Arizona Series Preview

By FullertonBaseballFan

Cal State Fullerton’s slow start continued against TCU as the Titans lost two out of three games for the second weekend in a row and lost the series to the Horned Frogs at Goodwin Field for the second straight season. Fullerton lost the first game 5-2 as their bats were throttled by Steven Maxwell and he took a no-hitter into the seventh inning. After Saturday’s game was rained out, the teams split a doubleheader on Sunday with the Titans winning the first game 6-4 behind the hitting and pitching of Nick Ramirez before TCU came back to win the second game 8-1 when the Horned Frogs broke open the game with a five run sixth inning while Kyle Winkler shut down the Fullerton offense. The Titans rebounded against San Diego with an 11-4 midweek win and this weekend Fullerton hits the road for the first time season and will be traveling down to Tucson to take on the Arizona Wildcats.

Andy Lopez led Arizona to the College World Series in 2004 and had the Wildcats in regionals in five out of six years and in a super regional in 2008 before a mediocre 30-25, 13-14 season in 2009. Things were pretty miserable for Arizona both on and off the field and Lopez cleaned house after the season with fifteen players leaving the program who had eligibility remaining in addition to having seven players leave the program after being drafted and/or graduating. With that type of attrition the result is the Wildcats have one of the youngest teams on the west coast with seventeen freshmen in the program. Arizona returns only four position players who saw regular playing time and four pitchers with pitched at least 35 innings last season. The expectations for the Wildcats are fairly low and they are being predicted to finish anywhere between fifth and eighth place in the Pac 10 and are expected to miss post-season play for the second straight season.

Arizona is 4-3 after getting their season off to a fast start by winning all three games at home against Utah Valley State, one of the lower level teams in the western region, by the scores of 8-1, 18-1 and 8-7. The Wildcats struggled last weekend while facing a better team when they lost both games to Long Beach with the third game of the series rained out. Arizona blew a late lead to lose 8-7 in the first game before losing 10-3 in the second game. The Wildcats faced UNLV in a midweek series and lost 12-10 in the first game before rebounding to win the second game 5-4 in 13 innings.

LINEUP

Arizona had one of the better lineups in the Pac 10 in 2009 and led the conference in BA, 2B’s, 3B’s and were 2nd in R’s, SLG % and SB’s. Unfortunately for the Wildcats most of the leaders of that offense have moved on and they have only a few contributors back from last season. Arizona has come out swinging the bats this season and are hitting .318 with five players hitting over .350, three of them returners from last season. The Wildcats did most of their damage against Utah Valley State when they hit .358 and scored 34 runs in that series and have hit .289 and scored 25 runs in their last four games against Long Beach and UNLV. Arizona will play little ball with by using the hit and run, stealing bases (13 in 7 games) and bunting (8 in the last 4 games). The Wildcats are also being patient at the plate and are averaging around five walks per game and doing a solid job of making contact and are striking out about five times per game.

The dimensions at Kindall Field at Sancet Stadium are spacious down the lines (360 ft), relatively short to the power alleys (378 ft) and standard (400 ft) to CF which means there tend to be lots of 2B’s and 3B’s hit there. Due to the ballpark dimensions and Tucson’s elevation (over 2000 feet above sea level) according to Boyd’s World the park factor is 126, which means the ballpark increases offense by 26% and significantly favor hitters, especially when the weather warms up and the ball travels well.

Arizona was a poor fielding team last season and made 76 errors and was eighth in the Pac 10 with a .965 fielding %. The Wildcats have shored things up some this year and are fielding better with a .972 fielding %.

Infield

Arizona had a pretty experienced infield last season but didn’t field well. This year the Wildcats have three players returning but only one of them played the same position last season and the defense has improved some.

C – Soph Jett Bandy (RH – .485/.514/.848, 3-11-1; ’09 – .299/.397/.500, 4-39-1) was the 3B last season and has moved to C and done a solid job against the running game (3-5 SB’s) but has struggled some at blocking pitches (8 WP’s/PB’s). He has been on fire to start the season and will hit either 4th or 5th as one of the power bats in the lineup with 3 of the team’s 5 HR’s, including a walk off grand slam in the third game of the Utah Valley State series, and is tied for the team lead in RBI’s. He went 2-7 in last year’s midweek series at Fullerton. Bandy’s backup is JC transfer Jacob Meskin, who is 0-4 in two starts.

1B – SR Rafael Valenzuela (LH – .375/.484/.583, 0-8-1; ’09 – .277/.331/.411, 0-14-4) split time at 1B and DH last season and is doing that again this season but is limited defensively. Valenzuela went 7-13 against Utah Valley State and 2-11 the last four games. Bandy has started twice at 1B when Valenzuela has been the DH. Valenzuela does a good job of getting on base and bats 2nd.

2B – JR Bryce Ortega (RH – .143/.324/,143, 0-3-3; ’09 – .324/.429/.438, 3-33-16) was the starting SS last season but has been moved to 2B, which has helped improve Arizona’s infield defense. Ortega was predicted to contend for all-conf honors after leading the team in SB’s last season but he has gotten off to a very slow start. He has been the leadoff hitter every game and will work counts and leads the team with seven walks. Ortega went 0-8 in last year’s midweek series at Fullerton.

SS – FR Alex Mejia (RH – .192/.300/.269, 0-4-0) is a good athlete in the middle infield but he has struggled at the plate with making the adjustment to D1 pitching. Mejia has batted 9th in every game.

3B – FR Seth Mejias-Brean (RH – .133/.278/.200, 0-2-0) and FR Robert Refsnyder (RH – .423/.483/.423, 0-6-1) have been splitting time at 3B with Mejia-Brean getting most of the starts and usually batting 8th. Refsnyder is a versatile player and a good athlete who was the QB on his HS football team. He has also been playing in the OF and has often switched over to 3B during games and usually hits 5th or 6th. Refsnyder went 8-17 the last four games.

Outfield and DH

Arizona returned only one OF from last season so they have been relying on incoming players to take over and the newcomers have been playing well.

LF – Soph Bobby Brown (LH – .333/.385/.583, 0-2-1) and Refsnyder have been splitting time in LF with Brown going 4-8 over the last four games. Brown usually hits in the lower part of the lineup and is the only other LH bat along with Valenzuela.

CF – FR Joey Rickard (RH – .367/.406/.667. 2-11-4) was the most heralded newcomer in the large recruiting class and he has delivered. He has hit 2 of the team’s 5 HR’s and is tied for the team lead in RBI’s. Rickard went 7-12 against Utah Valley State but is 4-18 over the last four games. Rickard is a good athlete in CF and leads the team in SB’s and has been hitting 6th or 7th.

RF – Soph Steve Selsky (RH – .424/.472/.485, 0-6-0; ’09 – .318/.386/.541, 7-21-2) is the only returning player in the OF. He went 8-14 against Utah Valley State and has gone 6-19 the past four games. Selsky usually hits 3rd and has good power, which is why he is projected to be drafted around the 10th round in June as a draft eligible soph. He went 3-6 in last year’s midweek series at Fullerton.

DH – JC transfer Josh Garcia (RH – .200 in 10 AB’s) is one of several players who will see time at DH, including Valenzuela, Brown and Refsnyder as Arizona rotates players at this position.

PITCHING

A major reason why Arizona ended up under .500 in conf games despite having a potent lineup was a pitching staff that ended up 9th in team ERA at 5.46 and allowed opponents to hit a conference worst .293. The pitchers also allowed the most 2B’s and 3B’s in the conference. Arizona lost their Friday SP, top middle reliever and closer to the draft after last season. The Wildcats allowed only one run in each of their first two games before allowing 41 runs in their next five games.

Starters

FRI – FR Kurt Heyer (RHP – 1-0, 3.86 ERA, 2 starts, 12 IP, 14 H, 1 BB, 20 K, .304 BA, 0 HR, 0 HBP, 0 WP) had an outstanding start against Utah Valley State when he allowed 1 R on 3 H in 6 IP with 13 K’s but struggled against Long Beach when he allowed 4 R on 11 H in 5 2/3 IP last Friday. Heyer has good stuff with very good control. He is the best pitching prospect in the recruiting class and helped lead Edison HS to the CIF D1 final, losing a 1-0 game to Capo Valley and 1st round draft pick Tyler Matzek.

SAT – Soph Kyle Simon (RHP – 1-1, 3.55 ERA, 2 starts, 13 IP, 11 H. 6 BB, 8 K, .239 BA, 0 HR, 2 HBP, 3 WP) is the most experienced pitcher returning from last season (’09 stats – 3-5, 6.03 ERA, 19 apps, 11 starts, 75 IP, 106 H, 26 BB, 42 K, 2 HR, .305 BA, 12 HBP, 6 WP). He doesn’t have overpowering stuff but is a battler. Simon was very effective against Utah Valley State and allowed 1 R on 5 H and 1 BB in 8 IP but didn’t pitch well against Long Beach when he gave up 5 R on 6 H and 4 BB in 5 IP. In his midweek start at Fullerton last year he allowed 5 R on 7 H in 2 1/3 IP.

SUN – TBA. The most likely SP’s would be either FR RHP Stephen Manthei or JR RHP Daniel Workman. Both made midweek starts this week against UNLV. Workman was one of the more effective returning pitchers for Arizona (’09 stats – 3-1, 3.86 ERA,15 apps, 6 starts, 42 IP, 45 H, 13 BB, 25 K, 5 HR, .271 BA, 5 HBP, 3 WP). He was shelled by Utah Valley State for 6 R and 7 H in 1 2/3 IP. Manthei allowed 0 R in 4 1/3 IP in relief of Workman in that game and was scheduled to start the Sun game against Long Beach that was rained out. Manthei started the Tues game against UNLV and allowed 5 R without retiring a batter. Workman was effective in his Wed start against UNLV and allowed 1 R on 2 H and 4 BB in 4 1/3 IP.

Relievers

Arizona has been scrambling for answers in the bullpen with so much roster turnover and the loss of their two most effective and experienced relievers from last season.

Soph Bryce Bandilla (LHP – ’09 stats – 3-3, 6.20 ERA, 26 apps, 6 starts, 49 IP, 51 H, 32 BB, 30 K, .280 BA, 2 HR, 11 HBP, 4 WP) was one of two experienced RP’s coming into the season and the projected closer due to his power arm although he has struggled with wildness. He blew the save against Long Beach when he allowed 3 R on 4 H in 2 IP. Bandilla struggled in his next outing on Tues against UNLV when he allowed 5 R on 5 H in 5 IP but did have 8 K’s.

JR Joe Allison (RHP – ’09 stats – 5-1, 4.66 ERA, 21 apps, 3 starts, 39 IP, 41 H, 11 BB, 21 K, .272 BA, 9 HR, 4 HBP, 1 WP) is the other experienced RP but has been brought along slowly due to some minor injuries. He made his first appearance on Wed against UNLV and held the Rebels hitless in 1 2/3 IP in picking up the extra inning win. Allison has good control but his pitches tend to get too much of the zone and led allowed the most HR’s on the staff last season. He allowed 3 R on 5 H in 4 IP in his midweek start at Fullerton last year.

FR Nick Cunningham (RHP – 5 apps, 2.84 ERA, 6 IP, 6 H, 1 BB, 4 K) has been effective and earned the coaching staff’s confidence and leads the staff in appearances.

FR Tyler Hale (RHP – 4 apps, 6.48 ERA, 8 IP, 7 H, 4 BB, 8 K) was projected to have a chance to be the closer due to his power arm but he has struggled out of the gate. He has allowed 2 R in each of his last 3 outings.

No other pitcher has made more than one appearance out of the bullpen and the only other LHP on the roster besides Bandilla is JR Matt Chaffee, who only threw nine innings last year.

OUTLOOK

Fullerton has gotten off to a slow start and is looking to get their first series win this weekend. It looked like the ballclub started to turn the corner in their midweek win vs. San Diego against a weekend SP who should be better than any of the SP’s that they will see this weekend, although he was very wild which helped out the Titan hitters.

Arizona is a very young team that got off to a fast start against an inferior opponent before having a bit of a reality check while going 1-3 when the level of competition improved.

Runs don’t figure to be hard to come by this weekend with the way that Arizona swings the bats at home and with the struggles that the Wildcat pitching staff has had in allowing over eight runs a game the past five games. The Titans should have the pitching advantage in this series if they don’t allow Arizona to gain confidence at home in a hitters ballpark.

Fullerton is a more well rounded club than Arizona and if the Titans pitchers are effective and the hitters are able to have a good approach at the plate and swing the bats the way that they did on Tuesday night then Fullerton should win two out of three games this weekend.

Titans Sweep Mildcats

The Cal State Fullerton Titans continued their recent run of excellent play in defeating the University of Arizona Mildcats, 5-2 and 8-4, in mid-week action as they prepared to head to San Luis Obispo for a crucial BWC series against Cal Poly.

Tuesday, May 5: Titans 5, Arizona 2

The 'Cats came out clawing, as they roughed up starter Kevin Rath with a walk, double, HBP and RBI single to take a quick 1-0 lead and load the bases with nobody out. Blood was in the water.

But out trotted Coach Serrano to discuss the situation and Rath turned into Sandy Koufax: he used a dazzling array of fastballs, change-ups and breaking balls to strike out the next three Arizona batters and leave the bags loaded.

The pain, cruelty and injustice of baseball was on full display this inning. The 'Cats sent seven hitters to the plate to grind out a run......and with one swing of the bat from the Titan lead-off man, the game was tied as Christian Colon banged a home-run high off the screen in leftfield off starter Joe Allison.

The Titans plated the go-ahead run the next inning on a bunt single by Dustin Garneau, a balk, another balk and an RBI single by Joe Scott. After allowing an unearned run in the top of the third to tie the score, 2-2, the Titans took the lead for good in their half of the third inning. After Josh Fellhauer led off with a double, he went to third on a nice bit of unselfish hitting by Jared Clark, who managed to hit a two-strike pitch to the right side to move the runner along. Khris Davis hit a sacrifice fly to give the Titans the 3-2 lead.

While Rath continued to throw goose-eggs after his rocky debut, in the fifth inning the Titans faced Preston Guilmet, the ace of the UofA staff as he made a relief appearance on one of his scheduled between-starts throwing days. After Gary Brown hit a one-out double, Fellhauer launched one into the arboretum for a two-run homer that gave the Titans a 5-2 lead which would become the eventual final score.

The key to making the lead stand-up was brilliant relief pitching by Travis Kelly and Nick Ramirez. Kelly pitched three innings of one-hit ball, striking out four and seeming to give the Titans a big emotional lift. Ramirez struck out two in the ninth inning in gaining his third save of the season.

Wednesday, May 6: Titans 8, Arizona 4

On a designated staff day in which seemingly everybody except "Uncle Larry" got to pitch, the Titans played a good all-around game and posted a comfortable 8-4 win over Arizona. The Titans' run total was suppressed by a couple peculiar umpiring calls that stymied potentially big innings.

After a scoreless first inning, the 'Cats scored two runs against starter Kyle Witten in the second inning. Jett Bandy led off and hit a shot over the third base bag that Joey Siddons nicely backhanded to keep it to just a single. Bobby Coyle dropped a perfectly placed dinker into the rightfield corner for a triple, making it 1-0, and scored on a sacrifice fly.

The lead evaporated quickly, as the Titans responded with three runs. Khris Davis led off with a single and came around to score on a double by Nick Ramirez. After advancing on a groundout, Ramirez scored the tying run on an RBI single by Joe Scott. Joey Siddons reached base when the pitcher threw wide to second attempting to start a double-play. Christian Colon's RBI single then gave the Titans a 3-2 with runners at the corners and just one out. When Jeff Newman hot a chopper to third, Siddons held up until the third-baseman released his throw to first. Siddons made a hard charge for home on a bang-bang play at the plate, pictured below. I love the look on both players in the second picture as they await the verdict: "OUT!!!"

Brock Floro was the Titans first reliever of the evening and he pitched one scoreless inning and was eventually credited with the win, his first as a Titan. His teammates lengthened the lead in the bottom of the third with two runs. With two outs and the bases loaded, Joe Scott grounded a 3-2 pitch to the right of the first-baseman, who made a routine play and looked to toss it to pitcher Bryce Bandilla. Fortunately for the Titans, the pitcher took a brief cat-nap before heading over to cover the bag - Scott just plain outhustled him to the bag and it turned into a two-RBI when Khris Davis, running on the pitch, hustled in to score from second base, making it 5-2, Titans.

After Colin O'Connell pitched a scoreless fourth frame, the Titans added another run on a Colon single, a Newman sacrifice bunt and an RBI single by Brown.

Michael Morrison pitched a 1-2-3 fifth inning, looking very sharp as he struck out two.

Perhaps the strangest call we've seen in a while occurred in the last of the fifth. Walks to Billy Marcoe and Joe Scott, followed by a Siddons' bunt single, loaded the bases with nobody out and the top of the order coming up. Big inning coming, eh? But plate umpire Bradley Hungerford injected himself into the outcome in head-scratching fashion. Colon hit a slow, high chopper to third-base, too slow to even think about a double-play, so 3B Jett Bandy threw towards the plate for the force on Marcoe. But the throw hit Marcoe, deflected away, and two runners scored.

But, in the immortal words of the late great Joe Besser, "Not so fast!" (I didn't get a pic of Hungerford making this call, so I went with a different Stooge.) He ruled that Marcoe had intentionally interfered with the play - some trick considering he had his back to the play and never saw the ball - and both Marcoe and Colon were ruled out and the other runners returned to first and second. Nice rally killer, Blue!

After Ryan Ackland threw a scoreless sixth inning, the Titans added another run on a two-out walk by Davis and an RBI double by Nick Ramirez, his second of the game.


The Mildcats and Titans traded late solo tallies. In the eighth inning for CSUF, Gary Brown doubled (90% of the crowd missed it while begging for Klondike bars) and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by Davis.

Kyle Mertins pitched two innings to close it out, allowing just a harmless run in the ninth.

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

So did we learn this mid-week?

First, we learned that the talent level on this team is extraordinarily high and when they are focused and hustle, they are very tough to beat. The Tuesday game was dominated by outstanding pitching, while the Wednesday game had more hitting and some great defense.

Did anybody keep track of how many great stops Joey Siddons made at third base last night? (I really do need to start writing down notes.) He made some great ones. Jeff Newman also made a great running catch deep in leftfield - he crashed into the wall and was down momentarily, but it takes more than a solid wall to keep that kid down.

We saw some really good things from Nick Ramirez this week, both offensively and in his new role as the presumptive closer. He crushed a ball to the deepest part of Goodwin Field on Tuesday and got nothing to show for it, but his two RBI doubles last night were vital. When the Titans were at their best this season, Nick was hitting the spit out of the ball and seemed to be in the middle of every big inning - it just feels like he is close to getting back to that point. It was also good to see him pitch in consecutive games, a prerequisite for a reliever in key playoff situations.

It was very nice to see Travis Kelly pitch "lights out" in an extended mound stint. I also like seeing Brock Floro and Colin O'Connell getting a little more experience. The benefit of that experience may not occur this year, but certainly sometime in the future.

Gary Brown continues to play lights-out baseball. He had four hits on Wednesday and is playing very well defensively in whichever outfield position he is needed on a given night.

It's also great to see the Titans out-hustling their opponents. You could see Santa Barbara quit at certain points in the game last weekend and the 'Cats seemed to reach a point where they just knew they were toast.

Lastly, I can't wait to get up to San Luis Obispo and some of the great clam chowder shacks and other great restaurants in the area. The trips to Cal Poly are always some of the best of the year, especially when they have a competitive team and a rabid crowd behind them.. This year should be extraordinary, as they have a very potent line-up from top to bottom, even with some key injuries. I can't wait to see how the old "good pitching beats good hitting" axiom is tested this weekend. The Mustangs have a daunting offense, but the trio of Daniel Renken, Noe Ramirez and Tyler Pill have been excellent, so let's see how well they can do in a "Super Regionals-like" atmosphere. I hope to see you out there!