FULLERTON, Calif. – Head Coach Rick Vanderhook unveiled Cal State Fullerton’s 2017-18 baseball schedule on Thursday. The slate is loaded with 29 home contests with six games against NCAA Tournament participants from a year ago.
Thursday marked the Titans’ first step on its way back to the College World Series for the second straight season. In addition to the entertaining home slate of games, in all Fullerton will go up against six teams that qualified for the postseason in 2017, playing 20 contests against tournament participants in all, including three-game sets at Stanford, against Houston, at Oregon State, at San Diego State and of course six contests vs. Long Beach State (three home, three away) and two vs. UCLA (one home, one away).
“We’re really looking forward to our schedule this year,” said Vanderhook. “As always, we tried to make it challenging in non-conference play because we know how tough our own league always is. This is a schedule that will allow us to compete with some of the best programs in the nation early and let us see different styles of play.”
Fans will get their first chance to see the 2018 Titans in action in just a few weeks, as Fullerton will host UNLV in an exhibition contest on Oct. 28 at noon. The two squads will play a full nine-inning game, which will be the lone fall contest the Titans will have this season.
The spring season will then get under way with the annual alumni game on Jan 27 at 1 pm. The Titans will open the official 2018 campaign with a three-game series at the new-look Stanford Cardinal. It’ll be the third straight season the two sides begin their respective seasons by facing each other, while it’ll be the second time over the last three seasons the Titans have traveled up to Palo Alto to begin the year.
Following its opening series, the Titans will return home for a six-game homestand, including an exhibition affair vs. the NC Dinos on Feb. 19. Fullerton will host its official home opener vs. Nevada on Feb. 20 before welcoming in American Athletic Conference power Houston for a three game series Feb. 23-25th. The Titans split a pair of contests at Houston last year, before the series finale was washed out.
The Titans then close out the homestand with their first of two midweek matchups with the UCLA Bruins on Feb. 27 before heading back on the road for what will be a couple of the biggest tests of the season. The six-game road swing will feature three games in New Orleans against Tulane (March 2 -4) before heading up to the Pacific Northwest, in what will be an emotional three-game series at Oregon State (March 9-11th). The series in Corvallis will serve as a rematch of the Titans’ opening round College World Series matchup from a year ago, while Fullerton will play at Tulane for the first time since 2005.
Fullerton will then return to Goodwin Field to close out non-conference play with a season-long eight game homestand, including three game series vs. Grand Canyon (March 16-18th) and Long Beach State (March 23-25th) to go along with a couple of midweek contests vs. San Diego (March 20th) and USC (March 27th).
The Titans will open up Big West play on the road for the second straight season, as they’ll visit UC Santa Barbara (March 29 – 31st) to begin the league slate before heading to Tempe for the second consecutive season for a mini two-game set vs. Arizona State on April 3rd and April 4th. It’ll be the fourth year in a row the two sides have played each other.
Fullerton will host its league opener with a three-game weekend series vs. Cal Poly on April 6-8th before finishing the homestand with a Tuesday matchup vs. Pepperdine on April 10th. The Titans then take a mini break from conference play and head south for a three-game series at San Diego State (April 13-15th) and a mid-week tilt at San Diego on April 17th.
The Titans finish the regular season with home series vs. Hawai’i (April 20-22nd), UC Riverside (May 11-13th) and CSUN (May 18-20th). Fullerton will also play series at UC Irvine (April 27-29th), at UC Davis (May 4- 6th) before ending the regular season at Long Beach State (May 24-26th). Midweek tilts at UCLA (April 24th) and at USC (May 22nd) are also in the mix.
