Cal State Fullerton junior left-handed pitcher Maxwell Gibbs closed out the Titans’ 9-2 victory over UC Riverside on Sunday.
(Patrick Do/Daily Titan Stock Photo)
The Cal State Fullerton baseball team looks to build on its sweep of UC Riverside in its matchup against the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos this weekend.
CSUF currently holds an overall record of 30-16 and sits at the top of the Big West Conference with an impressive 12-3 conference record.
Both Fullerton and Santa Barbara enter the series ranked on Baseball America’s latest Top 25 poll, ranked at No. 22 and No. 24, respectively.
UC Santa Barbara goes into the series having lost its last matchups against UC Davis and CSU Bakersfield. The Gauchos boast an overall record of 31-13-1, with a conference record of 9-6 that puts them at third place in the Big West Conference.
The Titans are coming off a sweep of UC Riverside last weekend, including a 9-2 blowout win on Sunday. In that game, the Titans had 12 hits, including three home runs. Two of those home runs came off the bat of senior outfielder Dalton Blaser.
Blaser was a standout in that series, earning the Big West Baseball Field Player of the Week. Timmy Richards also had a solid day Sunday, going 2-5 with three RBIs to back freshman right-hander Colton Eastman’s solid outing. Eastman earned the win, tossing six strong innings while only giving up two runs and fanning nine.
Through 46 games played, the Titans boast a team batting average of .261, team on-base percentage of .343 and a .373 team slugging percentage.
CSUF finds itself in the upper echelon of pitching stats within the Big West Conference. CSUF holds a conference-leading 2.33 ERA, a conference-best 8.69 strikeout rate per nine innings, and 406 strikeouts to lead the conference.
Individually, the Titans also rank among the best in the Big West. Blaser has a .372 batting average for third-best in conference, while Richards’ seven home runs put him tied for second best in conference.
In terms of ERA, Eastman and Connor Seabold hold the top two spots in Big West with 2.09 and 2.08, respectively. The duo is part of a staff that is ranked No. 1 in the nation in ERA with 2.33.
Seabold also earned Big West Baseball Pitcher of the Week honors after striking out 12 over seven scoreless innings last Friday against UC Riverside.
The Gauchos share similar offensive team numbers with the Titans. As a team, UC Santa Barbara has a .266 batting average, .367 on-base percentage and a .377 slugging percentage, along with 21 home runs and 226 RBIs.
Some players to keep an eye on for the Gauchos are sophomore infielder Austin Bush, who is fifth in conference with 35 RBIs and tied for third with six home runs, and speedsters Andrew Calica and JJ Muno, who have stolen a combined 28 bases.
On the mound, left-handed pitcher Kyle Nelson is third in conference with an ERA of 2.14 and right-handed pitcher Shane Bieber has eight wins to lead the Big West.
The Titans will travel to Santa Barbara to take on the Gauchos in the only series between the two teams this year. The series opener starts Friday at 3 p.m. at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium.