the lineup on a regular basis early in 2011, splitting time with Patron at 1B/DH, but he had trouble making contact (39 K’s in 118 AB’s) and saw his playing time dwindle. He has started six times at 1B but is still having trouble making contact (6 K’s in 18 AB’s). Yamaguchi will usually hit 6th or 7th.

2B – Soph #1 Jeff McNeil (LH – .231/.333/.231, 0-2-3. ’11 – .271/.328/.307, 0-14-2) played some 2B in 2011 but was in LF most of the time. He has hit in the top two spots in the lineup over the last two seasons and led the team with a .320 AVG in conf games in 2011. McNeil is a very good bunter and was second in the conf with 15 SAC’s last season and already has six SAC’s. McNeil does a good job of making contact and had 21K’s in 2011 and has only struck out twice in 52 AB’s. He is not a patient hitter and only had 10 BB’s last season and has walked three times thus far. McNeil has been looking to run more after not running much last season. He went 5-20 against Fullerton in 2011.

SS – JR #10 Matt Duffy (RH – .185/.290/.185, 0-5-1. ’11 – .266/.298/.290, 0-31-7. ’10 – .244/.261/.291; 0-7-2 in 86 AB's) started at 2B last season but has taken over for Kirk Singer at SS. He was a part-time player most of his FR season before starting ten straight games down the stretch. Duffy got off to a slow start in 2011 but hit better as the season went on and ended up leading the team in RBI and was 2nd team All-Big West. He was one of the big surprises of the Cape Cod League during the summer when he finished third in the league in AVG but has gotten off to a frigid start this year. Duffy was hitting in the middle of the lineup most of the time before being moved down to 7th and 8th last weekend. He only walked ten times in 2011 but has been more patient this year and has a solid 6/8 BB/K ratio. Duffy went 7-24 against Fullerton last season and is 10-38 in his career against the Titans.

3B/RF – JR #9 Juan Avila (RH – .304/.371/.357, 0-4-2. ’11 – .245/.350/.396, 2-7-0. ’10 – .231 in 52 AB's) started mostly in RF or at DH his first two seasons but has been splitting time between 3B (8 games) and RF (7 games) this season. He is one of the few players who has been hitting well and leads the regulars in AVG. Avila has been one of the few threats in the lineup to get an extra base hit and led the team in SLG in 2011 and is again leading the team in SLG. He was a part-time player early last season but started getting regular playing time during conf play and hit .300 in Big West games. Avila has hit third in seven of the last eight games. He went 2-11 against Fullerton last season.

Soph #23 Michael Hill (LH – .115/.148/.192, 0-0-0. ’11 – .200/.252/.253, 0-7-4) was injured and missed most of the first half of last season but started getting more playing time down the stretch when Marjama was catching. He has started seven times at 3B. Hill has usually hit 7th or 8th the last two years. He had a poor 4/30 BB/K ratio in 2011 and it is only 1/8 this season. Hill went 0-10 against Fullerton in 2011.

Outfield

Long Beach returned their CF and RF and has plugged their best recruit into the other OF spot and a couple of reserves from last season have been part of the rotation in the OF and at DH.

LF – Soph #2 Johnny Bekakis (RH – .214/.371/.214, 0-1-2. ’11 – .241/.302/.276, 0-7-2 in 58 AB’s) didn’t get much playing time as a FR until late in the year and started off well before cooling off the last couple of weeks. He has started seven times in LF and has been the leadoff hitter the last six times he has been in the lineup. Bekakis went 0-5 against Fullerton in 2011.

LF/RF – FR #29 Richard Prigatano (RH – .227/.314./250, 0-1-1) was drafted in the 16th round but decided to go to school. He has good size and is one of the few power threats in the lineup, although that power hasn’t come through yet and he only has one extra-base hit. Prigatano got off to a slow start by going 1-19 but has been hitting better lately by going 9-25. He has been splitting time in LF (six games) with Bekakis and RF (seven games) with Avila. Prigatano has usually been hitting sixth or seventh.

CF – SR #12 Brennan Metzger (RH – .265/.403/.286, 0-4-5. ’11 – .279/.385/.390, 1-13-8; ’10 – .308/.409/.453, 2-22-9) has good speed and was the leadoff hitter most of the last three seasons but because of the teamwide hitting slump he has split time between hitting at the top of the lineup and in the middle of the order as Long Beach tries to find anybody to drive in runs. He is a scrappy player who will do whatever he can to get on base and led the team with 11 HBP in 2011 after leading the Big West with 20 HBP in 2010 and is second on the school’s career list in HBP’s. Metzger had a very good BB/K ratio (22/29) last season and has an outstanding 7/4 ratio thus far. He is a good bunter and had nine SAC’s in 2011 and has four SAC’s this season. Metzger went 5-19 in 2011 against Fullerton and is 6-29 in his career against the Titans.

DH – Soph #26 Brennan Fulkerson (LH – .333/.368/.389, 0-3-0. ’11 – .250 in 24 AB’s) has been one of the few players to get off to a decent start and has been playing DH more recently and splitting time with Patron in the DH spot. JC transfer #35 Robert Vickers (LH – .211/.286/.316, 0-2-0) got five starts earlier in the year at DH but hasn’t started in the last six games and has mostly been a PH off of the bench the last two weeks.

Defense

Fielding % – .972 (2nd) with 17 errors. .965 (9th) with 75 errors in 2011.

Patron and Yamaguchi are solid at 1B. McNeil and Duffy have good range up the middle but are prone to making the occasional error (each has made three errors). Hill and Avila are poor at 3B and have already combined to make six errors so Fullerton will be testing them with the bunting game. Metzger has very good range in CF, the other OF’s are average. Long Beach’s defense is better but they have made errors at key times and have allowed 15 unearned runs.

Stolen Base Attempts – 14-22 (4th). 59-83 (4th) in 2011.

2012 – Murai (3-7), Hoime (10-13). 2011 – Murai (29-38). 2010 – Hoime (32-46). Both are solid against the running game.

WP’s/PB’s Allowed – 11 (5th). 2011 – 48 (5th).

Murai and Hoime are average at blocking pitches.

Pitching

• ERA – 3.14 (2nd in the Big West). 3.55 in 2011 (4th).
• BA – .269 (7th). .259 in 2011 (5th).
• Walks – 49 (6th). 175 (6th) in 2011.
• HBP – 18 (3rd). 67 (2nd) in 2011.
• Strikeouts – 108 (3rd). 403 (4th) in 2011.
• HR – 1 (1st). 13 HR in 2011 (3rd).

Starters

Long Beach lost their Friday SP, 2nd team All-Big West selection Andrew Gagnon, and returns two of the other three SP’s from 2011. The weekend rotation has gone 4-2 with a 2.94 ERA and kept the Dirtbags in most games despite their paltry offense.

FRI – #22 Shawn Stuart (RHP – 1-0, 3.42 ERA, 4 GS, 24 IP, 17 H, 13 BB, 18 K, .202 BA, 1 HR, 3 HBP, 2 WP, 2-3 SB. ’11 – 4-4, 3.16 ERA, 2 saves, 18 apps, 13 GS, 74 IP, 71 H, 31 BB, 70 K, .261 BA, 0 HR, 7 HBP, 4 WP, 6-9 SB) pitched out of the bullpen early in 2011, was moved into rotation and allowed two runs or less in four of his first six starts, missed the better part of a month before returning and threw well down the stretch. He threw well against VCU (5 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 7 K) before struggling with his control against Cal (5 2/3 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 6 BB, 3 K) and Oregon (4 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 3 K) but threw very well against ASU last week in a ND (9 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K). Stuart has one of the better arms on the staff with a good sinking fastball and slider and can be tough to hit when he has good control, which is an issue for him. He picked up a save in the first series of 2011 against Fullerton with 1 2/3 scoreless innings and lost his start in the second series (5 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 4 K).

SAT – JC transfer #27 Matt Anderson (RHP – 1-0, 2.59 ERA, 4 GS, 24 IP, 22 H, 5 BB, 22 K, .237 BA, 0 HR, 3 HBP, 2 WP, 2-3 SB) didn’t pitch much until his Soph season in JC ball after being converted from being an infielder due to his strong arm. He has thrown well in all four starts against VCU (5 1/3 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 7 K), Cal (6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K), Oregon (6 2/3 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 8 K) and ASU (6 1/3 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 4 K). His fastball sits around 90 and he has a good slider and good control.

SUN – Soph #24 Ryan Strufing (LHP – 2-1, 2.82 ERA, 22 IP, 21 H, 7 BB, 17 K, .253 BA, 0 HR, 5 HBP, 0 WP, 6-7 SB. ’11 – 3-2, 4.70 ERA, 17 apps, 9 GS, 54 IP, 53 H, 28 BB, 33 K, .272 BA, 3 HR, 8 HBP, 4 WP, 5-6 SB) was a middle reliever and midweek starter most of the season before moving into the weekend rotation for the last six weeks but struggled in last four starts when his ERA went up by a run. He threw well in his first three starts against VCU (6 2/3 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 3 K), Cal (8 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 5 K) when he was Big West pitcher of the week and Oregon (5 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 4 BB, 5 K) before getting knocked out early against ASU (2 2/3 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 4 K). Strufing is tough when he has control of his breaking ball and curve ball but if he’s not throwing them for strikes hitters can wait him out and get his pitch count up. He allowed 2 R in 2 1/3 IP and took the loss in a relief appearance against Fullerton in the first series of 2011 and struggled in his start in the second series with the Titans when he allowed nine runs in 5 2/3 IP.

Relievers

Long Beach's bullpen was a strong area in 2011 and a big reason why they won 20 of 28 games decided by one or two runs with six pitchers making at least fifteen relief appearances. It was expected to be a strength against this season with most of those guys returning but the midweek SP’s and relievers have combined to go 1-9.

JR #33 Eddie Magallon (RHP – 0-2, 7.11 ERA, 6 apps, 6 IP, 13 H, 1 BB, 4 K, .464 BA, 0 HR, 1 HBP, 0 WP, 0-0 SB. ’11 – 2-1, 3.62 ERA, 9 saves, 23 apps, 32 IP, 32 H, 6 BB, 19 K, .252 BA, 0 HR, 6 HBP, 2 WP, 1-1 SB) was the closer in 2011 and was third in the Big West in saves but got off to a bad start when he blew the save in the opener against VCU (1/3 IP, 5 H, 4 R) and has been pitching in middle relief since then. He doesn’t throw hard but is a strike thrower with good control who usually does a good job of mixing his pitches. Magallon allowed 2 R on 7 H in 4 2/3 IP in two appearances against Fullerton in 2011.

SR #16 Matt Johnson (RHP – 0-1, 3.24 ERA, 5 apps, 2 GS, 17 IP, 17 H, 5 BB, 13 K, .237 BA, 0 HR, 3 HBP, 2 WP, 1-2 SB. ’11 – 5-1, 4.31 ERA, 19 apps, 2 GS, 48 IP, 64 H, 8 BB, 45 K, .332 BA, 2 HR, 7 HBP, 3 WP, 3-7 SB) was a workhorse out of the bullpen in 2011 and led the team in wins. He has started two midweek games this season (L at UCLA – 1/3 IP, 2 H, 5 R, 1 ER, 1 BB and ND vs. San Diego State – 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 6 K) and will be available this weekend because Long Beach didn’t have a midweek game. Johnson has a good changeup and has to keep the ball down to succeed. He started one of the games against Fullerton in the first series and was knocked out early (2 2/3 IP, 4 R, 1 ER, 7 H, 0 BB, 2 K) and made two relief appearances in the second series (2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 2 K).

Other relievers who would be likely to come into the game:

Soph #37 Kyle Friedrichs (RHP – 0-2, 2.45 ERA, 8 apps, 11 IP, 10 H, 5 BB, 13 K, .244 BA, 0 HR, 1 HBP, 1 WP, 0-2 SB. ’11 – 4-2, 3.99 ERA, 1 save, 20 apps, 47 IP, 46 H, 7 BB, 34 K, .254 BA, 2 HR, 9 HBP, 2 WP, 4-5 SB)

Soph #46 Jon Maciel (RHP – 0-1, 1.35 ERA, 1 save, 7 apps, 6 2/3 IP, 8 H, 2 BB, 2 K, .308 BA, 0 HR, 0 HBP, 0 WP, 0-1 HBP. ’11 – 0-1, 1.25 ERA, 1 save, 17 apps, 22 IP, 16 H, 6 BB, 21 K, .211 BA, 1 HR, 1 HBP, 3 WP, 2-2 SB)

Soph #19 Josh Frye (RHP – 1-1, 1.17 ERA, 6 apps, 7 2/3 IP, 9 H, 1 BB, 8 K, .300 BA, 0 HR, 1 HBP, 0 WP, 1-1 SB. ’11 – 0-0, 1.72 ERA, 1 save, 15 apps, 16 IP, 22 H, 5 BB, 10 K, .328 BA, 0 HR, 2 HBP, 1 WP, 3-3 SB)

Soph #32 Jake Stassi (LHP – 0-0, 6.35 ERA, 1 save, 7 apps, 5 2/3 IP, 8 H, 2 BB, 2 K, .348 BA, 0 HR, 0 HBP, 2 WP, 1-2 SB. ’11 – 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)

FR #49 Nick Sabo (LHP – 0-2, 4.32 ERA, 4 apps, 1 GS, 8 1/3 IP, 16 H, 3 BB, 6 K, .390 BA, 0 HR, 0 HBP, 0 WP, 0-0 SB).

JC transfer #14 Landon Hunt (LHP – 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 7 apps, 2 1/3 IP, 2 H, 3 BB, 1 K, .222 BA, 0 HR, 0 HBP, 1 WP, 0-0 SB).

Outlook

Fullerton won all seven games against Long Beach in 2009-2010 by a cumulative score of 60-14. The Dirtbags were more competitive in the first series when they finally broke their losing streak to the Titans, whose two wins were each by one run. Fullerton reverted back to dominating the series when they swept Long Beach in the conference series in May on their way to winning the Big West championship. There isn’t much doubt that the Dirtbags have a large mental block to overcome if they are going to turn things around and win this series.

Long Beach has been getting good pitching most of the season, especially from their starters, but it has often gone for naught due to an offense that has struggled most of the time. A common theme in most games for the Dirtbags has been that they will be in a tight game late and their bullpen will give up a run for a one run loss. Long Beach would like to jump out to early leads in this series to take some pressure off of their pitching staff so look for them to try to bunt runners over and get runners moving early in games when they get runners on.

Fullerton has also had their share of struggles on offense this season, especially at night, although the offense has started to wake up with eighteen runs over the last three games. The Titans have also had some issues on defense after playing errorless ball in the opening series. This looks like it could be a close series because Long Beach has been competitive with three straight nationally ranked Pac 12 teams. If Fullerton makes errors on defense and isn’t efficient on offense the Dirtbags have the potential to pull off an upset. If the Titans continue to show some competitive fire like they did at Texas A&M and start to play more efficiently they will win this series.

Titans Rain on Aggies' Parade

By Don Hudson

The Titans made a stirring comeback this weekend and won their best-of-three series on the road against the sixth-ranked Texas A&M Aggies in a series played during a drought-busting deluge that dropped an estimated five inches of rain (up to 10” in some areas) over the four days the Titans were in town. With the wins, the Titans moved up four notches in the Baseball America rankings (from 19^th to 15^th), while the Aggies dropped down to 10^th.

If you were there, it was a series you will never forget – truly an instant classic.

Game 1: “I Flew All the Way Out Here and Froze My Ass Off for This?”

Aggies 6, Titans 1

Flying into Houston and driving out to College Station on Friday, it seemed like there was a very realistic chance that you’d gone all that way and the entire series could get rained out. And after a dismal loss in the opener, you almost wished it had been rained out.

The start of the game was delayed by an hour: the official temperature at game-time was 47 degrees with a wind at 11 knots (13 mile per hour) and everything from your head to your feet was drenched – what a beautiful feeling. (I’d rather be lit on fire than sit around in wet clothes, so you can imagine how great I felt.)

The game began inauspiciously for the Titans: the Aggies’ ace and Michael Lorenzen’s teammate from last summer’s Team USA, Michael Wacha, struck out two in an easy 1-2-3 inning. Dylan Floro retired two of the first three Aggies he faced, but then surrendered two consecutive hits to give A&M a quick 1-0 lead. All three Aggies’ hits were on two-strike counts: every time their hitters got two strikes on them, they went up the middle and enjoyed success all night long.

After another three-up, three-down inning for Wacha, the Aggies scored thrice to make it 4-0 and a mismatch in the making. The Aggies, who entered the series with 40 stolen bases (more than 3 per game), were aggressive and ran with virtual impunity. The inning began with a bunt single and a stolen base. The inning included three hits and two stolen bases. Even though Floro threw over to first many times and delivered his pitches using a slide-step when there were base-runners, the Aggies were off to the races on his first motion to the plate.

The Titans finally got their first runner in the third inning when Keegan Dale reached on an error, but Wacha notched his fifth strike-out to end the inning unharmed. Whenever an A&M pitcher strikes out an opposing hitter, the scoreboard plays the opening from “The Rifleman”.

Carlos Lopez got the first hit of the game for the Titans in the fourth inning with two outs and advanced to third on a solid opposite field single by designated-hitter Matt Chapman, but Wacha retired Richy Pedroza to work out of the first mini-threat of the evening.

Wacha struck out the side in the top of the fifth inning (his 6^th, 7^th and 8^th of the game) to make it an official game and the head groundskeeper and umpires conferred and covered up the infield with the tarpaulin. The rain had been steady throughout the game and it was bone-chillingly cold, but I don’t think that’s why they stopped the game. My guess is that Lucas McCain was running out of bullets and had to send Mark into town to buy some more ammo at Hattie’s general store. Mark returned an hour and six minutes later and play was resumed.

I’ll spare you the details of how it ended. By the time play resumed, the announced crowd of 3,399 had thinned down to a couple hundred, so we moved down closer to the field and got to hear the A&M fans second-guess every call that didn’t go their way – not just the close calls or significant calls, but every call. Every pitch. Plate umpire Doug Williams gave the boo-birds a thrill when he discreetly shot them the bird – pretty funny stuff.

Hope sprung briefly for the Titans when Wacha returned to the bump after the McCain delay and was wild. (Christian Coronado replaced Floro after the game resumed – I was surprised A&M coach Rob Childress send his Friday night guy back out there on a wet, miserable night with a 4-0 lead after an 1:06 delay.) The Titans plated their first (and only) run hitlessly: Derek Legg was hit by a pitch; Lopez reached on an error; Chapman drove in Legg on a sacrifice fly.

The Titans had thirteen batters retired on strikeouts and managed just two hits after the fourth inning: an eighth inning double by Lorenzen and Chapman’s second hit to rightfield in the ninth inning. The game ended ingloriously on a bunt back to the mound. Time to git along, li’l dogies.

Game 2: “Baseball 101”

Titans 6, Aggies 5 (11 innings)

It rained all night and throughout the morning, but there was a break in the storm on Saturday afternoon to begin the second game on time (2:05 p.m. local time). Thomas got on to start the game with a HBP and advanced on Derek Legg’s sacrifice, but got caught in no-man’s land between second and third and was removed from the basepaths with Lorenzen at the plate. Lorenzen was hit by a pitch and Lopez reached on an error, but Chapman was retired and a sense of continued despair was in the air. It didn’t feel any better when the Aggies took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second against freshman left Kenny Mathews, including two unearned runs.

The Titans had a chance to creep back in the third inning, but Kingsolver was called out on appeal for leaving third base early on a flyball to end the inning.

The deficit could have become larger in the bottom of the third inning when the Aggies notched three hits, but (finally) had their aggressive base-running backfire. Mathews caught a runner leaning the wrong way and he was out on a caught-stealing (1-3-6). With two outs and a runner on first, A&M’s clean-up hitter and biggest power threat, Jacob House, surprised everybody by dropping a nice bunt to third base, which he beat out. With third-baseman Pedroza charging to field the bunt, the runner from first tried to go to this and was gunned down from Lopez to catcher Casey Watkins, who hustled down to cover the base.

The Titans finally broke through in the fourth inning against A&M’s hurler Ross Stripling on a double by Lorenzen, and RBI double by Lopez, a sacrifice by Chapman and an RBI groundout by Pedroza. The score was 3-2 and the momentum seemed to shift just slightly. But A&M seemed ready to stifle the Titans’ rally when they scored again in the fifth inning on a pair of infield singles (a bunt and a ball that Mathews momentarily gloved but which squibbed away) and a perfectly executed suicide squeeze play. The lead was back to two and successful suicide squeezes tend to get the crowd excited, so the outlook for the Titans was darker than the thunderheads gathering over the prairies.

The Titans dusted themselves off in their next at-bat, though. Legg led off the sixth inning with a perfectly placed drag bunt for a hit and moved up on a scorching single by Lorenzen. All the second-guessers sitting in my chair were questioning the sanity and strategy of having Lopez sacrifice, especially when Chapman struck out with two runners in scoring position. But Pedroza, who had been scuffling so far in the series, dropped a Texas Leaguer (why not, we were deep in the heart of Texas) into shallow leftfield. When the throw to the plate trying to cut down Lorenzen was errant, Pedroza continued around the basepaths. A&M tried to cut Pedroza down heading to third base and the throw was offline and Richy came all the way around to give the Titans a startling 5-4 lead.

Meanwhile, Mathews was nails, throwing scoreless sixth and seventh innings. But in the bottom of the eighth, the Titans appeared to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Mathews struck out Tyler Naquin, who was hitting around .500 at the time and is one of the numerous studs in the middle of the A&M line-up. But with Pedroza guarding the line to prevent extra-base hits, A&M’s Matt Juengel hit a screamer to his left into leftfield for a one-out single. Mathews had done a great job shutting down the vaunted running game of A&M, but he tempted fate once too often and threw the ball past Lopez on a pickoff attempt, moving the tying run into scoring position.

Mathews’ pitch count was rising, but he remained in the game to face the dangerous left-handed House. On his 106^th pitch, Mathews induced a weak foul pop-up behind third base. It wasn’t very high and the footing was muddy along the warning track area, but Pedroza got to the ball and had it in his mitt – but it popped out and House’s bat was extended. Mathews’ 107^th pitch was ripped by House for a game-tying double. Reliever Dmitri De la Fuente worked out of further damage and the score was tied at 5-5.

The Titans went down quickly and easily in the top of the ninth. As the Aggies came to bat for the home half of the ninth, the head grounds chief met with the umpires.

De la Fuente walked the potential winning run to lead off the ninth inning – and received some serious one-on-one mentoring. Pitching coach Kirk Saarloos has made all the mound trips so far for the Titans this season, so you know the conversation is going to be earnest when the head coach comes out and the catcher and infielders remain away in their normal fielding positions. A sacrifice bunt put the winning run on second, with first base open. But rather than walk the next hitter, Jace Statum (.316), the Titans played aggressively and brought in freshman lefty Tyler Peitzmeier to pitch to him.

Peitzy was focused on the hitter and didn’t look back at the runner on his first pitch. When he didn’t look back again, the runner took off and stole third, forcing the Titans to draw their infielders and outfielders to cut down the winning run from third base. But Peitzmeier rose to the occasion and got a huge strikeout. Fellow freshman Willie Kuhl was summoned to face leadoff man Mikey Reynolds (.397) – and he struck him out to send the game to extra innings. Two HUGE strikeouts for the freshmen relievers.

Even though the rain had stopped for several innings, the umpires suspended play and the tarp was brought back on to cover the infield. The PA announcer – who was one of the best I’ve heard – informed the crowd that an intense storm was charging directly towards us.

The next two hours were surreal. For the first 20-25 minutes after the game was suspended, there wasn’t a drop of rain. Given the uncertainty of how many extra innings would be required, it was kind of a head-scratcher why they hadn’t continued play, but then the rain moved in.

All the while, Vanderhook had the rapt attention of his team. He talked, they listened. He yelled, they listened. He talked some more, they listened some more. He took a breather now and then, but dugout classroom wasn’t dismissed, even as the rain became heavier. Nobody was ‘saved by the bell’ from what Hook later told Kendall Rogers was his “Baseball 101” rain delay lecture.

The rain delay lasted 20 hours and 58 minutes, which was barely enough time for Hook to cover some of the team’s recent mistakes.

By the time they suspended the game two hours later, the field was being soaked by a classic Texas downpour, with lightning crashing down nearby and a hailstorm brewing. As we left the field, I think all of us felt we had seen our last baseball for the weekend, going home with a loss and a tie that should have been a win.

But hope springs eternal – until we saw that the weather on Sunday morning was just as miserable as it had been since the team arrived on Thursday. I kept looking at Mike Greenlee’s tweets to confirm the games had been canceled and we could all sanely stay indoors, but no such announcement was forthcoming. It seemed insane to even stick around – I was ready to pull the plug around 11:00 and get out of Dodge. Mike Lopez and I even discussed the parable about the difference in a bacon-and-egg breakfast between the chicken and the pig: “The chicken is involved, but the pig is committed.” I decided to be a pig and stick around to see what would happen – man, was I glad I did!

The game was resumed at 1:55 p.m. CDT – did I mention we also lost an hour of sleep due to the time change, in addition to everything else? There was a travel curfew announced for the final game – no inning could start after 5:30 p.m.

Lopez made a bid to win it in the tenth inning when he launched a drive deep to right-centerfield which might have gone out on a warmer, less damp day, but it stayed in the ballpark for a double. But he was stranded, and Kuhl returned to the mound after the lengthy delay. He threw a pivotal 1-2-3 tenth inning to keep the score deadlocked, 5-5.

The Titans pushed the go-ahead run across in the top of the eleventh. Anthony Trajano stroked a ball inside the third-base line for a one-out double. After falling behind 0-2 in the count, Kingsolver battled back and won a seven-pitch at-bat, sending a perfectly placed bouncer up the middle, over the pitcher’s head into centerfield to score Trajano.

Lorenzen came in to close it out – and it took him thirteen pitches to retire the Aggies on two K’s and a groundout to Pedroza. After his previous dropped ball had given House a second chance, I was very glad that Richy made the last play of the game.

Game 3: “The Freshmen Earn their Spurs”

Titans 4, Aggies 3

When the rubber game of the series began, it was like déjà vu all over again for the Titans. They were facing another pitcher with glittering stats coming in: Rafael Pineda was 2-0, with an ERA of 1.00 and 18 K’s and just 10 hits allowed.

Just like on Saturday, the Aggies posted a three-spot in the second inning. The Aggies got three hits and stole two bases in the inning and seemed to have their mojo back. Titans’ freshman pitcher J.D. Davis averted further damage when he picked a runner off first to end the inning.

Pineda mowed the Titans down through three innings, facing the minimum number of batters (nine). One runner got on by error but was erased in a double-play.

The Aggies have great fans – they are knowledgeable and witty – except for the two jackasses sitting behind us. There was a fat guy and his fat kid who couldn’t come up with anything better than “Ohhhhh…..yeahhhhh!!!” whenever anything went their team’s way. I’m not talking about big plays that make a difference – these two nitwits were doing their best Randy “Macho Man” Savage “Ohhhhh…..yeahhhhh!!!” impersonations every time the Aggies pitcher threw a strike or our pitcher threw a ball.

With one out in the top of the fourth, Legg broke up the no-hitter with another perfectly placed drag bunt to the left of the mound. Anxious to keep the no-no alive, Pineda threw the ball to the invisible fielder covering the base and Legg advanced to second on the error. Lorenzen then found a gap in right-center and belted a double to cut the deficit to 3-1. After Lopez grounded out to move Lorenzen to third, Chapman launched a drive deep to left-centerfield. There was no doubt he had burned the outfielder, but did it have enough to make it out? The ball came down, hit the top of the fence and landed behind the fence for a two-run homer that tied the score.

In unison, the small throng of Titans fans in the upper deck down the third base side started screaming “Ohhhhh…..yeahhhhh!!!” It was incredible. For that one moment, a group of perhaps 20 people drowned out the stadium. Even the Aggies radio announcer said, “That must be Chapman’s parents.” It was classic. The two jackasses behind us never said a word the rest of the game.

Now it’s 3-3: game on!

The Aggies got a runner aboard with two out in their half of the fourth inning, but Davis picked off another one and you could just feel the momentum had shifted to the Titans.

When Davis surrendered a leadoff single in the bottom of the fifth inning, the game’s second big turning point occurred: Grahamm Wiest, who started the season as the #2 starter but had been shut down since the opening weekend, came into the game. He was dazzling: his threw an assortment of pitches, but his sinker was unhittable. He struck out two hitters and got out of the inning.

Wiest and the Texas A&M battled it out for the next few innings: great pitching on both sides. The Titans threatened in the sixth when they stranded two runners, but the game moved along at a nice pace, with both teams watching not only the scoreboard, but also the clock as we moved within an hour of the travel curfew. Wiest pitched four shutout innings in his return to mound duties, striking out five.

It turned out great that the game was tied, because neither team was incentivized to pull shenanigans to either slow down or speed up the game’s pace.

The Titans came to bat at 5:19 p.m. – clearly the ninth inning would be the game’s last, so it added a whole new element of strategy playing for either a win or a tie.

Chapman singled sharply to leftfield with one out in the ninth inning. The Titans eschewed using a pinch-runner for Chapman, who then tore it up and made it to third base on a base-hit by Pedroza, who advanced to second on the throw. With first base open and one out, the Aggies went by the baseball book and intentionally walked Anthony Trajano to set up a force at every base and a potential double-play.

Anthony Hutting was announced as a pinch-hitter for Chad Wallach, but A&M decided to stick with their side-arming righthander Kyle Martin, who had pitched brilliantly during the series. On the first pitch thrown to him, Hutting smashed the ball hard on the ground towards the first-base bag. The first-baseman was playing halfway and the ball got to him in a split second: he had to backhand it like a hockey goalie (“Kick save and a beauty!!!”) and the puck – oops, baseball – bounced away from him momentarily and he had no chance to make a play on Chapman at the plate.

The game moved to the bottom of the ninth with the Titans holding a 4-3 lead and the curfew time expired. Lorenzen was summoned to try to get his second save of the day.

Lorenzen overpowered the first batter, who he struck out. His fastball topped out at 97 mph. The next batter was hitting .200, so he went up looking for a walk: he never swung at the first five pitches. Ball-ball-called strike-ball-called strike. The count went full and Lorenzen threw him the Linda Ronstadt fastball (e.g., Blue Bayou) – he struck him out on the high cheese. Needing just one more out, Trajano’s low throw to first was dug out of the dirt on a great backhand scoop by Lopez to end the game and clinch the series.

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So what did we learn this weekend?

A lot. When this team is bad, they’re lousy. But they are taking on the toughness that has characterized Titans teams in the past and they have shown themselves capable of playing with any team in the country. When they play their best – which I believe we have yet to see throughout an entire series and perhaps even a game – they are extremely good.

Texas A&M has a terrific team – even after losing this series, they are hitting .310 as a team while holding their opponents to a .200 batting average. As we went through the A&M batting order the first time through on Friday, we kept looking at their averages on the scoreboard waiting for the weak part of the order – we got past the .388 hitters and got to the .500 hitters before tapering off to a few .340 hitters. They run the bases aggressively, had some cannons in the outfield and had a deep and talented pitching staff. Plus Rob Childress and his coaching staff do a great job. The Aggies made an uncharacteristic number of defensive errors in the series, but they hustled and executed the “little things” that make a team successful. Make no mistake – the Titans beat a very good ballclub this weekend.

It will be interesting to see how the batting order shapes up over the next couple weeks before starting conference play. After the USC debacle on Tuesday, the batting order was shaken up, most notably moving Ivory Thomas into the leadoff spot, and putting Lorenzen and Lopez back-to-back in the 3-4 positions. Something had to change. In the Florida series, the Titans clean-up hitters went 6-for-13 with 4 RBI (3 on the bomb by J.D. Davis). But in the subsequent nine games (including eight at home), the clean-up hitters went 3-for-31 (.097) with 2 RBI.

The real key to the batting order may be the continuing development of freshman Chapman. Batting in the fifth spot (e.g., protecting Carlos Lopez), he went 4-for-11 (.364) with 3 RBI and a home run against A&M. That could be a huge plus for this line-up if Chapman and Davis can be consistent producers and occasional power threats.

Coach Vanderhook coached his ass off this weekend and practically willed his team to victory. His teaching style isn’t exactly Miss Peach – he can be brutal and blunt – but his knowledge and passion for the game are boundless. For practical purposes, this series can be divided in half and the line of demarcation was Hook’s “Baseball 101” classroom during the 20:58 rain delay. Before the delay, the Titans had played two horrible games (e.g., the USC loss on Tuesday and the A&M opener on Friday). When play resumed on Sunday, the Titans played with a determination that they simply were not going to lose. They were on the road against a terrific and highly ranked opponent, in miserable weather, in a hostile environment where the home team had not lost a non-conference weekend series in seventeen years. There were unlimited opportunities to fail, but the Titans found a way to succeed.

Perhaps an overlooked aspect in the series turnaround was keeping the Aggies’ running game in check in the second and third games. The old baseball axiom was on display that “you can’t steal first.” It was key that the five Titans pitchers in Game 2 allowed just one walk in eleven innings – and that walk starting the bottom of the ninth resulted in an earful from Hook. Mathews held the runners close and picked one off at a key juncture (technically a caught-stealing). J.D. Davis had two pick-offs on Sunday and catcher Chad Wallach gunned down a would-be base-stealer on one of the rare times the Titans have pitched out this season.

I hope that the series against Texas A&M extends beyond its initial home-and-home two year term. The series against TCU has been good for both programs, and I’d love to see the same with Texas A&M, although their transfer into the SEC may preclude them from scheduling ranked teams as out-of-conference opponents beyond their existing commitments. Playing in the SEC, you certainly don’t need strong out-of-conference competition to bolster your RPI.

The friendliness of Texans is legendary and it was certainly on display in abundance this weekend. The Aggie fans are probably the most fervent supporters of their team as possible and they love to try to rattle the opposing team – but it is done in a humorous and respectful manner. We had a lot of bonding time during the rain delays and everyone was just as nice as could be to their guests from Fullerton.

I’d like to give a special shout-out to Brian Bachik, who gave me a VIP tour of the recently made-over Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park. You talk about a committed fan: Brian and his son are season ticket holders who come to the games from their home in Waco, which is around 90 miles away. I always love chatting college baseball with serious fans of the various teams we play on road trips. I really enjoyed meeting Brian and his son and hope they come out our way when the Titans host the Aggies.

The stadium make-over is incredible. Since the Titans played a midweek game last year at Olsen Field, a major project turned the facility into a baseball shrine. I’ve heard various estimates of how much was spent, but the ones I believe are in the $25 million range, give or take a few mill. Much of it was spent on spectacular facilities for the players and coaches, as well as a VIP boosters’ lounge area that is on par with some of the nicest facilities I’ve seen at major league stadiums. They also did a great job with the appearance of the ballpark on its outside.

A few years ago, Texas A&M invested millions of dollars in state-of-the-art drainage technology for all their outdoor athletic fields. They have a system below the field which acts as a giant vacuum that sucks away the accumulated water and makes the fields playable after heavy rains with minimal delay. They say their football field can take ten inches of rain in an hour and be able to play 45 minutes later without a hint of lingering wetness. It was absolutely amazing how much water fell on this field and it played perfectly. Kudos to the grounds crew for getting all three games played – I’d have bet the ranch it wouldn’t have happened.

Now it’s time to see whether this weekend was a turning point – or just another indication of the Titans playing to the level of their competition. I really got the feeling it was a turning point. Let’s get out and support the team this week and build some momentum heading to the road trip to play Arizona State.

Go Titans!