The Big West enters week two of the 2010 baseball season after posting a 14-9 non-conference record in the opening weekend of play. Top 10 programs UC Irvine and Cal State Fullerton test their rankings against formidable opponents, as the Anteaters play No. 12 Coastal Carolina twice and No. 9 TCU visits Goodwin Field for a three-game series.
Around The Big West
Titans Favorites To Capture 2010 Big West Title
Following a season that once again concluded in Omaha, Neb., at the College World Series, Cal State Fullerton was selected to capture the 2010 Big West Baseball Championship, a title they lost to UC Irvine last season, according to the Big West Conference preseason poll conducted by the league’s nine head coaches. The Titans, who have claimed at least a share of seven of the last 11 titles and a conference-best 14, nabbed seven first-place votes for a total of 79 points and were followed by defending conference championship UC Irvine, who picked up two first-place votes en route to a 71 point total. Rounding out the top three was Cal Poly, sitting third with 60 points.
The Titans, under third-year head coach Dave Serrano, finished the 2009 campaign with a 47-16 overall record and a 17-7 conference mark, good enough for second place in the Big West. Cal State Fullerton swept both the NCAA Regionals and Super Regionals to advance to the College World Series for its 16th appearance. Fullerton has a wealth of returning talent that includes an entire weekend pitching rotation, a closer, and a couple of top-round draft pick defenders up the middle to go along with a Top 5 recruiting class.
The Anteaters of UC Irvine are coming off one of their best seasons in program history, which witnessed the ‘Eaters capturing their first league crown with an outstanding 22-2 mark. UC Irvine also became the first team in conference history to go undefeated at home during league play and boasted the second-best conference winning percentage in Big West history at .917. Like Cal State Fullerton, UC Irvine welcomes back a majority of their pitching staff.
Long Beach secured the fourth slot with 50 points, UC Riverside landed in fifth after receiving 48 points and UC Santa Barbara grabbed 36 points to take the sixth spot. Pacific locked down seventh with 30 points, followed by Cal State Northridge’s eight-place point total of 19. Rounding out the nine-team field with 12 points was UC Davis, who is playing in just its third season at the Division I level.
UC Riverside Off To Solid Start
UC Riverside started out the season 4-0 after sweeping BYU in a three-game series and defeating Bethune-Cookman in a single game. The Highlanders outscored the Cougars 29-21 in a high-scoring series, reaching double-figure runs scored twice. On Monday, freshman Trevor Frank pitched six shutout innings to lead UCR to the 6-1 win over Bethune-Cookman.
Pettis Takes On New Role
The UC Irvine pitching staff is regarded as one of the best in the country, considering that the top two starters are preseason All-Americans in Daniel Bibona and Christian Bergman. Add to the mix another All-American as the third starter, and the Anteaters appear to really be in business.
The catch is that the third starter is actually UCI’s closer. Or was the closer? Senior Eric Pettis, who has accumulated 34 saves in two seasons as UCI’s closer, is making the conversion to starter. Third on the Big West career list with 34 saves, Pettis made his first start since the 2007 College World Series against Loyola Marymount on Sunday. He fared well, allowing three runs in six innings for the win.
Anteaters, Titans In Top 10
UC Irvine climbed to as high as No. 4 in the polls this week after a 3-0 start. The Anteaters are ranked No. 4 by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA), No. 6 by Baseball America and No. 8 by Collegiate Baseball. Cal State Fullerton fell in all three polls following a 1-2 start, sliding to No. 6 in Collegiate Baseball, No. 8 in Baseball America and No. 11 in the NCBWA.
Titan Recovery
Cal State Fullerton encountered an unfamiliar predicament in the opening weekend of 2010. The Titans started out 0-2 at home for the first time since 1987, losing 7-3 to Oregon and 6-0 to Pepperdine. Former Titan skipper George Horton made a triumphant return to Goodwin Field as he led the Ducks to the season-opening win after being honored in a pregame ceremony at home plate. The following evening, the Waves became the first opponent to shutout CSF since late in the 2007 season. In that game, Dave Serrano was ejected for the first time as the Titan head coach, and received an automatic three-game suspension for making contact with an umpire. He served the first game of the suspension in Sunday’s game against Big West rival Long Beach State. It was a Titan revival as the slumbering offense woke up to register an 8-1 victory.
Rain Causing A Ruckus
Rain normally is an issue in the early portion of any baseball season, and 2010 is no different so far. Although Big West teams got in all their games last weekend, several adjustments to the schedule needed to be made. Cal Poly had to move up Sunday’s start time against USC by a couple of hours. CSF had a 53-minute rain delay in its season opener versus Oregon. UC Davis played a doubleheader on Saturday versus Utah to avoid a rainy forecast on Sunday. Pacific did the same thing with San Francisco, playing a home doubleheader on Saturday. The game three of that series originally was scheduled at USF.
This week, two games already have been affected as UC Davis and Pacific shifted Tuesday’s road non-conference games to Wednesday against California and Stanford, respectively.
Thompson Twirls A Gem
A long line of starting pitchers have become high draft picks at Long Beach State. Jered Weaver, Cesar Ramos, Abe Alvarez and Andrew Carpenter all have reached the major leagues in recent seasons. Junior Jake Thompson is hoping to join that mix as the ace of the 49er staff in 2010. He supported that aim in tossing the first complete game of his career in a 2-1 win against Pepperdine. Thompson struck out six and allowed just three hits in the stellar effort.
Gauchos Start Season
UC Santa Barbara becomes the last Big West team to take the diamond to start the 2010 season as the Gauchos open up at home versus Westmont on Tuesday. UCSB then travels to San Jose State for a three-game series this weekend.
Tigers Take Opener, Win Series
Pacific captured its home opener for the first time since 2006 after defeating San Francisco, 3-1, thanks to a solid pitching effort from junior Marcus Pointer. He allowed just two hits and one run in seven innings of work. The Tigers also won Sunday’s series finale, 10-3, to take the series.