This week’s Thursday Thoughts: Wichita State & San Diego State edition, comes with a bit of optimism compared to last week’s skepticism. The Titans not only hit the road for the second straight weekend but came home with a series win in their back pocket.

The Titans then put up a touchdown vs. San Diego State on Tuesday and by golly, all of a sudden we’re got a winning streak on our hands.

The last time the Titans had a winning streak of three games came just short of 360 days ago with the series sweep over Jacksonville. The last winning streak of four straight came in early May 2023 with two wins over CSUN, a mid-week vs. USC and the Friday night at TCU. The Titans can make it four consecutive as they open up Big West Conference play on Friday at Cal Poly.

Join us as we yet again look at the Good, the Bad and the Ugly that was the Wichita State and San Diego State mid-week games in week three of the 2025 Titan Baseball season.

The Results

Overall Record: 4-8
Conference Record: 0-0
Streak:Won 3
Last 10: 4-6

Offense

Runs Scored: 73
Hits: 106
Doubles: 20
Triples: 3
Home Runs: 14
RBI: 64
Team Batting Avg: .262
On-Base %: .371
Slugging %: .431
Walks: 53
Extra base hits: 37
Total bases: 174
Hit by pitch: 17
Stolen Bases: 7
Strikeouts: 99

Defense

Errors: 10
Fielding %: .977
Double Plays turned: 8
Passed Balls: 2
Stolen Bases allowed: 6

Pitching

Team ERA: 5.93
WHIP: 1.74
Batting average against: .316
Hits allowed: 101
Total Runs Allowed: 139
Earned Runs Allowed: 69
Walks Issued: 42
Strikeouts: 94
Home runs allowed: 9

Titans of the Week

Winners chosen via Twitter/X poll

Pitcher of the Week

Andrew Wright: 3.2IP – 3H – 0ER – 0BB – 4K – 0.00 ERA – 1S
Also considered:
Jason Blood: 3.2IP- 3H – 0ER – 0BB – 4K – 0.00 ERA – 1W
Dylan Goff: 3IP- 2H – 0ER – 0BB – 3K – 0.00 ERA – 1W
Jayden Harper: 2IP- 2H – 0ER – 0BB – 1K – 0.00 ERA – 1W

Vote on the #CalStateOmaha Pitcher of the Week@jtblood13: 3.2IP- 3H – 0ER – 0BB – 4K – 0.00 ERA – 1W@DylanGoff1423: 3IP- 2H – 0ER – 0BB – 3K – 0.00 ERA – 1W@JaydenHarper04: 2IP- 2H – 0ER – 0BB – 1K – 0.00 ERA – 1W@andrew_wright44: 3.2IP – 3H – 0ER – 0BB – 4K – 0.00 ERA – 1S

— Cal State Omaha (@CalStateOmaha) March 5, 2025

Batter of the Week

Andrew Kirchner : 6/12 – .500 – 3R – 9RBI – 5BB – 1K -1HR
Also considered:
Matthew Bardowell: 7/15 – .470 – 2R – 4RBI – 2BB – 2K -3XBH
Isaiah Gomez: 4/9 – .440 – 2R – 3RBI – 0BB – 4K -1HR
Maddox Latta: 6/13 – .460 – 3R – 1RBI – 3BB – 3K -1XBH

Vote on the #CalStateOmaha Batter of the Week@BardowellJ: 7/15 – .470 – 2R – 4RBI – 2BB – 2K -3XBH@isaiahhgomez: 4/9 – .440 – 2R – 3RBI – 0BB – 4K -1HR@LattaMaddox: 6/13 – .460 – 3R – 1RBI – 3BB – 3K -1XBH@Andrewkirchner0: 6/12 – .500 – 3R – 9RBI – 5BB – 1K -1HR#TusksUp

— Cal State Omaha (@CalStateOmaha) March 5, 2025

The Good

First Series Win of 2025

It may come as something obvious but gaining a series win, on the road no less, definitely qualifies as something in the “good” column.
In addition to confidence boost it possibly can provide heading into Big West play this weekend, the increasing number under the W column can lift a team to new heights. The fact that it came on the road can only help in way we may not recognize until later in the season.

Titans defeat Wichita State 5-0!#TusksUp pic.twitter.com/9uPbvjv8Z9

— Titans Baseball (@FullertonBSB) March 1, 2025

Shutout in Wichita

The series win provides a springboard for bigger things to come but recording a shutout on Saturday in Wichita couldn’t have come at a better time.
It may sound obvious but prior to the shutout win, the first win came when the Titans surrendered three runs on Saturday up in Fresno. The previous losses all came when the Titans gave up five or more runs.

Andrew Clutchner

No, Andrew Kirchner has not officially changed his name but if he continues to come up with timely hits in clutch situations, he might consider it.
Starting 12 games this season, Kirchner has hit successfully in 10 of them and reached base in 11 out of 12, with the opening game vs. Stanford the outlier. His consistency at the plate is remarkable however this past weekend his ability to deliver in key situations has the making of a future fan favorite.

Kirchner goes yard!#TusksUp | @Andrewkirchner0 pic.twitter.com/Dno9xZcSG1

— Titans Baseball (@FullertonBSB) February 28, 2025

That was Friday with two outs and two men on trailing by one run in the third inning. The Kirch bomb gave the Titans a much-needed boost but unfortunately would lose that Friday on a walk off homer.

Kirchner, make it two!#TusksUp | @Andrewkirchner0 pic.twitter.com/u6VFD4S9cS

— Titans Baseball (@FullertonBSB) March 5, 2025

Kirch got the party started on Tuesday and opened up the scoring, driving in Cam Burdick and Eli Lopez vs. San Diego State. Kirchner wound up with four RBI on the night, his fourth game with four driven in. He leads the team in RBI with 21, head and shoulders above the next Titan, Marcos Rosales with 10 RBI.

Wright gets the Titans out of bases loaded jam!#TusksUp pic.twitter.com/4MYTAbKK4h

— Titans Baseball (@FullertonBSB) March 1, 2025

Team ERA dropped by 1.77

What a difference a shutout and a one run game can do for a team ERA.
Entering the weekend vs. Wichita State, Titan arms held a 7.70 ERA. After the win vs. SDSU, the team ERA dropped 1.77 points down to 5.93.
Yes, we agree that a 5.93 ERA still sits way too high but a few more low scoring games and a possible shutout the next few games could do wonders for a team ERA.
In calculating the stats for the Cal State Omaha Pitcher of the Week poll, nine pitchers came out of the three games in Wichita and the one against SDSU with 0.00 ERAs. Those arms included Chris Hernandez, Payton Hawkinson, Derek Turner, Dylan Goff, Dylan Smith, Landon Martin, Andrew Wright, Jason Blood and Jayden Harper.

Bats Heating Up

We noted Kirchner’s bat has carried a major load to the tune of 21 RBI, but other Titan batters have really upped their games. Four Titans that have played in 75% of games and average at least two plate appearances per games played hold a batting average above .300.
Mathew Bardowell leads those Titan batter with a .371 average followed by Eli Lopez (.356), Maddox Latta (.348) and Kirchner with .311.
If those four can continue to stay hot while other major contributors like Max Ortega, Cam Burdick Jack Burke, Carter Johnstone and Jakob Schardt can bump into the .300 club, the Titans have the makings a nice team moving forward.

The Bad

Heartbreaker on Friday

A walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth remains one of the best and exhillerating moments in all of sports. When it happens against your team, not so much.
That’s exactly what happened on Friday in Wichita when leading by a run, Jason Krakoski relieved Andrew Wright to start the bottom of the ninth.
Krakoski hit the first batter who then was eliminated on a fielder’s choice allowing the batter to replace him at first. A ground out made it two outs but the runner stood on second base.
It didn’t matter where the runner stood because the two-run home run from Lane Haworth cleared the bases for another crushing loss and dropped the Titans to 1-8.
Crushing to have the win ripped away, especially with two outs, and the Titans could taste their second victory of the season. Thankfully the loss did not send the Titans spiraling because they have rattled off three straight wins since.

The Ugly

Strike 3s and LOBs

Strike outs are part of the game, we get that. But the backwards Ks can be a bit frustrating. Add to it, punch outs with men on base, that gets the fans’ blood pressure really into the high range. In looking back at the past four games, the frustration levels came to light.

Friday

Top eighth inning on Friday in Wichita, Max Ortega walked to lead off the inning with the Titans leading 4-3. Waldie Perez pinch ran for Ortega and immediately advanced to second on a passed ball. Jakob Schardt laid down a beautiful sacrifice bunt to get Waldie to third. With an additional insurance run 90 feet away, Maddox Latta struck out swinging and Matthew Bardowell struck out looking.

Saturday

The Titans ended XX inning with a looking strike out. Top of the first, Latta backwards K with a runner on base. Top of the second, Johnstone looked at strike three for a three up, three down inning. Top of the fifth, Eli Lopez took strike three to end the inning. The Titans would eventually go and score late, but the early strike outs had many worried if the Titans would ever win another game.

Sunday

Although the Titans started the first inning by scoring two, Bardowell stranded Latta on a looking strike out. Other innings ended with a Titan strikeout but at least those came with the Titan batter swinging.

Tuesday

Tuesday’s tilt vs the Aztecs did not feature a looking strike out to end the innings but numerous swinging Ks ended the second, fifth and eighth, stranding five runners in the process. Although the titans did not need those runs in a 7-1 game, the frustration levels remained at a fever pitch.

Looking Ahead

Starting Friday, the Titans open Big West Conference play up in San Luis Obispo, taking on Cal Poly at Baggett Stadium. The Mustangs enter conference play 6-6 with their biggest win of the season coming on Sunday, February 23rd in College Station, Texas vs. the Texas A&M Aggies. That win in College Station appears like a catalyst for the Mustangs as they have rattled off five of their six wins in their last six games.

Series History

Titans currently hold the all-time series record over Cal Poly 74-54 but many of those wins came in previous decades. In the Post-Covid era, the Mustangs hold a 10-3 advantage, including a 7-0 double series sweep from 2021-22.
Last season at Goodwin, the Titans dropped the series to the Mustangs winning on Friday but Cal Poly won the double header to clinch the series. The last time the Titans played in Baggett Stadium, they took the regular season finale series 2-1. You may recall 2023 was the season where the Titans advanced to the post-season regional at Stanford.
Times listed are Pacific time:

March 7, 2025 (Friday)

@ Cal Poly – 6:00 PM

March 8, 2025 (Saturday)

@ Cal Poly – 3:00 PM

March 9, 2025 (Sunday)

@ Cal Poly – 1:00 PM

This week’s Thursday Thoughts: Fresno State & USC edition, comes with a bit of struggle. After starting the season 0-4, the euphoria of the Saturday night 14-3 drubbing up in Fresno gave quite a bit of hope to Titan Baseball fans.

Was the old-time football score reflective of what the future holds? Seeing how the following two games resulted in losses, tumbling the Titans record to 1-7 on the early season, it may be a harbinger of the remaining season.

Join us as we yet again look at the Good, the Bad and the Ugly that was the Fresno State and USC mid-week games in week two of the 2025 Titan Baseball season.

The Results

Overall Record: 1-7
Conference Record: 0-0
Streak:Lost 2
Last 10: 1-9 (Dating back to May 24, 2024)

Offense

Runs Scored: 50
Hits: 67
Doubles: 11
Triples: 3
Home Runs: 11
RBI: 45
Team Batting Avg: .244
On-Base %: .339
Slugging %: .425
Walks: 32
Extra base hits: 25
Total bases: 117
Hit by pitch: 8
Stolen Bases: 4
Strikeouts: 67

Defense

Errors: 8
Fielding %: .972
Double Plays turned: 5
Passed Balls: 2
Stolen Bases allowed: 2

Pitching

Team ERA: 7.70
WHIP: 1.97
Batting average against: .337
Hits allowed: 101
Total Runs Allowed: 70
Earned Runs Allowed: 59
Walks Issued: 35
Strikeouts: 65
Home runs allowed: 8

Titans of the Week

Winners chosen via Twitter/X poll

Pitcher of the Week

Andrew Wright: 4.2IP – 3H – 0ER – 1BB – 4K – 0.00 ERA
Also considered:
Brady Dockan: 3.2IP – 3H – 0ER – 0BB – 2K – 0.00 ERA
Ryan Faulks: 2.1IP – 1H – 0ER – 2BB – 5K – 0.00 ERA
Mikiah Negrete: 6IP – 4H – 3ER – 1BB – 7K – 4.50 ERA

Vote on the #CalStateOmaha Pitcher of the Week@BDockan: 3.2IP – 3H – 0ER – 0BB – 2K – 0.00 ERA@ryan_faulks2: 2.1IP – 1H – 0ER – 2BB – 5K – 0.00 ERA@NegreteMikiah: 6IP – 4H – 3ER – 1BB – 7K – 4.50 ERA@andrew_wright44: 4.2IP – 3H – 0ER – 1BB – 4K – 0.00 ERA#TusksUp

— Cal State Omaha (@CalStateOmaha) February 26, 2025

Batter of the Week

Matthew Bardowell: 6/13 – .460 – 4R – 4RBI – 0BB – 2K – 3HR

Also considered:
Eli Lopez: 6/14 – .430 – 2R – 0RBI – 2BB – 2K
Waldie Perez: 2/4 – .500 – 1R – 0RBI – 1BB – 1K
Marcos Rosales: 5/12 – .420 – 6R – 7RBI – 5BB – 3K

Vote on the #CalStateOmaha Batter of the Week@BardowellJ: 6/13 – .460 – 4R – 4RBI – 0BB – 2K – 3HR@elixeli7: 6/14 – .430 – 2R – 0RBI – 2BB – 2K@PerezWaldie: 2/4 – .500 – 1R – 0RBI – 1BB – 1K
Marcos Rosales: 5/12 – .420 – 6R – 7RBI – 5BB – 3K#TusksUp #CalStateFullerton

— Cal State Omaha (@CalStateOmaha) February 26, 2025

The Good

Saturday in Fresno

Jason Dietrich on the Titans 14-3 win and the team hitting seven home runs.#TusksUp pic.twitter.com/StZ809LipX

— Titans Baseball (@FullertonBSB) February 23, 2025

Anytime a team puts up two touchdowns and converts both extra points, that has to qualify in the “good” category.

Scoring a touchdown in the first inning by way of a grand slam by Andrew Kirchner, a solo job by Max Ortega and then finished off with first of two homers from Matthew Bardowell put the Titans up big to before Fresno State starter Aidan Cremarosa.

The Titans put up 11 runs before the Bulldogs could muster their first run in the bottom of the fifth.

Bombs Away Saturday

Grand Slam Andrew Kirchner!#TusksUp | @Andrewkirchner0 pic.twitter.com/yHLbEHFBGt

— Titans Baseball (@FullertonBSB) February 22, 2025

A major complaint regarding the Titans offense over the past few seasons was the lack of power. That complaint disappeared on Saturday as the Titans combined for seven home runs. Cal State Omaha Batter of the Week Matthew Bardowell collected two over wall jobs on the day.

Bardo Bomb #TusksUp | @BardowellJ pic.twitter.com/HrdPZ9AEsZ

— Titans Baseball (@FullertonBSB) February 22, 2025

All in all, seven home runs from six Titans including the aforementioned Kirchner, Ortega and Bardowell along with Cam Burdick, Marcos Rosales and Carter Johnstone.

.300 Club

Marcos with a three-run shot!#TusksUp pic.twitter.com/awZo1pucwf

— Titans Baseball (@FullertonBSB) February 23, 2025

Undoubtedly, the bats came alive on Saturday but the good news to report remains four Titans, Eli Lopez, Marcos Rosales, Maddox Latta and Mathew Bardowell, all have batting averages at or above .300.

Rosales holds the second-best batting average at .304 behind Lopez’s .310, and leads the team in OPS (1.340), runs scored (9), total bases (19), slugging percentage (.826), walks (7) and on-base percentage (.514)

Fair to say that Rosales has completely recovered from the injury that kept him sidelined for most of the season in 2024.

The Bad

Pitching Woes

End 2 | Another 1⃣2⃣3⃣ inning for Negrete#TusksUp pic.twitter.com/r87ZXy2Abm

— Titans Baseball (@FullertonBSB) February 22, 2025

With the exception of Mikiah Negrete and Andrew Wright, the Titan arms have left much to be desired in the early going of 2025.

Seven Titan pitchers hold earned run averages in the double digits with Grady Faris and Chad Gurnea holding ERAs of 27.00.

We hate to say it, but Jason Blood has looked like everything but a Bonafide Friday starter with a 21.21 ERA and a 3.86 WHIP. Payton Hawkinson appeared poised to take the mid-week role for the remainder of the season, but his two starts have him at a 18.00 ERA and 2.50 WHIP. Sunday starter Dylan Smith has racked up a 21.60 ERA and a 3.60 Whip in his two starts.

Getting knocked around and knocked out of games right around the second inning can spell disaster for a team trying to find its identity. The starters and the bullpen arms will need to improve this weekend in Wichita, Kansas.

With the addition of the Big West Tournament this season, that means one less non-conference series is available. The Titans have this weekend in Wichita and then a mid-week vs. San Diego State before conference play on the road at Cal Poly.

The Ugly

1-7 to Start 2025

Yes, the season is still young but starting the season with a .125 winning percentage is not the way you’d want to draw up a season.

If you find yourself in the “silver linings” camp, the last time the Titans started 1-7 came in 2018. You may recall that year the Titans not only went to the Regionals but hosted the Super Regionals at Goodwin Field.

The Titans found themselves on the edge of going to Omaha for the second consecutive season but lost Game 3 in extra innings.

Looking Ahead

This weekend the Titans hit the road to take on the Wichita State Shockers, a college baseball program steeped in traditional almost as much as Cal State Fullerton. The Shockers have advanced to Omaha seven times and won the National Championship in 1989.

Series History

Much of the series history with the Titans and the Shockers has come in the regular season and surprisingly not in the postseason during both programs’ heydays. The first meeting came in 1982, a year these two programs would meet again in the College World Series.

Those experts in Titan Baseball history may recall that the mid-week trip to Wichita State in 1995 was part of the short losing streak that spurned the Titans’ historic run to their third national championship.

The last time these two programs collided came in 2016 with Wichita State sweeping the Titans in March. The Shockers hold the slight edge in the overall series history with a 12-11 advantage.

Times listed are Pacific time:

February 28, 2025 (Friday)

@ Wichita State – 1:00 PM

March 1, 2025 (Saturday)

@ Wichita State – 12:00 PM

March 2, 2025 (Sunday)

@ Wichita State – 10:00 AM

This week’s Thursday Thoughts: Stanford 2025 edition, a little explanation as to where we have been for nearly 10 months. We are committed to being better and bringing you our unique perspective on the 2025 Titan Baseball program.

Thursday Thoughts took an unexpected sabbatical last year following the Jacksonville and Ohio State series in March 2024. As a one-man-band operation, many things came to a head in March of last year that took our time away from Thursday Thoughts.

I serve as the General Manager for the Orange County Riptide, a collegiate summer ball club playing games at the Great Park in Irvine. The Riptide underwent an ownership change in February of 2024, months later than expected. Once the change became final, we had a mad rush to coordinate everything to ensure that the season could start on time and without any major hitches.

In addition, we started training Omaha the Bat Dog to retrieve bats to serve as the official bat dog for the Riptide. You can imagine the time it takes to train a 18 month-old Golden Retriever mix to successfully and predictably serve as a bat girl for a collegiate baseball team. We can happily report she did great, and we learned a lot over the summer to the point Omaha recently became the official bat dog for the Class-A San Diego Padres affiliate, Lake Elsinore Storm.

In addition to that, I also work as an umpire and maintained a full schedule umpiring for both high school and youth leagues in spring 2024. Writing articles and opinion pieces while calling balls and strikes proved quite difficult.

So enough with the excuses and explanations. Staying true to our journalism degree received from the CSUF School of Communications, we will remain committed to publishing on deadline with the same insight and observations you have come to expect.

Join us as we yet again look at the Good, the Bad and the Ugly that was the Stanford opening weekend series.

The Results

Overall Record: 0-4
Conference Record: 0-0
Streak: Lost 8 (Dating back to May 19, 2024)
Last 10: 1-9 (Dating back to May 17, 2024)

Offense

Runs Scored: 22
Hits: 29
Doubles: 8
Triples: 2
Home Runs: 1
RBI: 19
Team Batting Avg: .218
On-Base %: .309
Slugging %: .331
Walks: 13
Extra base hits: 11
Total bases: 44
Hit by pitch: 5
Stolen Bases: 3
Strikeouts: 30

Defense

Errors: 5
Fielding %: .966
Double Plays turned: 4
Passed Balls: 1
Stolen Bases allowed: 0

Pitching

Team ERA: 8.74
WHIP: 2.09
Batting average against: .355
Hits allowed: 55
Total Runs Allowed: 42
Walks Issued: 18
Strikeouts: 29
Home runs allowed: 4

Titans of the Week

Winners chosen via Twitter/X poll

Mikiah Negrete

Pitcher of the Week

Mikiah Negrete: 6IP – 3H – 0ER – 3BB – 4K – 0.00 ERA

Also considered:

Payton Hawkinson: 4IP – 3H – 2ER – 1BB – 6K – 4.50 ERA
Derek Turner: 4IP – 7H – 1ER – 1BB – 4K – 2.25 ERA
Andrew Wright: 4IP – 5H – 1ER – 1BB – 4K – 2.25 ERA

Vote on the #CalStateOmaha Pitcher of the Week@paytonhawk44: 4IP – 3H – 2ER – 1BB – 6K – 4.50 ERA@NegreteMikiah: 6IP – 3H – 0ER – 3BB – 4K – 0.00 ERA
Derek Turner: 4IP – 7H – 1ER – 1BB – 4K – 2.25 ERA@andrew_wright44: 4IP – 5H – 1ER – 1BB – 4K – 2.25 ERA#TusksUp

— Cal State Omaha (@CalStateOmaha) February 18, 2025

Maddox Latta

Batter of the Week

Maddox Latta: 6/17 – .350 – 5R – 2RBI – 0BB – 3K
Also considered:
Carter Johnstone: 4/13 – .310 – 3R – 1RBI – 4BB – 4K
Andrew Kirchner: 5/16 – .310 – 2R – 6RBI – 1BB – 4K
Max Ortega: 3/11 – .270 – 1R – 3RBI – 1BB – 1K – 1HR

Vote on the #CalStateOmaha Batter of the Week@CarterJohnston9: 4/13 – .310 – 3R – 1RBI – 4BB – 4K@Andrewkirchner0: 5/16 – .310 – 2R – 6RBI – 1BB – 4K@LattaMaddox: 6/17 – .350 – 5R – 2RBI – 0BB – 3K@_MaxOrtega_: 3/11 – .270 – 1R – 3RBI – 1BB – 1K – 1HR#TusksUp

— Cal State Omaha (@CalStateOmaha) February 18, 2025

The Good

Eli Lopez makes a diving catch vs. Stanford.
(Photo Credit: Designer Fotografy / Hank Tran)

Eli Lopez = ESPN Top 10

Eli Lopez appearing on the line-up card in the No. 1 spot did not take many by surprise prior to Game 1. Lopez led the 2024 team in batting average (factoring playing 75% of the games) with a .300 average. The bigger surprise appeared next to his name indicating the position in the field.

Lopez played second and third base in the opening series vs. Stanford last year but stood in center field for the opening game in 2025. Blame the injuries to normal outfielders Jack Burke (toe) and Cam Burdick (neck) for the new position for Lopez.

It took him a few games to settle into the meadow but made a spectacular diving play that ranked No. 8 in ESPN SportsCenter Top Plays.

DUH NUH NA, DUH NUH NA

Eli making an appearance on @SportsCenter Top 10 Plays! #TusksUp | @elixeli7 pic.twitter.com/tvNcacWwJK

— Titans Baseball (@FullertonBSB) February 18, 2025

Carter Johnstone
(Photo Credit: Designer Fotografy / Hank Tran)

Newcomers Contributing

With as many newcomers to the 2025 roster, plenty of opportunity presented itself in the Stanford series. Of the 13 positions players that took an at-bat vs. Stanford, five wore the orange and blue for the first time.

The pitching corps saw more returners on the mound but a few newbies found their way into the stat sheet. Freshman lefty Brady Dockan made the most of his limited time on the mound, lasting two innings on Sunday, allowing two hits, one walk, striking out one and most importantly, not allowing a run.

Chris Hernandez, although not a newcomer because he spent all last year recovering from Tommy John Surgery, made his first appearance in a Titan uniform with mixed results. Another pitcher coming back after even a longer hiatus, Gavin Meyer saw his first action in over two years. Meyer unfortunately ended the weekend saddled with a 21.60 ERA after many fans grumbled Meyer was left in the game too long, allowing Stanford to get back into the game on Monday.

JC transfer Andrew Kirchner looked every bit as advertised, starting all four games and sitting on a .313 batting average heading into this weekend’s series vs. Fresno State. The biggest surprise came from freshman Carter Johnstone who finished the series with a 1.086 OPS and leads the team in total bases (8). His four hits including two doubles and a triple surely helped that statistic.

The Bad

Cam Burdick gets tagged out by Stanford 1st baseman Rintaro Sasaki after slipping and falling after a base hit.
(Photo Credit: Designer Fotografy / Hank Tran)

Oh & Four to Start

You never want to open the season winless, especially when you open the season at home and have an additional game instead of the normal three-game series.

Not much else to add other than the Titans have 50+ regular season games and the entire Big West Conference schedule ahead of them. Playing a traditional powerhouse like Stanford can test one’s mettle and the results can go one of two ways.

One way could inspire the boys to prove the doubters wrong and they go out and show they played a formidable opponent the first four games. The other way could expose the team as overmatched and the Titan fans can brace themselves for another long season.

Only the team on the field can choose their path the rest of the way.

The Ugly

Titan players and coaches look on during Monday’s collapse in the late innings to give Stanford the 4-0 sweep to open the 2025 season.
(Photo Credit: Designer Fotografy / Hank Tran)

Game 1 & 2 1st Innings

The wet and soggy field conditions from the rains earlier in the week pushed opening night to a Saturday double header. The additional day made it agonizing for college baseball fans from both Fullerton and Stanford, having to sit and watch every other college baseball team start their season. Unfortunately, the agony of anticipation soon turned to anguish and frustration after the first two innings in Game 1.

Another surprise for Titan Baseball fans when seeing the Game 1 line-up came with the appearance of Jason Blood’s name at the starter. Blood, now in his third season with the Titans, tabbed the Friday night starter after the last season coming out of the bullpen?

Game 1

Although, Game 1 remains a small sample size, the results turned ugly, early. Issuing a lead-off walk, Blood let up a single and three doubles. The three outs came in the form of a tag out while stretching a single into a double, an RBI ground out and a strikeout. 3-0 Stanford before the Titans swung their bats.

After a 1-2-3 bottom first, the blood letting (no pun intended) continued. A lead off triple, followed by a walk, single, hit-by-pitch, single and another hit-by-pitch and Blood’s day came to an end without recording an out. Derek Turner came in relief and Stanford scored two more runs before Turner could get three outs. 8-0 headed to the bottom of the second in a game that eventually ended 13-1.

Blood’s stat line took a major beating ending his start allowing seven hits, eight runs (all earned) in one inning of work and a 9.00 WHIP and a 72.00 ERA.

Game 2

After a quick turnaround, Game 2 started as inauspiciously as the first. This time, the issues came in the form of fielding errors and not on the mound.

The lead off batter reached on a throwing error by Marcos Rosales, playing second base. A single and a ground out put runners on second and third. Another throwing error by Rosales allowed Charlie Saum to advance to second and allowing two runs to cross the plate.

Mikiah Negrete, last season’s Friday night starter, struck out the next batter, walked the next but a passed ball by Max Ortega allowed both runners to advance to second and third. A single brings in those runners before a fly out ended the inning. Hello 4-0 before the Titans could go on offense.

Without those errors, Negrete had a very good chance to position himself and the Titans for a win.

Looking Ahead

Photo Credit: Fresno State Athletics

The Titans hit the road for the first time in 2025 heading north to take on the Fresno State Bulldogs. Last season, the Titans hosted the Bulldogs for a three-game series; a series the Bulldogs took two of the three games.

The Bulldogs hold a 2-2 record after hosting a four-game series against BYU to open the 2025 season. Fresno State won the Friday and Saturday contests handily 7-1 and 13-4 but dropped Games three and four 1-7 and 4-6 to the Cougars.

Series History

With roughly 250 miles separating the two schools, you would imagine Fresno State and Cal State Fullerton have played each other quite a bit. These two have faced off 88 times including 11 times in the postseason.

The Titans still hold a historical edge vs. Fresno when they play at Pete Beiden Field at Bob Bennett Stadium (20-18) and that could get tested given the current struggles of the Titan Baseball Program.

Schedule

Times listed are Pacific time:

February 21, 2025 (Friday) at Fresno State – 6:05 PM

February 22, 2025 (Saturday) at Fresno State – 3:05 PM

February 23, 2025 (Sunday) at Fresno State – 1:05 PM

After suffering from a four-game losing streak, this week’s Thursday Thoughts – Jacksonville & Ohio State column leads off with the fact that the Dolphins were just what the doctor ordered. Sweeping the three-game series with a run differential of 40-7, the Titans got back to .500 with a 7-7 record.

Keep in mind, Jacksonville coming to Goodwin Field was originally not supposed to happen. You may recall that Saint Mary’s was originally supposed to come to Fullerton this past weekend. Due to miscommunication, Saint Mary’s thought they were coming to Fullerton this weekend while the Titans thought they would come this past weekend. The Titans open Big West Conference play tomorrow vs. UC San Diego, so something had to give.

Saint Mary’s chose to travel to Gainesville to play the University of Florida this past weekend, leaving Fullerton without a dance partner. Luckily, Jacksonville had an opening and hence the Dolphins came to Fullerton for a three-game series.

That’s the good. Unfortunately, the Titans could not take advantage of a road weary Ohio State Buckeyes team on Wednesday and now sit below .500 heading into Big West Conference play. Adding to that, the ugly also came out of the Ohio State mid-week game and we will cover that later.

Join us as we yet again look at the Good, the Bad and the Ugly that was the Jacksonville series and Ohio State mid-week game.

The Results

Overall Record: 7-8
Conference Record: 0-0
Streak:Lost 1
Last 10: 4-6

Offense

Runs Scored: 92
Hits: 124
Doubles: 29
Triples: 3
Home Runs: 9
RBI: 82
Team Batting Avg: .257
On-Base %: .370
Slugging %: .386
Walks: 71
Extra base hits: 41
Total bases: 186
Hit by pitch: 19
Stolen Bases: 10
Strikeouts: 151

Defense

Errors: 15
Fielding %: .972
Double Plays turned: 13
Passed Balls: 1
Stolen Bases allowed: 28

Pitching

Team ERA: 4.41
WHIP: 1.52
Batting average against: .274
Hits allowed: 138
Total Runs Allowed: 72
Walks Issued: 61
Strikeouts: 133
Home runs allowed: 8

Polls and RPI Tracker

Polls

D1Baseball: Not Ranked
Baseball America: Not Ranked
NCBWA: Not Ranked
College Baseball Nation: Not Ranked
USA Today Coaches Poll: Not Ranked
11.7 Mid-Major Power Rankings: Not Ranked

RPI

NCAA: 129
Warren Nolan: 130
D1Baseball.com: No Ranking

Titans of the Week

Winners chosen via Twitter/X poll. Stats do not include Ohio State game as voting was underway on Wednesday and closed on Thursday.

Pitcher of the Week

Mikiah Negrete : 6IP – 3H – 1ER – 4BB – 6K – 1.50 ERA – 1W
Also considered:
Jason Blood: 4.2IP – 2H – 0ER – 1BB – 4K – 0.00 ERA – 1W
Peyton Jones: 1.2IP – 1H – 0ER – 0BB – 3K – 0.00 ERA
Christian Rodriguez: 5.1IP – 5H – 2ER – 1BB – 11K – 3.36 ERA – 1W

Vote on the #CalStateOmaha Pitcher of the week:@jtblood13: 4.2IP – 2H – 0ER – 1BB – 4K – 0.00 ERA – 1W@peytonjonesy: 1.2IP – 1H – 0ER – 0BB – 3K – 0.00 ERA@NegreteMikiah: 6IP – 3H – 1ER – 4BB – 6K – 1.50 ERA – 1W@Christian_Rod00: 5.1IP – 5H – 2ER – 1BB – 11K – 3.36 ERA – 1W

— Cal State Omaha (@CalStateOmaha) March 13, 2024

Batter of the Week

Maddox Latta: 4-for-7 – .570 – 5R – 9RBI – 4BB – 0K – 1HR – 2XBH
Also considered:
Cameron Burdick: 4-for-8 – .500 – 6R – 3RBI – 4BB – 2K – 1HR – 2XBH
Eli Lopez: 8-for-12 – .670 – 6R – 3RBI – 3BB – 1K – 2XBH
Marcos Rosales: 5-for-10 – .500 – 2R – 2RBI – 1BB – 2K – 1XBH

Vote on the #CalStateOmaha Batter of the Week:@burrrdy: 4/8 – .500 – 6R – 3RBI – 4BB – 2K – 1HR – 2XBH@LattaMaddox: 4/7 – .570 – 5R – 9RBI – 4BB – 0K – 1HR – 2XBH@elixeli7: 8/12 – .670 – 6R – 3RBI – 3BB – 1K – 2XBH
Marcos Rosales: 5/10 – .500 – 2R – 2RBI – 1BB – 2K – 1XBH

— Cal State Omaha (@CalStateOmaha) March 13, 2024

The Good

Sweep & Run Rule Double Header

We alluded to it in the open but hosting Jacksonville this past weekend may have helped the team morale after dropping four consecutive in the Keith LeClair Classic and the mid-week game vs. USC. The Titans won on Friday and the proceeded to win both double header games on Saturday.

Add to that, by mutual agreement by the coaches, Jacksonville invoked the run-rule both games on Saturday after completion of seven innings.

Maddox Latta on his 9 RBI in two games today.#TusksUp pic.twitter.com/7ieS2fN67S

— Titans Baseball (@FullertonBSB) March 10, 2024

Whole Latta RBI

Maddox Latta had himself a day on Saturday recording nine runs batted in during the double header vs. Jacksonville. One can only imagine, had the games not been shortened to seven innings, how many more RBI Latta might have driven in.

Saturday’s first game had Jason Dietrich not made wholesale changes to the line-up heading into the bottom of the seventh. Cam Burdick was set to lead off with Latta behind him. In the second game, had the line-up remained the same, Colby Wallace was set to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning with Latta batting second behind him.

Could Latta have had a double digit RBI day? We’ll never know but with Burdick and Wallace batting in front of him those games, the thought of it is not beyond the realm of probability.

Glad to have you in a Titan uniform, @jaredsnyy! #TusksUp pic.twitter.com/F8DhPEazHF

— Titans Baseball (@FullertonBSB) March 9, 2024

Off the Schnyder

Entering the Jacksonville series, Catcher Jared Snyder was nowhere to be seen in the Titan line-up. Max Ortega received the lion’s share of the innings behind the plate with Waldie Perez getting some spot duty. Was the Long Beach State refugee Snyder hurt or just bidding his time to get some playing time?

Snyder started the first game of the Jacksonville double header and made his presence known in a big way with a 2-RBI home run in the third inning.

Snyder got the start again on Wednesday vs. Ohio State and offensively went 1-for-1 with an RBI. Unfortunately, Max Ortega replaced Snyder in the bottom of the third and remained in the game behind the plate for the rest of the way. This move was probably inspired by a passed ball allowed by Snyder in the top of the third inning which allowed a run to score and the Buckeyes shortened the Titans lead to 8-6.

If Snyder can shore up his defense to compliment his small sample size of excellent offense, the catcher spot may not be as secure as we may think.

Eli gettin’ it done#TusksUp | @elixeli7 pic.twitter.com/OTyN0eJ0tS

— Titans Baseball (@FullertonBSB) March 9, 2024

Bats Woke Up over the Weekend

Despite not playing the eighth and ninth innings in both games on Saturday, the Titan batters made the most of their opportunities at the plate.

Over the course of the three days vs. Jacksonville, the Titans went 35-for-91 for a .385 batting average. In addition to the hits and runs, the Titans slugged three home runs which included nine extra base hits.

The Titans feasted on Dolphin pitching all weekend which was desperately needed to end the four-game losing streak.

Streaker Tracker

“We’re going streaking!

We’re 15 games into the season which gives us a large enough sample size to see if we have any streaks going. Let’s check in on the streaks currently underway:

• Marcos Rosales currently enjoys an eight-game hitting streak, the longest of the team and for the year. The Freshman from South Hills High School has firmly planted himself in the line-up primarily as a designated Hitter due to an arm injury.
• Seth Tomczak in the closer role has only seen 8.1 innings of work but has put up a streak of zeroes in those appearances. Tomczak in a five-game streak has allowed no earned runs and no runs altogether along with not giving up a home run all season. He also has failed to hit a batter this year along with recording at least one strikeout in every game he has appeared.

The Bad

Ohio State Wednesday

Ohio State came into Goodwin reeling from a grueling road trip and entered with a 7-7 record. After the first inning and the Titans put up a touchdown and kicked the extra point to make it 7-1, this mid-week game had the makings of a laugher.

Despite holding an 8-2 lead after two innings, the Buckeyes used timely hitting combined with untimely errors to eventually win the game 13-10. Despite a ninth inning, 2-run rally to trim the Buckeye’s 13-8 lead to 13-10, the Titans couldn’t complete the comeback.

The most concerning was the lack of pitching with Ryan Faulks, Andrew Morones and Chad Gurnea tagged with multiple earned runs. Add to it, Faulks was saddled with the loss, his second of the year bringing his record to 0-2 and inflating his ERA to 9.82.

We understand that mid-week games are games pieced together with strictly bullpen arms, but the lack of depth is concerning. Freshman Dylan Goff got the start, and his first action of the season and returner Jesse Alfaro also got his first appearance in 2024. Both did not go very long Wednesday and could see more work as the season progesses.

Chad Gurnea, a freshman from Garden Grove, pitched in relief on Wednesday marking the possibility he has lost the Sunday starter role.
(Photo courtesy of Don Hudson

No Sunday for Gurnea?

Chad Gurnea also saw time on the mound on Wednesday, marking the first time he has seen mid-week action this season. Gurnea’s appearance against Ohio State had many fans asking the question if he has lost the Sunday starting role. Other questions remain that if Gurnea will get replaced on Sundays, who will be the newest Sunday starter?

Of the 10 Titan arms to throw on Wednesday, Peyton Jones nor Jason Blood made an appearance. Both Jones and Blood look poised to take over that Sunday Starter role if Gurnea is supplanted.

The Ugly

Cameron Burdick, seen here batting against Purdue, appears to have suffered an extensive injury to his left arm vs. Ohio State on Wednesday, March 13, 2024.
(Photo courtesy of Titan Athletics)

Burdick Injury

In the bottom of the second inning and his second plate appearance of the night vs. Ohio State, Cam Burdick reached on a throwing error by Buckeye third baseman Zach Fjelstad. The throw took First Baseman Ryan Miller off the base and forced him into a tag play on Burdick coming up the line.

The tag play caused quite a collision with Burdick taking the brunt of it on his left arm. Burdick tumbled to the ground in foul territory near the first base coaches’ box where Jake Pavletich occupies. Burdick clutched his left arm and CSUF sports medicine staff along with Head Coach Jason Dietrich ran to check on Burdick.

Burdick was able to stand on his own power but held his left forearm gingerly. Dietrich replaced Burdick with Draven Nushida for the remainder of the game.

Injury information in college baseball tends to be not very forthcoming and no details came out post-game. We reached out to the CSUF Sports Information Department for an official statement regarding the injury. The response via text:

“He is not available this weekend. It’s an arm injury that will keep him out an extended period of time”

What struck a cord with us was the use of the term “extended period of time”. You may recall that when referencing the absence of Evan Yates to start the season, Kendall Rogers of D1Baseball also tweeted the term “extended amount of time”. We’re 15 games into the 2024 season and we have not seen Yates appear once nor have we heard any update as to the reconciliation as to his personal matter.

Since Burdick’s first game action vs. Loyola Marymount, Burdick is hitting .450 in 20 at-bats and a .577 on-base percentage and is slugging .700. In addition to his bat, Burdick has recorded 12 put outs and has yet to commit an error this early season.

We can speak for all Titan fans and coaches to say we hope Burdick’s removal from the game was more precautionary than a serious injury.

Looking Ahead

The Titans hit the road and travel down the I-5 South to La Jolla to take on the UC San Diego Tritons to open Big West Play. The three-game series marks a match-up of the 2023 Big West Conference Champions (UCSD) vs. the Big West Conference Runners-up (CSUF).

The Tritons hold a 13-3 record and enjoy a 10-game win streak dating back to February 25. The Tritons three losses all came in February to Missouri, Utah and the University of San Diego. UCSD and the Titans played one common opponent, Loyola Marymount, with the Tritons beating the Lions 7-5 on February 25 and the Titans also victorious, winning 6-4 on February 27th.

Series History

The Titans and Tritons first played in 1975 and UCSD holds an 8-4 advantage in the all-time series. The Tritons have dominated the series dating back to 2021. In that span, the Tritons hold an 8-1 advantage over the Titans.

At the Plate

Of the Tritons that have appeared in 75% of games played in 2024, six are batting .333 and above. The entire team is batting .308. Emiliano Gonzalez leads the Tritons with a .429 average in 49 at-bats. Nick Costello remains the home run threat for UCSD, belting four home runs in 16 games played.

On the Bump

Right hander and Friday night starter Ryan Forcucci holds the lowest ERA (2.14) and lowest WHIP (0.71) of all Triton starters. The Titan batter will have their work cut out for them on Friday to try and hand Forucci his first loss of the season.

Closer Izaak Martinez has four saves on the season in seven appearances and holds a 0.49 ERA and 0.60 WHIP in 18.1 innings.

Outlook

Still transitioning from Division II to Division I, the Tritons remain ineligible for the NCAA post-season tournament. You can guarantee the Tritons will show no mercy on the Titans this weekend looking to prove they, and not the Titans, were the ones deserving of a Regional bid last season.

At 7-8, the Titans will need to clean up the errors, swing the bats a bit better and get better efforts out of their bullpen arms if they will compete with the Tritons. Should the Titans continue to struggle at the plate and give up runs from the bullpen, it could be a long weekend.

Weekend Probables

Friday, March 15: LHP Mikiah Negrete (2-0, 2.82 ERA vs. RHP – Ryan Forcucci (2-0, 2.14 ERA)

Saturday, March 16: RHP – Christian Rodriguez (2-2, 5.85 ERA) vs. LHP – Zack Ernisse (2-2, 4.02 ERA)
Saturday, March 17: RHP – Jason Blood (1-0, 1.80 ERA) vs. RHP – Matthew Dalquist (1-0, 3.21 ERA)

Times listed are Pacific time:
March 15, 2024 (Friday) at UC San Diego – 6:00 PM
March 16, 2024 (Saturday) at UC San Diego – 2:00 PM
March 17, 2024 (Sunday) at UC San Diego – 1:00 PM

We wanted to start Thursday Thoughts: Keith LeClair Classic & USC edition on a more positive note. Unfortunately, when the Titans went 0-4 since the last time we wrote this column, there needs to be a lot of digging to find the positive.

Don’t worry, we did find some positive coming out of Greenville, North Carolina. As we have said here and on the 1544 Miles to Omaha Podcast and within our social media channels, the 2024 Titans are talented but young and inexperienced. There will be some growing pains and it appears the 2024 Titans have Osgood-Schlatter disease right now.

Join us as we yet again look at the Good, the Bad and the Ugly that was the Keith LeClair Classic and USC Mid-week game.

The Results

Overall Record: 4-7
Conference Record: 0-0
Streak:Lost 4
Last 10: 3-7

Offense

Runs Scored: 42
Hits: 77
Doubles: 19
Triples: 2
Home Runs: 6
RBI: 38
Team Batting Avg: .219
On-Base %: .312
Slugging %: .335
Walks: 37
Extra base hits: 27
Total bases: 118
Hit by pitch: 12
Stolen Bases: 5
Strikeouts: 122

Defense

Errors: 11
Fielding %: .973
Double Plays turned: 11
Passed Balls: 0
Stolen Bases allowed: 18

Pitching

Team ERA: 4.20
WHIP: 1.53
Batting average against: .271
Hits allowed: 103
Total Runs Allowed: 52
Walks Issued: 48
Strikeouts: 90
Home runs allowed: 6

Polls and RPI Tracker

Polls

D1Baseball: Not Ranked
Baseball America: Not Ranked
NCBWA: Not Ranked
College Baseball Nation: Not Ranked
USA Today Coaches Poll: Not Ranked
11.7 Mid-Major Power Rankings: Not Ranked

RPI

NCAA: 145
Warren Nolan: 145
D1Baseball.com: No Ranking

Titans of the Week

Winners chosen via Twitter/X poll

Pitcher of the Week

Mikiah Negrete : 6.2 IP – 5 H – 0 ER – 2 BB – 4 K – 0.00 ERA
Also considered:
Jason Blood: 3.2 IP – 3 H – 1 ER – 0 BB – 3 K – 2.46 ERA
Seth Tomczak: 3.2 IP – 2 H – 0 ER – 3 BB – 3 K – 0.00 ERA
Derek Turner: 2.1 IP – 3 H – 0 ER – 3 BB – 1 K – 0.00 ERA

Vote on the #CalStateOmaha Pitcher of the week Nominees:@jtblood13: 3.2IP – 3H – 1ER – 0BB – 3K – 2.46 ERA@NegreteMikiah: 6.2IP – 5H – 0ER – 2BB – 4K – 0.00 ERA@SethTomczak: 3.2IP – 2H – 0ER – 3BB – 3K – 0.00 ERA
Derek Turner: 2.1IP – 3H – 0ER – 3BB – 1K – 0.00 ERA#TusksUp

— Cal State Omaha (@CalStateOmaha) March 6, 2024

Batter of the Week

Marcos Rosales: : 5-for-15 – .333 – 2 R – 3 RBI – 1 BB – 7 K – 2 HR – 1 XBH
Also considered:
Luke Mistone: 1-for-4 – .250 – 0 R – 0 RBI – 0 BB – 1 K
Max Ortega: 3-for-9 – .333 – 1 R – 3 RBI – 2 BB – 1 K – 1 XBH
Nico Regino: 2-for-5 – .400 – 0 R – 1 RBI – 0 BB – 2 K – 1 XBH

Vote on the #CalStateOmaha Batter of the Week Nominees:@MistoneLuke: 1/4 – .250 – 0R – 0RBI – 0BB – 1K@_MaxOrtega_ 3/9 – .333 – 1R – 3RBI – 2BB – 1K – 1 XBH@nico_regino44: 2/5 – .400 – 0R – 1RBI – 0BB – 2K – 1XBH
Marcos Rosales: 5/15 – .333 – 2R – 3RBI – 1BB – 7K – 2HR – 1XBH

— Cal State Omaha (@CalStateOmaha) March 6, 2024

The Good

Played East Carolina Tough

Moral victories do not exist, only learning opportunities. Since that’s the case, hopefully the Titans learned a ton from the Keith LeClair Classic.

We’re not going to sit here and make excuses for the Titans poor performance in Greenville this weekend. You do need to factor in that travel, time change and body clock adjustment may have had an adverse effect on the on-field performance.

Despite the adversity, the Titans lost in an 11-inning battle 2-1. The Titan pitchers were stellar led by Cal State Omaha Pitcher of the Week, Mikiah Negrete. Two costly and ill-timed fielding errors cost the Titans the game.

East Carolina is one of the best mid-major teams in the college baseball landscape and to lose in extra innings by a single unearned run should stand as a positive. We all learn from failure more than we do from success. Hopefully the mistakes on display in Greenville will serve as learning lessons for a young and developing team.

Seth Tomczak has taken over the closer role for the Titans in 2024
(Photo courtesy of Titan Athletics)

Tomczak Terrific

Coming into 2024, many wondered who would take over the closer role with the departure of Jojo Ingrassia leaving via the MLB Draft. We think that question has been answered in the form of Seth Tomczak.

In five appearances in relief this young season. Tomczak still holds a 0.00 ERA in 8.1 innings pitched. He has surrendered just four hits and three walks (one of them an intentional walk) while striking out 11 batters.

Although the season enters its fourth weekend this Friday, look for Jason Dietrich to rely on Tomczak last in games to slam the door if the Titans are leading or stop the bleeding should they run into trouble.

Mikiah Negrete tossed a gem on Saturday facing ECU during the Keith LeClair Classic.
(Photo courtesy of Titan Athletics</.em>)

MiKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKiah Negrete

Staying on the mound, Mikiah Negrete leads the Titans with 16 strikeouts on the season. (Yes, you can count how many Ks we put in his name in the headline.) Of the two pitchers meeting the minimum requirement of pitching at least one inning per game, Negrete’s ERA sits at 3.31.

Although three weekends into the 2024 season with a small sample size, Negrete might take over the Friday role come next weekend when the Titans open Big West Conference play vs. UC San Diego. Friday starter Christian Rodriguez with his 1-2 record and 6.75 ERA has good reason to look over his shoulder.

Hopefully the Titans can provide more run support in the coming weeks and the pitchers won’t feel they need to throw shut outs just to place the Titans in a position to win.

See ya #TusksUp pic.twitter.com/UWU2zm6LZv

— Titans Baseball (@FullertonBSB) March 2, 2024

Marcos Rosales

On a team with a .219 batting average, Marcos Rosales has performed well above expectations for a true freshman. Just last year at this time, Rosales was playing short stop for South Hills High School. This year, Rosales leads the team in batting average (.273) for those considered starters. (Players with 30+ at-bats after 11 games.)

For a 5’ 9”, 185 lb. guys, he sure packs a lot of punch into a smaller package. He leads the Titans with three home runs on the year and holds a .636 slugging percentage. Rosales has played mostly in the DH spot due to an arm injury that prevents him from throwing longer distances.

If the injury can heal quickly, look for Rosales to hold down the middle infield spots or third base. He saw time at First Base so that may be a good sign he is on the mend.

The Bad

End 1 | We’ve had better innings.

Titans trail 10-0. #TusksUp

— Titans Baseball (@FullertonBSB) March 3, 2024

Lack of Hitting

We’ve already it on the season long batting average is hovering just above the Mendoza Line at .219. The team’s batting average over the last four games is below that at .170.
Against SE Louisiana, ECU and Purdue, the Titans went 16-for-97 (.160) and vs. USC, went 6-for-32 (.190). Add to that, the Titans struck out 46 times in 129 at-bats over that four-game stretch.
As the weather warms up, the Titan bats better heat up as well or this will be a long season.

Errors

We mentioned earlier that the Saturday ECU game was plagued by fielding errors that cost the Titans the game. Whether it was a lack of concentration or just trying to do too much, the errors vs. ECU were glaring.

If you saw the game, there is no need to go into detail. Just know that come Big West Conference play starts, hopefully these errors will be eliminated and not come at such critical moments in the game.

The Ugly

Mid 1 | Titans trail 10-0. Hey, there’s a lot of game left.

Due up: Guzman, Lopez and Latta#TusksUp

— Titans Baseball (@FullertonBSB) March 3, 2024

1st Inning vs. Purdue

Chad Gurnea and Michael Flores had outings to forget on Sunday vs. Purdue. Before the Titans, the designated home team at the neutral site, picked up a bat, they trailed 10-0.

We all know Purdue is more of a football school, but being down a touchdown and field goal before getting a chance to hit is one of the all-time ugly moments in Titan Baseball history.

Talk about going from the Penthouse to the Outhouse. Chad Gurnea, the promising young freshman from Pacifica High School, tossed a gem vs. Fresno State. His 5.2 IP, three hits, one earned run, two walks and four strikeouts earned him the Cal State Omaha Pitcher of the Week honors.

Compare that to giving up six hits, walking three, striking out none and giving up eight earned runs while only recording one out before being lifted for Michael Flores. Flores did not do much better, walking two, allowing a hit, striking out none and a wild pitch that allowed Thomas Green to score while giving up two earned runs and recording the second out of the inning.

The silver lining is that after the disastrous top of the first inning, the Titans went on to score three runs to Purdue’s one run, Again, there are no moral victories but there is a reason you play all nine innings and need to record 27 outs in college baseball.

Looking Ahead

The Titans finish up the last weekend of non-conference play when the Jacksonville Dolphins come to Goodwin Field. The Dolphins are 5-7 on the year and the Dolphins and Titans have not played any common opponents in this early season.

The Titans and Dolphins will play one game on Friday and a double header on Saturday. We assume that with the travel back to Florida, the Dolphins requested a double header.

For those that follow the Titans closely, this weekend should have been a weekend series vs. Saint Mary’s. You may recall that the Gaels posted their schedule online and showed next weekend as the series vs. the Titans and this weekend .vs the Florida Gators. The big problem? The Big West had already announced the conference schedule months prior, and the titans were scheduled to play UCSD that weekend.

In asking around, the Titans originally thought they would host SMC this weekend. It appears that SMC would rather travel to Gainesville than to Fullerton which left the Titans scrambling for a weekend series opponent. Enter the Jacksonville Dolphins and here we are for a three-game set.

Series History

Believe it or not, the Titans are 1-1 all-time vs. the Dolphins, dating back to 1991. Both games were played in Jacksonville, and this will mark the first time the Dolphins travel west to play the Titans.

At the Plate

Of the seven Dolphins with 30+ at-bats on the season, five of them are batting .300+. Justin Nadeau leads the team in average (.486), hits (17), doubles (5), on-base percentage (.571) and hit-by-pitches (4).

Josh Steidl remains the power threat the Titans pitchers need to remember. Steidl has started 11 games this season and has three home runs in 41 at-bats, 12 RBI and a .707 slugging percentage.
On the bases, the Dolphins like to run and have stolen 25 bases in 28 attempts. Nadeau leads the team with six stolen bases while Will Gale is a close second with five swiped bags.

On the Bump

It appears that Head Coach Chris Hayes has not settled on a set weekend starting rotation. Peyton Prescott, Richard Long, Tommy Allman, Blake Barquin and Evan Chest all have started games for the Dolphins either on the weekend or mid-week games. None of them have consistently started on the same night so it is hard to get a bead on who will go on which night.

Of the four that have thrown 12 innings or more this season, Peyton Prescott (2.45) and Richard Long (2.84) both have sub-3 earned run averages. Opponents are batting .176 against Prescott and have struck out 18 times. Long has held batters to a .159 average and has not let up a home run this season.

Outlook

Both teams enter the weekend with almost identical records. The Titans come in at 4-7 while the Dolphins come to Godwin with a 5-7 record. Both teams opened the season with a series win over a Power-5 opponent but have faced most mid-major programs since.

With both teams entering the weekend under .500, the winner of the series could point to this weekend as the potential turning point to getting their season back on track.

Weekend Probables

Friday, March 8: RHP – Christian Rodriguez (1-2, 6.75 ERA) vs. RHP – Richard Long (1-1, 2.84 ERA)
Saturday, March 9: LHP Mikiah Negrete (1-0, 3.31 ERA vs. RHP – Peyton Prescott (1-0, 2.45 ERA)
Saturday, March 9: RHP – Chad Gurnea (0-2, 8.71 ERA) vs. RHP – Tommy Allman (0-1, 10.50 ERA)

Times listed are Pacific time:
March 8, 2024 (Friday) vs. Jacksonville – 6:00 PM
March 9, 2024 (Saturday) vs. Jacksonville – 2:00 PM
March 9, 2024 (Saturday) vs. Jacksonville – 5:00 PM

After taking the first mid-week game of the 2024 season vs. Loyola Marymount, the Titans are 4-3 on the season. The mid-week offered a lot of opportunity to newcomers and those with limited experience after the first mid-week vs. San Jose State was washed out by weather.

Join us as we yet again look at the Good, the Bad and the Ugly that was the Fresno State weekend series along with the LMU Tuesday game.

The Results

Overall Record: 4-3
Conference Record: 0-0
Streak:Won 1
Last 10: 4-3

Offense

Runs Scored: 20
Hits: 27
Doubles: 9
Triples: 1
Home Runs: 3
RBI: 20
Team Batting Avg: .247
On-Base %: .344
Slugging %: .368
Walks: 25
Extra base hits: 19
Total bases: 82
Hit by pitch: 9
Stolen Bases: 4
Strikeouts: 76

Defense

Errors: 5
Fielding %: .981
Double Plays turned: 7
Passed Balls: 0
Stolen Bases allowed: 6

Pitching

Team ERA: 3.34
WHIP: 1.44
Batting average against: .273
Hits allowed: 65
Total Runs Allowed: 28
Walks Issued: 24
Strikeouts: 59
Home runs allowed: 3

Polls and RPI Tracker

Polls

D1Baseball: Not Ranked
Baseball America: Not Ranked
NCBWA: Not Ranked
College Baseball Nation: Not Ranked
USA Today Coaches Poll: Not Ranked
11.7 Mid-Major Power Rankings: Not Ranked

RPI

NCAA: No RPI Ranking
Warren Nolan: 88
D1Baseball.com: No RPI Ranking

Titans of the Week

Winners chosen via Twitter/X poll

Pitcher of the Week

Chad Gurnea: 5.2 IP – 3 H – 1 ER – 2 BB – 4 K – 1.59 ERA
Also considered:
Peyton Jones: 4.2IP-6H-1ER-3BB-3K – 1.93 ERA
Mikiah Negrete: 5IP-6H-2ER-2BB-10K-3.60 ERA – 1 Win
Seth Tomczak: 2.1IP-1H-0ER-0BB-3K – 0.00 ERA – 2 Saves

Vote on the #CalStateOmaha Pitcher of the week Nominees:@chad_gurnea: 5.2IP-3H-1ER-2BB-4K – 1.59 ERA@peytonjonesy: 4.2IP-6H-1ER-3BB-3K – 1.93 ERA@NegreteMikiah: 5IP-6H-2ER-2BB-10K-3.60 ERA – 1 W@SethTomczak: 2.1IP-1H-0ER-0BB-3K – 0.00 ERA – 2 S#TusksUp #CalStateFullerton

— Cal State Omaha (@CalStateOmaha) February 28, 2024

Batter of the Week

Eli Lopez: 6-for-13 – .460 – 2R – 1RBI – 0BB – 0K
Also considered:
Cameron Burdick: 3-for-3 – 1.000 – 1R – 0RBI – 1BB – 0K
Moises Guzman: 4-for-11 – .360 – 2R – 1RBI – 0BB – 5K
Jack Haley: 3-for-10 – .300 – 1R – 0RBI – 0BB – 5K

Vote on the #CalStateOmaha Batter of the Week Nominees:@burrrdy: 3/3 – 1.000 – 1R – 0RBI – 1BB – 0K@Moi_3131: 4/11 – .360 – 2R – 1RBI – 0BB – 5K@jackhaley25: 3/10 – .300 – 1R – 0RBI – 0BB – 5K@elixeli7: 6/13 – .460 – 2R – 1RBI – 0BB – 0K#TusksUp #CalStateFullerton

— Cal State Omaha (@CalStateOmaha) February 28, 2024

The Good

Above .500 (Barely)

It may be just one game above .500 but it sure beats sitting below .500. Going 1-2 vs. Fresno State, the Titans entered the mid-week at 3-3 on the season. The LMU win put the Titans at 4-3 heading east to the Keith LeClair Classic.

Chad Gurnea, a freshman from Garden Grove, has taken over the Sunday starter role and has performed well thus far.
(Photo courtesy of Don Hudson)

Fabulous Frosh

Coming into this season on the website and on the podcast, we warned that the 2024 Titans would be young and talented but lack experience. The weekend and Tuesday night’s game provided some of those youngsters with added experience and a few of them shined given the opportunity.

Cameron Burdick made the most of his limited opportunity going 3-for-3 at the plate and scoring a run. Although it was a limited sample size of just one game, Burdick made a case for himself to get more playing time moving forward.

The freshmen arms impressed in the early going. Sunday starter Chad Gurnea showed he can handle the pressure and responsibility of getting the ball on the weekend. Gurnea’s line for Sunday ended with 5.2 IP – 3 H – 1 ER – 2 BB – 4 K – 1.59 ERA. That was good enough to get the Cal State Omaha Pitcher of the week honors.

The highly anticipated debut of big lefty Payton Hawkinson came on Tuesday. Hawkinson got the start and tossed two scoreless innings, giving up a hit and striking out three LMU Lions. Look for Hawkinson to get the mid-week starts moving forward or could work his way into the weekend bullpen rotations as well.

Catcher Spot Secured?

Max Ortega

Perez got the start on Friday and unfortunately did not have a good night offensively. Defensively, Perez made some mistakes as well. That opened the door for Ortega.

Ortega started the Saturday and Sunday games vs. Fresno State and again on Tuesday vs. LMU. Although Ortega did not have the best offensive games, going 1-for-9 all three days, his one hit did drive in a run, and he walked twice.

We will expect Ortega to move down in the batting order if he continues to underperform at the plate, but his glove work should help keep him starting behind it.

Max Ortega (L), congratulates Seth Tomczak after recording a save on Saturday night vs. Fresno State.
(Photo courtesy of Titan Athletics)

Closer Spot Secured!

Seth Tomczak appears to have locked down the closer role much he has locked down the games late for the Titans this season.

Jason Deitrich has not come out and said that Tomczak is the closer but the short history of the season sure points in that direction. Tomczak owns a 0.00 ERA in three appearances and 4.2 innings pitched. His two hits surrendered compared to eight strikeouts show Tomczak can command the strike zone and more importantly does not shy away from shutting down the game in the late innings.

Getting him in position to have and hold a lead to eventually slam the door in the eighth or ninth innings leads us to the next segment…

The Bad

Marcos Rosales is out on a force play to second base on Sunday. Although the Titans did not hit into a double play on Sunday, they did hit into eight DPs vs. Fresno State.
(Photo courtesy of Don Hudson)

Double (Play) Trouble

The Titans grounded into a combined eight double plays in the Friday and Saturday games vs. Fresno State. The major killer came in Friday’s game when the Bulldogs turned five DPs in a game the Titans could not muster one run.

To add insult to injury, four of the five double plays on Friday ended in the third, fifth, seventh and ninth innings.

Ice Cold Colby

After the opening weekend up on the Farm in Stanford, Colby Wallace looked as though he would carry the Titans offensively. Sadly, Colby went ice cold going 1-for-10 with five strikeouts vs. Fresno State. He did not play in the Tuesday game vs. LMU.

A left-handed power bat, the Titans will need Wallace’s stick to help power the Titans to some victories this season.

Scoreboard Out

Those fans in attendance at Goodwin Field noticed that the video scoreboard was dormant all weekend. Announcements apologizing for it not functioning appeared over the public address system. Those announcements included requests for donations to get it replaced with a more modern video scoreboard like in the north end of the soccer stadium.

The major problem? The video board is so old that parts that have worn out and in need of replacement are no longer being manufactured. We heard rumblings that to find replacement parts, administrators looked on eBay to find used replacement parts.

Break out your check books Titan Baseball fans if you want a functioning video scoreboard. If it is anything like the costs to purchase and install the scoreboard in the soccer stadium it may take more than forgoing your franchise venti latte.

The Ugly

Moises Guzman gets caught in no man’s land between second and third base on Sunday vs. Fresno State
(Photo courtesy of Don Hudson)

Running into Outs

We’ll keep it short and sweet. Although it does not show up in the box score very well, the base running this past weekend was awful. Trying to stretch a simple single into a double or trying to advance on cleanly fielded balls were just a few examples of poor base running from this weekend.

Hopefully the coaching staff addressed this issue this week in practice before going to the Keith LeClair Classic tournament this weekend.

Looking Ahead

The Titans travel to Greenville, North Carolina, home of East Carolina University, to participate in the Keith LeClair Classic. The tournament includes hosts ECU, Purdue and Southeastern Louisiana. Fullerton will play SE LA on Friday, ECU Saturday and Purdue Sunday.

Outlook

This should be a major test for the young Titans to go into a very hostile environment known as “The Jungle”. The ECU fans embrace college baseball, and you know Saturday will be an atmosphere none of these Titans, even the veterans, have experienced before.

Due to expected weather, keep an eye on Titan Baseball official social media channels for the potential of game times moving.

We open another Thursday Thoughts: Stanford Opening Weekend edition with cautious optimism. Many longtime and even newer Titan Baseball fans have become familiar with getting too excited about a young season after a small sample size of games. Who remembers the last time the Titans opened the season 2-1, winning the first two games at Stanford?

For those that answered the ill-fated 2020 season cut short by the COVID-19 Pandemic, you are correct. Can anyone tell me how that season went up until March 12, the point where the remaining games were canceled?

If you answered 4-12 you would also be correct. So, you can see why we are not getting ourselves too worked up over a three-game opening weekend performance. Granted, Peyton Jones is the only player on this year’s roster to have been on the 2020 roster and he performed well up in Palo Alto. Also, not only is the roster completely different from 2020 but the coaching staff as well.
However, cautious optimism still abounds but that caution could turn into reckless abandon quickly based on the next few weeks before Big West Conference play starts in 22 days.

Join us as we yet again look at the Good, the Bad and the Ugly that was the Stanford Opening Weekend series.

The Results

Overall Record: 2-1
Conference Record: 0-0
Streak:Lost 1
Last 10: 2-1

Offense

Runs Scored: 20
Hits: 27
Doubles: 9
Triples: 1
Home Runs: 3
RBI: 20
Team Batting Avg: .252
On-Base %: .339
Slugging %: .439
Walks: 11
Extra base hits: 13
Total bases: 47
Hit by pitch: 4
Stolen Bases: 2
Strikeouts: 37

Defense

Errors: 2
Fielding %: .981
Double Plays turned: 2
Passed Balls: 0
Stolen Bases allowed: 0

Pitching

Team ERA: 2.77
WHIP: 1.46
Batting average against: .260
Hits allowed: 26
Total Runs Allowed: 10
Walks Issued: 12
Strikeouts: 18
Home runs allowed: 2

Polls and RPI Tracker

Polls

D1Baseball: Not Ranked
Baseball America: Not Ranked
NCBWA: Not Ranked
College Baseball Nation: Not Ranked
USA Today Coaches Poll: Not Ranked
11.7 Mid-Major Power Rankings: 19

RPI

NCAA: No RPI Ranking
Warren Nolan: 210
D1Baseball.com: No RPI Ranking

Titans of the Week

Winners chosen via Twitter/X poll

Pitcher of the Week

Christian Rodriguez

Christian Rodriguez: 6 IP – 3 H – 0 ER – 3 BB – 2 K – 0.00 ERA – W
Also considered:
Chad Gurnea: 4.1 IP – 4 H – 1 ER – 1 BB – 0 K – 2.08 ERA
Peyton Jones: 3 IP – 1 H – 0 ER – 2 BB – 4 K – 0.00 ERA – S
Seth Tomczak: 2.1 IP – 1 H – 0 ER – 0 BB – 5 K – 0.00 ERA – W

Vote on the #CalStateOmaha Pitcher of the Week Nominees:@chad_gurnea: 4.1IP – 4H – 1ER – 1BB – 0K – 2.08ERA@peytonjonesy: 3IP – 1H – 0ER – 2BB – 4K – 0.00ERA – S@Christian_Rod00: 6IP – 3H – 0ER – 3BB – 2K – 0.00ERA – W@SethTomczak: 2.1IP – 1H – 0ER – 0BB – 5K – 0.00ERA – W

— Cal State Omaha (@CalStateOmaha) February 21, 2024

Batter of the Week

Colby Wallace

Colby Wallace: 6/13 – .460 – 2R – 5RBI – 1BB – 4K – 2HR

Also considered:
Maddox Latta: 5/13 – .380 – 2R – 2RBI – 0BB – 1K
Draven Nushida: 4/13 – .310 – 3R – 4RBI – 2BB – 3K – 3XBH
Marcos Rosales: 3/10 – .300 – 3R – 1RBI – 0BB – 2K – 1HR

Vote on the #CalStateOmaha Batter of the Week Nominees*:@LattaMaddox: 5/13 – .380 – 2R – 2RBI – 0BB – 1K@Dnushida808: 4/13 – .310 – 3R – 4RBI – 2BB – 3K – 3XBH
Marcos Rosales: 3/10 – .300 – 3R – 1RBI – 0BB – 2K – 1HR
Colby Wallace: 6/13 – .460 – 2R – 5RBI – 1BB – 4K – 2HR

— Cal State Omaha (@CalStateOmaha) February 21, 2024

The Good

2 out of 3 gets you to Omaha

Yes, we opened this column stating we will approach this early season with cautious optimism but it’s hard not to get excited about taking two of three at Stanford. No matter your thoughts on the dissolution of the PAC-12, Stanford is still Stanford.

Whether it is Stanford or UC Riverside, taking a series in college baseball is a big deal. Enjoy it.

Christian Rodriguez straight up shoved at Stanford after nearly a two-year lay-off from Tommy John Surgery.
(Photo courtesy of Don Hudson)

Welcome Back C-Rodder

We may be showing our age making a pun on the old 1970’s TV series Welcome Back Kotter, but it has been two years since Christian Rodriguez pitched. After undergoing Tommy John Surgery after the conclusion of the 2022 season, C-Rod sat out the entire 2023 season rehabilitating.

With such a long layoff, we’re confident Christian may have had some jitters Stanford Opening Weekend and his first time back. If he had jitters, he surely did not show them.

Christian opened the season throwing six scoreless innings, allowing three hits, three walks and striking out two Stanford batters. He gave way to lefty Peyton Jones who preserved the shutout with three innings of one-hit ball while striking out four Cardinal. Christian’s performance was quite good and earned him the Cal State Omaha Pitcher of the Week honor.

The way C-Rod was going in Game 1, could he have gone longer? Probably. But smart of Jason Dietrich to let him leave after six innings with high confidence and not put stress on his arm.

Good thing the scoreboard is already broken #TusksUp pic.twitter.com/xI3OHzCCwb

— Titans Baseball (@FullertonBSB) February 17, 2024

Colby Wallace Break Out

After playing in just over half of the Titan games in 2023, Outfielder Colby Wallace’s performance Stanford Opening Weekend demonstrates it will be difficult to keep him off the field in 2024. In three games, Wallace stats included going 6-for-13, .460 average, 2 runs scored, 5 RBI, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts and two home runs. Good enough to make him the runaway winner of the Cal State Omaha Better of the Week.

Of the two home runs, the first on Friday was reminiscent of the famous Jace Chamberlin “Jumbo Jack” that hit the scoreboard in Klein Field’s Right-center field. His second home run of the season came on Sunday and accounted for the only run scored in the 4-1 loss. His two home runs on the season doubles his homer output for all of 2023.

After three games, Wallace slash line sat at .462 / .500 / 1.000. You can bet that Fresno State has Wallace’s name circled on the line-up card all three days this weekend when the Bulldogs visit Goodwin Field.

T1 | Marcos Rosales with a standup double in his first collegiate at-bat! #TusksUp pic.twitter.com/ASprvM2qbK

— Titans Baseball (@FullertonBSB) February 16, 2024

Fabulous Frosh

In previous columns, we stressed patience is needed with this 2024 squad. After a return to the post-season and losing eight major contributors to either the draft or graduation last spring, the 2024 Titans will be young and talented but short on experience. Several freshmen would have the opportunity to contribute in 2024 and a handful did at Stanford Opening Weekend.

Two Frosh snuck into the Batter and Pitcher of the Week polls, and we have no doubt they will get future considerations before the year is out. On the offense, Marcos Rosales, an infielder from South Hills High School, had to wait until the second game of the Friday double-header but announced his presence with authority.

Batters

Rosales batted second in Game 2 and recorded three hits including a double in his first collegiate at-bat. Rosales also recorded his first collegiate home run in the top of the ninth inning, tacking on a solo bomb to make the game 15-6.

Tyler Holley, the freshman from Bonita High School, did not record a hit but did get on base and scored a few runs this weekend.

Arms

Chad Gurnea, the freshman from Pacifica High School, got the ball in Sunday’s start. Although the start did not result in a win, Gurnea lasted 4.1 innings and gave up four hits and only 1 earned run.

For those in the know, remember back to 2018 when another promising freshman by the name of Tanner Bibee made his collegiate debut during Stanford opening weekend in Game 3 of the weekend series. Let’s just say it was downright dreadful and Gurnea’s performance was light years ahead of that one. (We’d like to think that Bibee rebounded nicely from that and went on to have a decent career for the Titans and later professionally.)

Frosh arms Jason Krakoski and Derek Turner saw action on Sunday. Krakoski went 1.2 innings giving up a hit and recording a strikeout. Turner pitched one inning and surrendered a hit and walked two with a strikeout.

Max getting Mr. Momentum back on our side

Titans lead 14-6#TusksUp | @_MaxOrtega_ pic.twitter.com/1Sy9ISNd7z

— Titans Baseball (@FullertonBSB) February 17, 2024

Battle for Catcher Spot

Both Waldie Perez and Max Ortega were tasked with replacing Cole Urman who left for professional baseball after 2023. Who would win the starting spot was a bit of a discussion among fans and the battle still rages.

Perez started Game 1 and Game 3 while Ortega started Game 2. Because Friday was a double header, it’s unclear if Ortega got the start because catching back-to-back games is murder on a catcher. Had the series gone Friday, Saturday and Sunday, could Perez have gotten all three starts? We may see this weekend against Fresno State.

No matter, competition is a good thing and to have two capable backstops available, can only help the team.

Bardo puts the Titans up 7-1!#TusksUp | @BardowellJ pic.twitter.com/YYW4J4cXd2

— Titans Baseball (@FullertonBSB) February 17, 2024

Transfer Tracker

Much like the freshman, we’re keeping our eyes on the transfers, both direct from the D1 transfer portal and the Junior College ranks, to gauge their level of contribution.

With just a three-game sample size, it appears a dead heat between Mikai Negrete and Matthew Bardowell for the biggest impact transfer in 2024. We’ll start with Bardowell just because he played first in Game 1.

Big Stick Bardo

Bardowell, a transfer from Riverside City College, batted in the middle of the line-up all weekend and finished 3-for-12 with three RBI, a walk and two extra base hits. Bardowell looks like a middle linebacker playing First Base and the outfield and his power numbers should improve as the season progresses.

Just Call Him Kai

Negrete, a transfer from University of San Diego, got the start in Game 2 Stanford opening weekend. Kai went 4.2 innings and gave up eight hits, four earned runs including a home run, walked one and struck out two. Although not a stellar performance in his Titan debut, the coaches see enough in Negrete to give him the Saturday starter role to start the season. (Seeing how much time Trevor Hinkel received last season, we’re confident Negrete will get plenty of time improve those numbers.)

The other transfers that saw action in Palo Alto, Nico Regino, played in Game 2. Regino, the transfer from Charleston Southern, played First Base and went 1-for-2 with a walk and a strikeout. Regino along with Bardowell can play 1B and outfield.

The Bad

Mid 8 | Titans leave the bases loaded.

1
4#TusksUp

— Titans Baseball (@FullertonBSB) February 18, 2024

Game 3 – Top 8th Inning

The Titans had a real threat going in the top of the 8th inning on Sunday to potentially sweep the series. Unfortunately, they could not capitalize, and the Titans dropped that game 4-1.

With one out, Maddox Latta hit a single, Matthew Bardowell and Colby Wallace both walked to load the bases. Luke Mistone’s spot was due up. Mistone was 0-for-3 on the day and Jason Dietrich put in Jakob Schardt to pinch hit.

Stanford goes to the bullpen and brings in Toran O’Harran to face Schardt. On a seven pitch at-bat, Schardt strikes out swinging to record two outs and bases remain loaded. Another pinch hitter, Tyler Holley, replaces Jack Haley who was 0-for-3 on the day with a strike out.

Holley proceeds to strike out looking to end the inning, stranding all three game tying runs on the bases.

Yes, that is the game of baseball but in a close game with runners in scoring position and less than two outs, it’s tough to swallow non-productive outs on back-to-back strikeouts.

The Ugly

Projected Friday starter Evan Yates will apparently miss a significant amount of time due to a personal matter.
(Photo courtesy of Henry Tran)

Evan Yates to miss “significant amount of time”

Many saw the tweet from Kendal Rogers of D1Baseball praise Christian Rodriguez’s Friday performance while also breaking the news that Evan Yates will miss a “significant amount of time”. Outside of rumors and whispers, this marked the first time it had been spoken or written publicly that Yates would miss time.

Yates, the junior from Riverside, has been a weekend starter since his freshman year and many, including us, projected Yates to compete with Christian Rodriguez to earn the coveted Friday night starting role. Yates chose not to play summer ball in 2023 and looked good in fall and spring practices and intrasquad scrimmages.

Then comes the bombshell Rogers tweet:

Outstanding pitching in a series-opening win over rival Stanford. The #Titans continue to make strides under Diets. The only bad news is that it sounds like the projected Friday starter Evan Yates will miss a significant amount of time. https://t.co/tRUDzpO4DS

— Kendall Rogers (@KendallRogers) February 16, 2024

What does that mean? Significant amount of time…?

As an avid follower of Rogers on social media, whenever a player is lost for the season or a significant amount of time due to injury, Rogers reports it as such. Rogers typically breaks news that a college player has broken a bone or needs Tommy John Surgery. That was not the case Friday.

Hearing Yates’ absence was non-injury related, we reached out to the Cal State Fullerton Sports Information Department via text message for an official statement as to the reason. The response received:

“He is out due to a personal matter.”

Ugh. Just enough information to confirm Yates is not injured but opens another discussion.

Possibilities

Whenever a player is out and it is non-injury related, it can be a few circumstances in college baseball. The most common speculations range from academic eligibility, violation of team rules, a failed drug test or the player needs time away from the team to address family or personal issues.

You may recall in 2022, Cameron Repetti missed a few weekends to start the season due to an academic eligibility issue. That resolved itself and Repetti missed only two weekends.

You may recall in 2021, outfielder Jason Brandow missed several games at the end of the season for “personal reasons”. Many later found out that Jason’s mother, Sue, was battling breast cancer again and he requested time away from the team to be with her.

On to the potential of a violation of team rules like missing curfew or showing up late to a meeting or practice. That may call for sitting out and missing a start, carrying all the equipment to and from the bus and a 4 am dawn patrol running of foul poles to hammer home to not violate team rules again. That typically does not hold a “significant amount of time” punishment and certainly does not fit the personal matter narrative.

Which leaves us with the dreaded Performance Enhancing Drug (PED) scenario. If this is because of a failed drug test, that could mean Yates not only misses a significant amount of time but could mean he is suspended for the entirety of the 2024 season. The NCAA Official stance on PEDs:

The NCAA bans the use of performance-enhancing and recreational drugs to protect the health of college athletes and to ensure fair play. The risks for student-athletes using these drugs are high; a positive drug test will result in loss of eligibility and suspension from sport, could negatively impact health, and in some cases, is just plain cheating.

Based on your perception of what a “personal matter” may entail, we’ll leave it up to you to decide what could be the issue.

No matter the reason, losing Yates is a monster blow to the Titans as he was projected to be a major contributor to the Titans weekend rotation.

Looking Ahead

The Titans open the 2024 home season hosting the Fresno State Bulldogs for a three-game series starting on Friday, February 23rd. The Bulldogs come into Goodwin Field with a 3-1 record, sweeping the Milwaukee Panthers over the weekend but dropped their mid-week game to Sacramento State.

Series History

The term “Fresno State” appears in the Titans media guide over 200 times. That means the Titans have a long history with the Bulldogs dating all the way back to 1975; the first year Cal State Fullerton competed as a Division 1 program. The last time the Titans played Fresno State came in 2019 during the Tony Gwynn Legacy Tournament, losing 5-2. The Titans hold a 52-33 advantage over the Bulldogs which includes non-conference, conference and postseason games.

At the Plate

In just four games to open the season, two Bulldogs have gotten off to a hot start offensively. Both Tommy Hopfe (.462) and Grady Morgan (.429) leads the Bulldogs with averages above .400. Eddie Saldivar is not far behind, batting .353 and leads the Bulldogs in at-bats. Morgan leads the Bulldogs with two home runs early in the season and has recorded 13 total bases and five RBI, both lead the team.

On the Bump

Jake Dixon got the start on Friday, February 16th to open the season and it stands to reason he will get the ball again on Friday nights. A fifth-year graduate, Dixon brings his 1.80 ERA in five innings into Goodwin Field.

The Sunday starter, Jack Anker boasts a 0.00 ERA and a 0.83 WHIP after going six innings vs. Milwaukee. Anker struck out five Panthers and did not walk one to secure the series sweep.

The aforementioned Hopfe is the two-way threat, recording the only save on the team.

Outlook

Titan fans may think the Titans should easily handle the Fresno State Bulldogs given the early competition, Milwaukee and Stanford, that both faced to open the season. Leave no doubt, the Titans will have a dog fight, pardon the pun, for all three games.

Hopefully, the Titans did not get too full of themselves after the Stanford series and will take the Bulldogs very seriously. We have a feeling the Bulldogs are antsy to put to rest the speculation that they can only beat up on inferior competition.

Weekend Probables

Friday, February 23: RHP – Christian Rodriguez (1-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. LHP – Jake Dixon (1-0, 1.80 ERA)
Saturday, February 24: LHP Mikiah Negrete (1-0, 7.71 ERA vs. RHP – Noah Beal (1-0, 3.00 ERA)
Sunday, February 25: RHP – Chad Gurnea (0-1, 2.08 ERA) vs. RHP – Jack Anker (1-0, 0.00 ERA)

Times listed are Pacific time:
February 23, 2024 (Friday) vs. Fresno State – 6:30 PM
February 24, 2024 (Saturday) vs. Fresno State – 5:00 PM
February 25, 2024 (Sunday) vs. Fresno State – 1:00 PM

Because it’s fall ball, we thought we would shake things up a bit and deviate from our normal Thursday Thoughts format of outlining the good, the bad and the ugly. Instead, we’ll share our thoughts on what we saw coming out of the two fall ball scrimmages with the Titans traveling to Riverside to take on Cal Baptist and then at home vs. UNLV.

Both scrimmages were broken down into two games, or segments in that at CBU, the Titans and Lancers played a nine-inning game and then a seven-inning game. (In order to maximize the coaches observing and the players to gain playing time, some of these segments featured a bottom half of the final inning despite the home team leading.) The scrimmage vs. UNLV was broken up into two 7-inning games.

Without further delay, here’s our thoughts on what we saw over the past two weekends:

Christian Rodriguez will wear a new number in 2024, going from No. 50 to 17.
(Photo courtesy of Don Hudson)

Numbers changed

They say you can’t tell the player without a scorecard and even for the most perceptive of Titan Baseball fans, you’ll need to know these number changes for returning players.

Most notable includes projected weekend starter Christian Rodriguez who has ditched number 50 for number 17, previously worn by Josh Howitt who has since transferred to Arizona State.

With the graduation and departure of longtime Titan Zach Lew, that frees up number 1 which Eli Lopez snatched up and will give up number 12 from last season.

Catcher Waldie Perez wore number 42 last season but has chosen to invert his number to number 24 after Trevor Hinkle departed via the transfer portal freeing up number 24.

Evan Yates has started on the weekends his first two years at Cal State Fullerton and looks poised to take over the Friday starter role in 2024.
(Photo courtesy of Hank Tran)

Game 1 starter Evan Yates

Everyone wants to know who will get the ball on Friday nights and Head Coach Jason Dietrich may have tipped his hand as to who has the early lead on that role. Right hander Evan Yates who has been a weekend starter his past two season on campus, started both Game Ones of the CBU and UNLV scrimmages.

Yates did not go deep into either game because the coaches wanted to see more arms perform but the fact he got the ball in both games indicates he may be the guy we all see on the mound in Palo Alto to start the season. (By the way, Stanford confirmed our suspicions the Titans would open the season on the road against the Cardinal.)

A packed Titans dugout looks on during the first inning of Game 1 vs. UNLV.
(Photo courtesy of Hank Tran)

Lost Game 1s – Won Game 2s

Although all four segments were meaningless on the scoreboard, they were played situationally like a real game. Projected starters and contributors played the lion’s share of Game 1 while Game 2 saw a lot more freshmen and bench players getting their chance to showcase their talents.

This could go down in the “bad” category because when the projected starters were on the field, the result was a loss. The good news to take away is that the youngsters are talented but lack experience at the Division 1 level. Add to that, the newbies look to be ahead of the curve compared to the CBU and UNLV youngsters.

Freshman Marcos Rosales slaps an opposite field single in the first game vs. Cal Baptist.
(Photo courtesy of Don Hudson)

Marcos Rosales

Speaking of young and talented but lacking experience, Marcos Rosales has really shown out in the early part of the fall. In practices and the two scrimmages, the freshman from South Hills High School looks like he could challenge for a regular line-up spot come spring.

Veterans Jack Haley and Maddox Latta who held down the shortstop and second base positions last season have good reason to look over their shoulder. Rosales could play either one of those sports and if not, he could play third potentially.

Don’t let his size fool you at 5’9” & 185 lbs. He has power at the plate and moved well on defense. Should he not win a defensive position come spring, he could easily slide into the DH role. He appears to be cut from the same mold as Titan Alumni Zach Lew and Hank LoForte who many would say had decent careers on campus.

Welcome Back Jackson & Jakob

Sophomores Jackson Giaconne and Jakob Schardt did not play for the Titans in 2022 but the outfielders played quite a bit in the 2023 fall scrimmages.

Jakob Schardt returns to the Titans after spending the 2023 season away from the team.
(Photo courtesy of Hank Tran)

You may recall Giaconne suffered an off the field neck injury that required surgery and he had to rehabilitate all spring. He played for the Humbolt Crabs this summer and appears to have put on some weight and has shown what the coaches saw in him when bringing him to campus.

Someone who was on campus in 2022 but not in 2023 is Jakob Schardt. As a true freshman, Schardt played in 11 games and hit .160 in 24 at-bats. Kind of what you would expect from a freshman who was battling for playing time with guys like Nate Nankil, Jason Brandow, Carter White, Damone Hale and Deylan Pigford, all older and with more experience than the youngster.

Schardt was mysteriously missing from the 2023 Titan Baseball roster. We’re unclear as to if he left Cal State Fullerton because of grades, a medical issue, family/personal matters or what. We scoured the internet to see if he was playing at a junior college, but we came up empty in our research.

No matter the reason Schardt was gone last year, he must have used his redshirt year last year because he is listed as a sophomore despite his eligibility clock starting in 2022. Look for both Schardt and Giaconne to battle veterans Moises Guzman, Draven Nushida and Colby Wallace along with newcomers Ny’Zaiah Thompson, Cam Burdick, Nico Regino and Matthew Bardowell.

Matthew Bardowell, pictured here in a Riverside City College game, has not seen much action in either the CBU or UNLV scrimmages.
(Photo courtesy of Stephen Day | Viewpoints)

Where’s Bardo?

Unlike the “Where’s Waldo?” books, Matthew Bardowell is not hard to pick out of a crowd. At 6’4” and 245 lbs., the guy looks the part of a power hitting outfielder. Strangely, Titan fans did not see much of him during the fall scrimmages leading us to believe he may have an injury.

Of course, that is pure speculation on our part because it is hard to believe that a guy that put up big numbers at Riverside City College is not getting playing time because he is underperforming. Given the fact that Bardowell spent the fall semester of his freshman year at CBU before transferring to RCC, you would think he would want to show out against his former team.

Here’s hoping it is a minor injury that does not prevent him from competing in the Navy vs. Orange Series scheduled for this weekend.

Payton Hawkinson Knee Injury

A freshman arm widely considered one to come in and compete for meaningful innings right away was Payton Hawkinson, the 6’ 7” righty from Turlock, Calif. Unfortunately, Hawkinson was spotted at the CBU scrimmage sporting a leg brace on his left knee after undergoing knee surgery a few days prior.

The injury appears to be minor and Hawkinson should be able to participate in baseball activities in four to six weeks. That means he will miss all the fall ball practices and scrimmages but should be good to go for the spring.

Veteran ledt-hander Peyton Jones is one of three seniors on the 2024 Titan squad and his presence in a leadership role could be more impactful than his expected solid performances on the mound.
(Photo courtesy of Don Hudson)

Peyton Jones – Bullpen or Sunday Starter?

Enough about the newcomers, how about some focus on a veteran?

Peyton Jones is one of three seniors listed on the roster with Jack Haley and Nico Regino the other two. Jones is the only 2024 Titan senior to have started his collegiate career at Cal State Fullerton. (Haley transferred from Oregon and Regino from Charleston Southern.)

Although Jones did not start any of the four scrimmage games vs. CBU and UNLV, he did see plenty of time on the mound. How did he do? Just fine and looked to have picked up where he left off last season. He came in, pounded the strike zone and put up zeroes, just like you want him to do.

Since the Titan arms will be so young and inexperienced in 2024, Jones’ presence may be more felt in the clubhouse and the bullpen as a leader than it will on the mound. And that’s saying something for a guy who pitched 54.2 innings in 2023, struck out 56 while holding opposing batters to a .234 average while posting a 5-1 record.

After a good summer ball campaign in Alaska and a solid performances in the fall, Aaron Ceniceros should see his innings increase exponentially in 2024.
(Photo courtesy of Don Hudson)

Aaron Ceniceros – From 0 to 60?

Going from a guy who contributed quite a bit out of the bullpen last season to a guy that did not pitch at all, Aaron Ceniceros looks like he could eat up a lot of innings in 2024. Maybe upwards of 60 innings out of the bullpen and cement his role as a solid middle relief option come spring.

Despite not pitching at all last season, Ceniceros played for the Anchorage Glacier Pilots during the summer and did quite well up there. In Alaska, he appeared in 11 games, recording a 3.02 ERA with 40 Ks, and finished the regular season with a 4-1 record. He started a playoff game, earning the win while striking out seven in 7.1 innings of work.

He brought that competitiveness back to California and showed well in both scrimmages. Ceniceros did the most with his limited opportunity in the first game vs. UNLV putting up zeroes in his lone inning of work. He went three up and three down and only used 12 pitches to get out of the fifth inning.

Look for Ceniceros to have a huge increase in playing time in 2024 out of the bullpen.

Head Coach Jason Dietrich pays a mound visit during game 1 of the UNLV scrimmage with Dylan Goff on the mound.
(Photo courtesy of Don Hudson)

6th & 7th inning Freshman Woes

Both Chad Gurnea and Dylan Goff got a taste, an unpleasant taste, of pitching at the Division 1 level in the CBU and UNLV scrimmages.

Gurnea, out of Pacifica High School in Garden Grove, pitched in relief of Game 1 at Cal Baptist. Designated hitter Cole Howarth hit a three-run home run in bottom of ninth off Gurnea to extend the lead.

Gurnea got a chance to redeem himself in Game 1 of the UNLV scrimmage. Although Gurnea did not give up a home run, the Rebels roughed him up a bit in his one inning in relief. Gurnea faced six batters and gave up two hits, walked one and allowed an earned run.

The following inning, freshman Dylan Goff started the top of the seventh inning and unfortunately could not record an out before being lifted for Andrew Morones. Goff faced five batters and allowed four hits, three runs to score (two of them earned runs) in 14 pitches.

Freshman growing pains for sure.

Colby Wallace received a congratulatory helmet tap from Luke Mistone (30) after hitting a home run in the CBU scrimmage.
(Photo courtesy of Don Hudson)

Bombs Away Titans

Normally you would expect the big guys to deposit the ball over the wall, but it was the guys on the average to smaller size that had the big bats vs. UNLV.

In Game 1, Eli Lopez (5’ 9” 155 lbs.) hit one of his two hits on the game out of Goodwin Field. In Game 2, Maddox Latta (5′ 11″, 175 lbs.) hit a towering home run that not only cleared the wall but got stuck in the fencing protecting the Arboretum and ROTC obstacle course from incoming projectiles.

Back to form, Colby Wallace who comes in at 6′ 4″, 220 lbs. deposited a ball over the fence in the CBU scrmmage a week prior.

Nushida in Center

Draven Nushida settles under a fly ball from his center field position during the first game of the UNLV scrimmage.
(Photo courtesy of Hank Tran)

Sophomore and Hawai’i native Draven Nushida saw limited playing time as a true freshman last season but that should change in 2024. Nushida started in center field in both Game Ones and showed well. In the UNLV game, Nushida batted lead-off and went 1-for-3 on the day scoring two runs, walking once and did not strikeout.

Defensively, Nushida started in centerfield for both scrimmages and performed well out there in the middle. Moises Guzman could have a battle on his hands in 2024 after playing much of his time in center field last season.

Ethan Munoz on-base machine

One of the bigger surprises of the fall has been Catcher Ethan Munoz. In the second games vs. CBU and UNLV, Munoz just found a way to get on base. It wasn’t flashy but putting together good at-bats and making solid contact, Munoz looks to be a nice addition to the Titans freshman class.

The bigger problem remains that currently the Titans have five catchers on the roster with Max Ortega, Waldie Perez, Jack Vanoncini, Jared Snyder and Munoz all listed at the position. There is no way they carry five catcher in the spring once the roster needs to be trimmed to 35 players. They might carry three and two will be asked to become bullpen catchers.

Mikiah Negrete, a transfer from USD, is one of four Titans to have joined the team via the transfer portal.
(Photo courtesy of Hank Tran)

Transfers Update

Of the four transfers the Titans landed out of the Transfer Portal, three of the four have contributed quite a bit in the fall scrimmages.

• Mikiah Negrete out of University of San Diego pitched in both scrimmages and did well. He received two innings of work vs. both CBU and UNLV, leading us to believe he is in the hunt for the potential of a starter’s role. (Both Evan Yates and Christian Rodriguez got multiple innings while projected relievers only got one inning.)
• Nico Regino, the transfer from Charleston Southern saw a lot of time playing both outfield and first base in the scrimmages and looks to contribute in some form or fashion. We have confidence that the coaching staff will find a spot for him somewhere in the line-up.
• Jared Snyder, the recently decamped Dirtbag, has seen time behind the plate in the scrimmages. Snyder is locked in a five-way battle for the catcher role with Max Ortega, Waldie Perez, Jack Vanoncini and Ethan Munoz.
• Seth Sumner, from UC San Diego, has not seen much time in the scrimmages and may have some work to do to see meaningful innings in 2024. Although Sumner’s availability in the scrimmages may have been limited based on the innings he had thrown in the week leading up to the scrimmages.

The Titans circle up pre-game before taking on UNLV. With a fall roster of 47 players listed on the fall roster, the coaches will have to have some touch decisions on which 35 players will make the spring roster.
(Photo courtesy of Don Hudson)

Conclusion

With only three seniors on the fall ball roster, the Titans are talented but very young and mostly inexperienced. Replacing two weekend starters lost to graduation (Tyler Stultz and Fynn Chester) and the closer to the draft (Jojo Ingrassia) is tough. Adding in the losses of corner outfielders Nate Nankil to the MLB Draft and Carter White to graduation makes the rebuild even tougher. Piled on top of that, Catcher Cole Urman was drafted along with First Baseman Caden Connor and 3rd Baseman Zach Lew graduated, the Titans have plenty of holes to fill in 2024.

The Jason Dietrich led coaching staff has put together solid recruiting classes while returning the Titans to the postseason after a four-year hiatus. Add to that, Deetz enters his third season in the big chair, there are only two players recruited by the Rick Vanderhook regime on the roster. (Christian Rodriguez and Peyton Jones)

That means this team is a team built by Dietrich and his staff and with it comes some growing pains. The 2022 and 2023 recruiting classes have shown they are talented but making the jump to Division 1 can be a rough and bumpy road. We’re hoping that the Titans can make the transition quickly and get back to the postseason in back-to-back seasons.

Given that the Cal State Fullerton Titan Baseball team has opened up fall ball work outs as of October 4th, we thought it a good idea to start speculating on the opponents the Titans will face in the spring of 2024.

The Big West Conference released the 2024 schedule for the entire conference in July, marking the earliest fans have seen a conference schedule released in recent memory. The Titans will open conference play on March 15-17 at UC San Diego and ending on The Rock at Hawai’i Memorial Day weekend, May 23-25. Sandwiched in the middle of Big West Conference action, the Titans have a bye week, which they most assuredly will fill with a non-conference opponent.

The Titans should open the 2024 season up at Stanford although they will have to play the Cardinal without the three pictured here, Caden Connor (5), Cole Urman (25) and Nate Nankil (4) who all were drafted and are playing professionally now.
(Photo courtesy of John Lozano / Titans Athletics)

The 2024 season for all Division 1 programs opens on February 16-18. The Stanford/Fullerton series to open the season appears to have found new life after taking a hiatus and Jason Dietrich has shown an interest in keeping it going into the foreseeable future. With that assumption, you can almost guarantee the Titans will open the season February 16-18 back on The Farm in Palo Alto. (The Titans hosted Stanford at Goodwin Field in 2023 so it stands to reason the Titans would travel up north in 2024.)

Just saw this. Makes sense seeing how Jason Dietrich was the pitching coach there most recently before taking the helm at Fullerton.

Last year’s Keith Leclair Classic was in early March. Assuming the weekend of March 1-3 would be the 2024 version. #TusksUp #CalStateOmaha https://t.co/mDOsXKtlyh pic.twitter.com/49AIUcR4Yh

— Cal State Omaha (@CalStateOmaha) June 15, 2023

We all know the March 1-3 weekend will have the Titans heading east to participate in the Keith LeClair Classic in Greenville, NC. We know East Carolina will be one of the teams in the tourney but the other two have yet to be announced.

Although Lewis Field at Clark-LeClair Stadium on the campus of East Carolina University seats 5,000, many fans prefer the view from the outfield nicknamed “the Jungle” for the fans’ raucous behavior that creates a genuine home field advantage.
(Photo courtesy of ECU Athletics)

That means, the weekend prior (February 23-25) and the weekend after (March 8-10) remain “To Be Announced”. Since both Stanford and The Keith LeClair Classic will be away from Goodwin Field, it’s safe to predict that those weekends will be home, non-conference series.

In Episode 83 of the 1544 Miles to Omaha Podcast, Jason Dietrich did say he knows the tentative 2024 schedule as of a few weeks ago but was unwilling to reveal it due to not all the official confirmations from the opponents had been submitted just yet. That’s where we come in and will try to predict those three open weekend series along with some mid-week / non-conference games.

Cal State Omaha Projected 2024 Schedule

February 16 – 18: at Stanford
February 19: TBA (Cal State Omaha prediction – Bay Area opponent Saint Mary’s, Santa Clara, San Jose State, San Francisco, Cal, etc.)
February 23 – 25: TBA (Cal State Omaha prediction – Mountain West or West Coast Conference opponent: San Diego State, Fresno State or Portland, Gonzaga, etc.)
February 27: TBA (Cal State Omaha prediction – Local D1 program, i.e. Pepperdine, LMU, USD, etc.)
March 1 – 3: Keith LeClair Classic, Greenville, SC
March 5: TBA (Cal State Omaha prediction – Cold Weather Power 5 program who played the previous weekend locally and stayed an extra day)
March 8 – 10: TBA (Cal State Omaha prediction – Mountain West or West Coast Conference opponent: Nevada, UNLV or Saint Mary’s, Santa Clara, etc.)
March 12: TBA (Local D1 programs located within bussing distance, i.e. USC, UCLA, USD, LMU, SDSU, etc.)
March 15 – 17: at UC San Diego (Big West Conference)
March 19: TBA (Local D1 programs located within bussing distance, i.e. USC, UCLA, USD, LMU, SDSU, etc.)
March 22 – 24: at Long Beach State (Big West Conference)
March 26: TBA (Local D1 programs located within bussing distance, i.e. USC, UCLA, USD, LMU, SDSU, etc.)
March 28 – 30: Cal Poly (Big West Conference)
April 2: TBA (Local D1 programs located within bussing distance, i.e. USC, UCLA, USD, LMU, SDSU, etc.)
April 5 – 7: at Cal State Bakersfield (Big West Conference)
April 12 – 14: UC Riverside (Big West Conference)
April 19 – 21: Cal State Northridge (Big West Conference)
April 23 – 24: Non-Conference mid-week mini-series (Cal State Omaha prediction – Arizona State)
April 26 – 28: at UC Santa Barbara (Big West Conference)
May 3 – 5: Big West Bye Weekend (Home or away Power 5 Conference opponent whose bye weekend aligns with Fullerton’s.)
May 7: TBA (Local D1 programs located within bussing distance, i.e. USC, UCLA, USD, LMU, SDSU, etc.)
May 10 – 12: UC Davis (Big West Conference)
May 17 – 19: UC Irvine (Big West Conference)
May 23 – 25: at Hawai’i (Big West Conference)

How did we arrive at these predictions?

In taking a look at previous schedules and understanding D1 baseball scheduling patterns, this is what we came up with. Here’s the logic behind the predictions:

February 19: at TBA (Cal State Omaha prediction – Bay Area opponent Saint Mary’s, Santa Clara, San Jose State, San Francisco, Cal, etc.)
– Staying over an extra day and delaying returning home after a road weekend series to play another D1 opponent relatively close has become more common lately. We saw it with Tulane last year. The Green Wave stayed an extra day in Orange County after playing UC Irvine the opening weekend in order to play the Titans the following Tuesday. In 2022, the Titans hosted Kansas State the Tuesday following their weekend series at Cal State Bakersfield. It stands to reason that the Titans would stay in the Bay Area an extra day to play one of those schools. San Jose State would be the most appealing due to the fact the Titans faced the Spartans and eliminated them from the post-season last June.

February 23 – 25 & March 8 – 10: TBA (Cal State Omaha prediction – Mountain West or West Coast Conference opponents)
– Not much science and research put into these predictions. Merely a gut feeling that we may not see Power 5 teams coming to Fullerton like we did with Texas and Michigan in 2023. Mountain West and WCC schools could come into Goodwin because the proximity of those schools could reduce travel costs.

March 5: (Cold Weather Power 5 program who played the previous weekend locally and stayed an extra day)
– Much like the Titans staying an extra day in Northern California, we predict a cold weather team may extend their stay in Southern California and play the Titans. We’ll be so bold as to predict it will be a Big 10 program like Indiana, Maryland, Rutgers, Ohio State, Penn State, etc. that travels west to escape the cold conditions before starting conference play. Maybe a Big 10 school coming to play USC or UCLA before those two schools jump to their new conference?

April 23 – 24: Non-Conference mid-week mini-series (Cal State Omaha prediction – Arizona State)
– Much like the return of the Stanford home and away series opens the season, we’re happy to see the Tuesday-Wednesday mini-series with college baseball Blue Blood Arizona State return. Last season the Titans traveled to Arizona prior to the final weekend in April. It stands to reason the Sun Devils will return the favor although it could happen during a previous mid-week in April.

May 3 – 5: Big West Bye Weekend (Home or away Power 5 Conference opponent whose bye weekend aligns with Fullerton’s.)
– This one may be the hardest to predict because a lot of stars need to align for two teams to have a conference bye week coincide. It just so happened to align perfectly that Cal State Fullerton’s 2023 Big West bye week aligned with TCU‘s Big 12 bye week. With it being so early and without seeing schedules released yet, this one may be the hardest to predict. With that said, knowing how Jason Dietrich likes to schedule challenging opponents, we’re confident the Titans have found a suitable brand name opponent to help fill this date. In the podcast, Deetz alluded that this weekend will likely be on the road.

Mid-Week Tuesday or Wednesday games
– Sticking with tradition and logistics, with so many high quality D1 programs located within a short bus ride of Goodwin Field, it stands to reason the Titans would either host or travel to the likes of San Diego State or University of San Diego and of course continue the tradition of playing home and away mid-week games with USC and UCLA.

What are your bold predictions for the 2024 Titan Baseball schedule?

Draft day has come and gone, and four Titans were selected. Many expect those drafted, Nate Nankil, Jojo Ingrassia, Cole Urman and Caden Connor to sign and turn professional. Combine those four major contributors along with exiting seniors Zach Lew, Carter White, Fynn Chester and Tyler Stultz, and Jason Dietrich and his staff have a lot of holes to fill in 2024.

The good news remains that all the high school seniors and JC transfers committed to play at Cal State Fullerton did not get drafted. Sure, those players could still sign a free agent contract but the likelihood of that happening is very slim.

Of the Titans returning to campus and those new faces coming in, who will fill those roles left by those that will leave via the draft or graduation? That is why we are here. We present to you the  “Way Too Early 2024 Roster Predictions”.

Evan Yates appears primed to capture the Friday starting role but could face stiff competition from Christian Rodriguez and Peyton Jones.
(Photo courtesy of Katie Albertson / Titan Athletics)

Weekend Starters

Stultz, Chester and Ingrassia combined to throw 193 2/3rds innings of the 503 innings thrown in 2023. That equates to 39% of the innings tossed in 2023 will leave campus either via the draft or graduation. Combine that with Trevor Hinkle’s 54 innings in 2023, that quates to nearly half of the innings from 2023 will not come back. (Hinkle has placed his name in the transfer portal again and may not return to Fullerton in 2024.)

The opportunity for arms to come in and claim innings appears wide open. Evan Yates, the only regular weekend starter to return, could claim the Friday starter role but it is not assured. Christian Rodriguez, more than a year removed from Tommy John Surgery, could come back and lay claim to that role as well. C-Rod did not pitch at all in 2023 and depending on how his rehab has gone and his fall workouts go, he very well could grab the opening day spot. If Yates can hold him off, Rodriguez looks like a shoe in for the Saturday starter spot.

The other weekend spot could go to veteran Peyton Jones who threw 54.2 innings in 2023, the majority of those in relief. Could bullpen guys like Jason Blood, Seth Tomczak, Jesse Alfaro or Ryan Faulks come up and challenge for a weekend role? Their performance during the summer and in the fall will be telling.

History Repeating Itself?

Justin Garza (L) and Thomas Eshelman (R) ahead of the start of their junior seasons at Cal State Fullerton

Of all the incoming freshmen, eight of them are slated to bolster the pitching staff. Could one or more coming to campus steal a weekend starting rotation spot? It is possible.

Do you remember 10 years ago when Jason Dietrich was a young pitching coach for Cal State Fullerton in 2013? Do you also remember two young freshmen by the names of Thomas Eshelman and Justin Garza who came in and held down the Friday and Saturday starting roles for the three years they put on a Titans uniform?

Yes, that was 10 years ago but the ingredients are there with this incoming class. Add to it some Jason Dietrich tutelage in the fall and these young arms may surprise. Whether they can wrestle away a weekend starting role from the veterans like Jones, Yates or Rodriguez remain to be seen.

Fabulous Freshmen

A handful of Freshmen in this year’s recruiting class received some professional attention but ultimately should hit campus. The ones most in jeopardy of getting poached by the draft included Chris Hernandez, Andrew Wright, Payton Hawkinson and Cristian Brewster. All received interest from MLB teams and all exited MLB draft weekend unscathed.

Of the highly regarded arms, Chris Hernandez from Bakersfield, looked in the most danger of going pro. Ranked the 17th best right-hander in the State of California by Perfect Game, Hernandez could play meaningful innings right away. Hawkinson’s 6’6″ 230lb. frame plus being a lefty, perked up the ears of a lot of MLB scouts. He ultimately did not get drafted and with tools you can not teach, can probably improve his draft stock dramatically with three years of Dietrich instruction.

Another lefty, Andrew Wright, ranks 23rd amongst left-handers in California by Perfect Game. Cristian Brewster, the 47th ranked right hander in California by Perfect Game, fended off pro suitors and should arrive on campus ready to compete for innings.

Many Titans fans were surprised to hear Jojo Ingrassia’s name called during the MLB draft. Almost assuredly gone, the Titans will look within or from the recruiting class or transfer portal to fill the closer role.
(Photo courtesy of Don Hudson)

Closer & Bullpen Depth

Not going to lie, Jojo Ingrassia selected in the 14th round of the MLB draft by the Boston Red Sox was a bit of a surprise. All assumptions remain that if the Red Sox drafted him there, he will sign. That means the Titans will need a new closer. Where will the Titans turn to replace the 44.2 innings, 51 Ks and seven saves Ingrassia recorded in 2023? They may have found him in the same place they found Ingrassia, San Diego.

University of San Diego Lefty Mikiah Negrete hit the transfer portal and recently announced on social media he was committing to come to Cal State Fullerton. He came out of Servite High School in 2022 and Perfect Game ranked him the 10th best lefty in California that year.

Currently playing in the Northwoods League and after six appearances, his fastball sits between 89-92 MPH and tops out at 93-94. He also has a change-up and a slider and in 19 innings has given up 13 hits, five walks, 12 Ks, holds an ERA of 0.95, opponents are batting .203 and a 0.95 WHIP. Of course, those are summer ball numbers which you need to take with a grain of salt.

Negrete’s numbers at USD were uninspiring for his freshman season. His 25 innings were all in relief, recording a 2-3 record with a 6.48 ERA. He notched 20 punch outs but also let up seven home runs which might explain the 6+ ERA.

Should Negrete not come in and grab the closer role, Jesse Alfaro could get it. Alfaro in 2023 as a freshman for the Titans appeared in 12 games, starting two of them and logged 13 innings. He ended the season with a 4.15 ERA and 1.54 Whip while striking out eight. In summer ball, Alfaro has thrown nine innings for the Portland Pickles, has a 1-0 record, a 0.00 ERA with 11 strikeouts. Again, that’s summer ball and here is your grain of salt.

As for bullpen, any of the previously mentioned returners or incoming recruits could bolster the depth and increase the confidence of the coaching staff. We all know that innings get awarded to the guys the coaches feel they can trust. Down the stretch, that number dwindled to a handful of guys outside of the starters. Look no further than the guys that saw time up at the Stanford Regional; Peyton Jones, Jason Blood, Seth Tomczak and Ingrassia. Can the incoming freshmen add their name to that list and get into the “Trust Tree”?

Max Ortega saw the most action at catcher behind Cole Urman in 2023.
(Photo courtesy of Katie Albertson & Titan Athletics)

Catcher

With Cole Urman drafted, the catcher spot is up for grabs. Urman provided stellar defense behind the dish and his ability to erase base runners with his incredible pop time will be missed.

Urman’s exit is not all bad news in that the coaches anticipated his impending exit and prepared rising sophomore, Max Ortega, adequately. Ortega played in 24 games and took 49 at-bats, averaging .224, seven RBI and one home run. The drop off in defense from Urman to Ortega was stark and apparent in 2023. (A combination of Urman being a plus-plus defender may have skewed opinions when comparing to Ortega.) Ortega was a true freshman and his defense could improve with more seasoning at the college level. No matter, Ortega appears to be the heir apparent to the regular catching role but could get challenged.

Jared Snyder, the transfer portal refugee from Long Beach State, played sparingly for the Dirtbags as a freshman in 2023. He appeared in only seven games and recorded only four at-bats. It is understandable that Snyder sat so much seeing how Connor Burns received the Lion’s Share of the innings. (The Cincinnati Reds selected Burns in the 5th round of the 2023 draft.)

Coming out of high school, Snyder graded out with an 8.5 from Perfect Game and PG ranked him the 13th best catcher in California in 2022. For comparison’s sake, Perfect Game had Ortega ranked the 12th best catcher in California that same year. As of right now, Ortega might have the slight edge for the starting nod based on more playing experience in 2023 and being in the Titans’ system for a year compared to Snyder coming in as a transfer.

The other catchers expected to compete for time includes Jack Vanoncini and Waldie Perez; who both did not appear in any games for the Titans in 2023. Ethan Munoz is the only incoming freshman listed as a catcher and coming out of Sierra Canyon High School, batted .391 with two home runs in 87 at-bats.

Could Eli Lopez slide to his right and take over at third base, a position Zach Lew held down for so many years?
(Photo courtesy of Titan Athletics / Titan Baseball Twitter)

Corner Infield

The graduation of Zach Lew and the drafting of Caden Connor leaves huge questions marks at the corner infield spots. Brendan Bobo could have slotted into Third Base but has chosen to test the waters within the transfer portal. Did anyone else play First Base other than Connor in 2023?

Of the veterans returning that could play on the corners, the aforementioned Jack Vanoncini projects to challenge Luke Mistone at First Base who replaced Connor in spot duty. Mistone came in the program last season as potentially a two-way player but did not see any innings on the mound. His six at-bats in five games demonstrates just how much Connor played in 2023.

Who will play third base? That is a bigger mystery.

Of all the infielders either returning or incoming recruits, all of them are suited to play middle infield. Could someone like Jack Haley or Maddox Latta move to third? It is possible. How about Eli Lopez? Maybe. Draven Nushida or Angelo Aleman? Also possible.

In looking at the incoming freshmen, the position players are all shortstops or outfielders. Of course, we understand that in high school, typically the best and most athletic players play shortstop. But in looking at the comments from the coaching staff, they describe these recruits as middle infielder types. Some weight room and training table meals might get these guys to bulk up and move out to a corner to help fill the void left by Lew and Connor.

After missing the first two weeks of the season due to injury, Jack Haley made his first appearance in 2023 vs. Texas. Should Haley stay healthy and improve his batting, the coaches could lean on him to be a veteran presence up the middle.
(Photo courtesy of Katie Albertson / Titan Athletics)

Middle Infield

Up the middle, the Titans appear set and this position group projects to be the most veteran and reliable compared to others.

The double-play duo of Jack Haley and Maddox Latta returns but they could be challenged by a few hungry youngsters. Haley and Latta both battled injuries in 2023 that kept them out of the line-up at different times in the season. Should they remain healthy and improve on their hitting, (Haley .240 and Latta .287 in 2023) the middle infield could be a major strength in 2024.

JT Navyac has entered the transfer portal and appears headed elsewhere leaving the door open for returners Lopez, Aleman and Nushida to push for at-bats.

The incoming freshmen infielder recruits include Frank Estrada, Tyler Holley, Noel Ramos and Marcos Rosales. All are freshmen and all project to play in the middle. Some guys may have to bump out to the corners if they expect to get any type of playing time.

Matthew Bardowell of Riverside City College, seen here getting congratulations from RCC Coach Rudy Arguelles, could come in an lay claim to a corner outfield spot should his offensive numbers resemble those of his freshman year at junior college.
(Photo courtesy of Stephen Day | Viewpoints)

Outfield

The loss of Nankil to the draft and Carter White to graduation leaves two large holes on the left and the right sides of the outfield. White and Nankil accounted for the top (Nankil – 237) and fourth (White – 198) number of at-bats on the 2023 team. That is just a shade under 22% of the 2023 team’s at-bats now gone with the Nankil and White departures.

Moises Guzman returns after spending the majority of 2023 in center field. The only other outfielder to get any significant time was Colby Wallace. Wallace played quite a bit at the beginning of the season but as Carter White’s bat heated up, Wallace took a seat while White played primarily in left field.

Draven Nushida is listed as a dual player for both infield and outfield, but he mostly played infield after pinch hitting in 2023. The other “veteran” is not really a veteran at all in Jackson Giacone who sat out all of 2023 after undergoing neck surgery. Giacone is cleared for baseball activities and is playing summer ball for the Humbolt Crabs.

Help could be on the way in the form of JC transfer Matthew Bardowell and freshmen Ny’Zaiah Thompson along with Camden Burdick and Ethan Winslow.

Bardowell appears poised to slip into a corner outfield spot coming from Riverside City College after bouncing back from Cal Baptist originally. The 6’ 3”, 220 lb. Bardowell had a monster freshman campaign at RCC playing in 46 games, batting .436, scoring 51 runs, driving in 63 RBI, stealing 12 bags and belting eight home runs.

His sophomore year was marred by injuries which hampered his statistical output. He suffered a forearm contusion when he collided with a fence during the East LA series (February 3-4) followed by a soft tissue injury that affected his hamstring after the Southwestern game (March 5). Despite the injuries and playing 12 less games than in his freshman year, Bardowell still hit .360 with 31 RBI, scored 37 runs, stole 7 bases and equaled his home run total of eight in 2023.

It is unclear which outfield spot Bardowell will take but he appears well positioned to start in the meadow come February 2024.

The dark horse candidates in the outfield could come via the freshman class. Camden Burdick, Ethan Winslow and most notably Ny’Zaiah Thompson could come in and surprise. Burdick, from Carlsbad, Calif. ranks 72nd by Perfect Game for California outfielders. Wilson, from Kingsburg, Calif., ranks just a bit higher at 56 in California by Perfect Game. It is unknown if or where both of those players are playing summer ball.

One recruit we do know is playing summer ball, Ny’Zaiah Thompson. Thompson, from Mountain House, Calif. received a Perfect Game Grade of 9 and PG ranks him the 22nd best outfielder in California. Thompson received an invite from MLB to play this summer in the MLB Draft League. It is a collegiate summer baseball league that serves as a showcase for top draft-eligible prospects leading up to the MLB draft.

Thompson shows signs he could hold down the center field spot with his speed and ability to track down balls. At the plate, he could become a table setter / lead-off type guy on offense. The Titans have not had a true lead-off hitter that has a high on-base percentage that can also steal bases that puts opposing pitchers in stressful situations from the start of the game. Thompson could translate to that type of player which the Titans have desperately needed.

The good news coming out of the MLB Draft League is that both Thompson and Bardowell were considered top prospects that the MLB wanted to get a closer look at them prior to the draft. The better news is that neither were selected and the likelihood of them arriving on campus is quite high.

With Guzman returning and both Thompson and Bardowell coming to Fullerton, the outfield could be a strength for the Titans in 2024.

Prediction

As we said earlier, this is way too early to make any type of prediction on what the starting line-up Jason Dietrich will fill out on opening day. But it is a fun exercise to see if we can come close. So here goes:

1 – Friday, Evan Yates; Saturday, Christian Rodriguez; Sunday, Peyton Jones
2 – Max Ortega
3 – Luke Mistone
4 – Maddox Latta
5 – Eli Lopez
6 – Jack Haley
7 – Moises Guzman
8 – Ny’Zaiah Thompson
9 – Matthew Bardowell

That is it. Now that the draft is over but the deadline to transfer from D1 to D1 has not come and gone, this is how we see the Titans stacking up in 2024.

Could the Titans get more transfer portal commitments or even walk-ons from high school or Junior College? Absolutely. Keep in mind Eli Lopez was not on our or anyone’s radar screen at this time last year and now we are projecting him to start at third base.

Year three for Jason Dietrich and his staff will be one still with growing pains and will constantly remind fans that rebuilding back up a once proud and winning college baseball program will take some time. With his second recruiting class that is 100% his and his staff’s, let us see what type of Titan magic we can expect at Goodwin Field come 2024.