The Cal State Fullerton baseball team emerged victorious in 12 of its last 15 games. The Titans go into this weekend’s series against UC Irvine with a 25-14 overall record and a 7-2 Big West record.
(Patrick Do / Daily Titan Stock Photo)
In hopes of closing out its impressive month of April on a high note, the Cal State Fullerton baseball team heads south to face cross-county rival UC Irvine in a three-game Big West Conference series.
The weekend matchup will see a surging Titan squad that is currently tied for first place with Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. The UC Irvine Anteaters boast a 24-14 overall record and a 6-6 conference record. The last time the two sides met was last season when the Titans took the series 2-1.
During Tuesday night’s game against UCLA, CSUF pitched by committee to keep the Bruins on their heels, holding them to seven runs. Head Coach Rick Vanderhook sent six of his 12 pitchers to the mound as they held the Bruins’ hottest hitter Eric Filia to one hit for the night en route to a 10-7 victory.
In that game, senior shortstop Timmy Richards put on an striking offensive display, hitting four-for-five with a homer, two RBIs and two runs scored. Richards is currently batting .290 on the season and is leading the team with six home runs.
Senior infielder Tanner Pinkston reached safely for the 19th straight game. Pinkston has been on fire for the Titans as he leads the team with a .342 batting average and 27 RBIs.
Senior infielder Jerrod Bravo went one-for-four against the Bruins, which extended his hit streak to six games in a row.
As a team, CSUF has a batting average of .257 with 174 RBIs and possess a 25-14 overall record going into the weekend.
Richards, Pinkston and Dalton Blaser have been CSUF’s most consistent hitters thus far, recording formidable batting averages of .290, .342 and .338, respectively. The trio has combined for 71 of the Titans’ 174 total RBIs this season.
UC Irvine’s hitter to watch is sophomore utility Keston Huira, who is leading his team with a .406 batting average, 33 RBIs and seven home runs. As a team, the Anteaters are batting an average of .285 with 194 RBIs and 12 homers. UCI has a total of seven hitters hitting above .300, whereas the Titans only have three.
However, UC Irvine’s pitchers are struggling collectively on the mound as they’ve put together a dismal 4.09 ERA. Senior left-handed pitcher Elliot Surrey leads the team with 54 innings pitched and has an ERA of 4.00 in seven starts this season.
The Titans will look to take sole possession of first place in the conference standings as they square off against the Anteaters on Friday at 6:30 p.m. at Anteater Ballpark.