Photo by David Cohen, (BHEphotos/College Baseball Daily)
FULLERTON, Calif. – Coming off the program’s 17th trip to the NCAA College World Series in 2015, the Cal State Fullerton baseball team will play a 56-game schedule in 2016, head coach Rick Vanderhook announced Tuesday.
Of the 56 games, 33 games will take place at Goodwin Field with 23 road games. In 2015, the Titans were 21-8 at home and 17-13 on the road en route to the program’s 41st consecutive winning season and 24th straight trip to the NCAA Postseason.
The Titans will take on seven teams that finished 2015 in the top-50 of the NCAA RPI ratings and eight that advanced to the NCAA Tournament. Of those teams, the Titans will face one team that advanced to the Super Regional round (Maryland). In addition, the Titans will host the NC Dinos of the Korean Professional Baseball League on Tuesday, Feb. 23 at 6 p.m. Fullerton defeated the Dinos, 8-7, last year in the first meeting between the teams.
Baseball season tickets will go on sale Monday, November 16 at noon PST and can be purchased online (24 hours a day) at fullertontitans.com. In addition, season tickets can be purchased in person at the Athletics Ticket Office and over the phone at (657) 278-2783 beginning Nov. 16.
Ticket packages such as the Friday Night Lights and Any Given Sundays along with single-game tickets for the upcoming 2016 season will go on sale on Monday, December 7 at noon PST.
THE ROAD GAMES: OPENING WEEKEND AND NON-CONFERENCE
The Titans open the 2016 season with a trip to Palo Alto, Calif. on Feb. 19 to take on longtime rival Stanford of the Pac-12 Conference for a three-game series. The Cardinal went 24-32 last season including a 9-21 mark in conference play. The Titans hosted the Cardinal in Fullerton’s first home weekend series of 2014 with the Cardinal taking two of three from the Titans at Goodwin Field. This will be the Titans first trek up to Stanford since 2008 when the Titans were swept by the Cardinal in a three-game set. The Titans have lost 10 straight games in Stanford with the last victory coming on Feb. 3, 2002; a 6-3 win for Fullerton over a Stanford team that was ranked No. 1 in the nation at the time.
The Titans will have weekend series against Texas Tech (March 4-6) in their only other non-conference series away from Goodwin Field. Fullerton will take on Arizona (March 2), USC (March 21), UCLA (March 29) CSU Bakersfield (April 19), and San Diego State (May 3) in midweek non-conference road contests.
THE HOME GAMES: NON-CONFERENCE
Fullerton’s 33-game home schedule will begin on Friday, Feb. 26 when the Titans face Indiana for a three-game set. The Hoosiers will be making their first ever visit to Goodwin Field in 2016 and it will be just the second series played between the two programs. Indiana swept the Titans in three games in Bloomington in 2015, the only three meetings ever between the Titans and Hoosiers.
The Titans will host Wichita State (March 11-13), Maryland (March 18-20), Long Beach State (March 24-26) and UNLV (April 22-24) in their other three-game series at Goodwin Field.
On March 8, the Titans will welcome Arizona State to Fullerton for a two-game midweek set. It will be the Sun Devils first trip to Fullerton during the regular season since 2010 when they played two games against the Titans as part of the DeMarini West Coast Challenge. The Titans have defeated the Sun Devils three straight times at Goodwin Field in the postseason; beating ASU twice at the 2013 Fullerton Regional (1-0, 6-1) and then edging the Sun Devils, 3-2, in a 14-inning marathon at the 2015 Fullerton Regional.
Other midweek contests at Goodwin Field include San Diego State’s first visit to Fullerton since 2012 when the Aztecs face the Titans on March 15. The Titans will also face San Diego (April 5), UCLA (April 26) and USC (May 24) in the final regular season home game of the regular season.
BIG WEST CONFERENCE
Looking to repeat as Big West Conference champions, the Titans open the conference slate on April 1 when they host CSUN for a three-game set. Fullerton finished the 2015 season with a 19-5 conference record to secure the program’s fifth title in the last six seasons and 28th conference championship overall.
Other conference home series’ for the Titans in 2016 include UC Davis (April 15-17), UC Riverside (May 6-8) and Hawai’i (May 20-22).
Fullerton’s first road series of conference play will have the Titans head to San Luis Obispo to take on Cal Poly (April 8-10). The Titans will also hit the road for series’ against UC Irvine (April 29-May 1), UC Santa Barbara (May 13-15) and Long Beach State (May 27-29) for the final series of the regular season.
Rick Vanderhook, the school’s fifth Div. I head coach, has compiled a 73-26 Big West Conference record in his four seasons at the helm and won three conference titles in four years (2012-13, 2015), following in the footsteps of his predecessors; Augie Garrido (14), Larry Cochell (1), George Horton (7) and Dave Serrano (3).
A further breakdown has the Titans winning three PCAA conference championships (1975-76, 1987), eight straight SCBA titles (1977-84), and 17 while playing under the Big West name (1990-91, 94-95, 1997, 1999-2001, 2004-06, 2008, 2010-13, 2015). The Big West absorbed the PCAA records in 1990 upon its formation, giving the Titans 20 total Big West Championships and a 552-208 (.726; 33 years) PCAA/Big West Conference record.
2016 Fullerton Baseball Schedule
