Cal State Fullerton’s senior infielder Jerrod Bravo smacks a triple in the Titans’ 1-0 loss to the University of Maryland last Sunday. The Titans have cooled down as of late, heading into the series this weekend with a 7-7 record in the month of March.
(Patrick Do/Daily Titan Stock Photo)
The Cal State Fullerton baseball team (11-9 overall) looks to snap a three-game losing skid as it hosts Big West archrivals the Long Beach State Dirtbags (14-6 overall) in a nonconference series Thursday through Saturday.
Long Beach State is nationally ranked, appearing at No. 20 in Baseball America’s “College Top 25 poll” and No. 21 in D1Baseball.com’s poll.
Junior right-hander Blake Quinn, Thursday’s probable starter for CSUF, is coming off a stellar performance against the Maryland Terrapins last weekend, giving up only one hit and striking out eight. Quinn is set to face Dirtbag ace Chris Mathewson, who owns a 3-2 record and 3.30 ERA this season.
The Dirtbags have been slightly more efficient at the plate than the Titans, recording a .258 batting average and 84 RBIs on the season, compared to Fullerton’s .240 and 71 RBIs.
Dirtbag junior Garrett Hampson has accumulated 30 hits on his way to an impressive .390 batting average in 77 at-bats this season.
Freshman standout Jarren Duran will also be digging in against Quinn, going into this weekend’s series with a batting average of .282.
Titan shortstop Timmy Richards comes into the matchup against the Dirtbags hot, hitting .313 after smacking a walk-off homer in the Terrapins’ series — his third of the year.
Richards, who is also slugging .531, is joined in his offensive success by seniors Dalton Blaser and Tanner Pinkston. Blaser leads the team in ERAs at .328, while Pinkston leads in RBIs at 12.
Last year, the Dirtbags emerged victorious in the nonconference series against the Titans, winning two out of the three games. However, CSUF prevailed in the last week of conference play, sweeping the Dirtbags 3-0 to conclude the regular season.
That sweep was a part of a 10-game winning streak for the Titans that propelled them through NCAA regionals, super-regional play and eventually the College World Series.
This will be the Titans’ and Dirtbags’ first and second Thursday game of the season, respectively. Fullerton will be playing on only two days of rest, coming off a 3-2 loss to the USC Trojans on Monday.
The first game of the series will begin at 6 p.m. at Goodwin Field on Thursday, followed by 7 p.m. and 1 p.m. games on Friday and Saturday, respectively.