Head Coach Dave Serrano-Cal State Fullerton
FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
Fullerton, Calif. – Second-year Head Coach Dave Serrano has announced the 2009 Cal State Fullerton baseball schedule that features 32 games against 2008 NCAA Regional teams and includes fresh faces such as Oklahoma State, Oral Roberts and Rhode Island.
The Titans will kick off the 2009 docket at home Feb. 20-22 against the Horned Frogs of TCU.
“Cal State Fullerton baseball players and fans have grown accustomed to the Titans playing one of the toughest schedules in the country – and this coming season will be no different,” said Serrano.
“This year we are getting a different taste of things with the Oklahoma State’s and the Oral Roberts’ in the mix, but a schedule like this will only help us prepare for our immediate goal of winning the Big West Conference and ultimately a national championship.”
According to Boyd’s World (boydsworld.com), the Titans have finished in the top six in the website’s strength of schedule category over the last eight years, including 3rd in the nation in 2008.
Fullerton’s current 55-game schedule will see 28 of the contests played within the friendly confines of Goodwin Field and the other 27 on the road. The Titans will either add an additional midweek game at a later date or use the remaining game of its 56-game allowance during their fall workout period.
After opening with TCU and a midweek contest at San Diego State (Feb. 24), the Titans will return home to host 2008 College World Series participant Stanford from Feb. 27-Mar. 1 in a rematch of last year’s Super Regional.
The Titans will then make a second trip to Tony Gwynn Stadium (Mar. 3) before heading off to Hattiesburg, Mississippi, to take on Southern Miss on its turf for the very first time. The Titans and Golden Eagles met for the first time in 2008 in Fullerton, with the Titans coming out on top in the series, 3-0.
Following the first of two midweek games with Pepperdine (Mar. 11), the Titans will again jump on a plane, this time heading to Stillwater, Oklahoma, to play in a three-team tournament against Oklahoma State and Rhode Island. Each team will play the others twice from Mar. 13-15 at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium. It will be the Titans’ first trip to Stillwater since 1994, when they advanced to Omaha with a 10-inning, 6-5 win over the Cowboys in an NCAA Regional. The Titans have never faced Rhode Island.
The Titans will see USC on St. Patrick’s Day (Mar. 17) to kick off a four-game home stand that leads into a Thursday, Friday, Saturday, series with Oral Roberts (Mar. 19-21). The two teams have met just once back in 1984 at the Riverside Baseball Invitational at UC Riverside where The Titans defeated the then-No. 15 Golden Eagles, 5-4.
Friday, March 27, will mark the opening of Big West Conference play for the Titans as they head to UC Riverside (Mar. 27-29) to take on the Highlanders in defense of their 2008 Co-Big West title.
The conference schedule will consist of 24 games, 12 of which will be played at Goodwin Field. Fullerton will host UC Irvine (Apr. 3-5), Pacific (Apr. 17-19), UC Santa Barbara (May 1-3), and 2008 co-champions Long Beach State (May 22-24) and will travel to Riverside, Cal State Northridge (Apr. 9-11), UC Davis (Apr. 24-26) and Cal Poly (May 8-10).
Sandwiched among conference games, the Titans will have a packed schedule with some of the West’s, if not, nation’s elite. The second half of the non-conference schedule will feature the likes of Arizona State (at ASU Mar. 31 and Apr. 1), San Diego (at home Apr. 21), Arizona (at home May 5-6) and UCLA in a split series May 15-17 (home on May 15, at Jackie Robinson Stadium May 16-17).
All 55 games of the Titans’ 2009 schedule will have a live audio broadcast streamed in conjunction with Stretch Internet at fullertontitans.com.
BigWest.tv will provide live video streams of all of the Titans’ home games as well as all Big West Conference match-ups with a paid subscription.
