Stanford Regional Preview: Can Aggies Beat Cal State Fullerton?
Each season is different in college athletics. Players graduate, others transfer and the one-time roster that looked unstoppable hits a wall without an end in sight.
Texas A&M baseball coach Jim Schlossnalge knows the roster that made it to the College World Series semifinal in his first year won't be taking the field this weekend in Palo Alto for the Stanford Regional. Still, their pathways to postseason play have more than a few similarities.
“I think we’re starting to play our best baseball as a team, as well as a pitching staff,” right-hander Will Johnston said Monday following the NCAA selection show. “I think we’re really starting to do a good job on that side of things, whereas I don’t think we were doing our best job on the front half of the season. I think we are peaking at the right time and I’m really excited about it.”
A&M heads to Stanford for a chance to become the first team in program history to make back-to-back CWS appearances. After rattling off four wins in the SEC Tournament over ranked opponents and pushing their way to the SEC Tournament Championship, the Aggies grabbed the No. 2 seed in the regional, thus giving them home-field advantage for Game 1 on Friday evening.
The downside? This could be considered one of the toughest regionals among all 16 locations. Host team and No. 8 national seed Stanford joined A&M in Omaha a season ago as one of the eight finalists. No. 3-seed Cal State Fullerton is a four-time CWS champion, while No. 4 San Jose State finished 31-25 and is coming off its best season in over two decades.
Attention, for now, must be on the Titans. Scholssnagle has a long-budding history against Cal State Fullerton during his tenure at TCU, going 7-12 in 19 appearances. All-time A&M is 5-7 against the Titans, losing two of its last three matchups in 2013.
Here's what fans need to know about the Titans entering 9 p.m.'s first pitch from Klein Field at Sunken Diamond.
SEASON OVERVIEW
Due to the NCAA ruling for reclassification, Cal State Fullerton enters Palo Alto on somewhat of a technicality. The Titans finished with the second-best record in the Big West at 20-10, while UC San Diego finished 21-9.
Since the Big West does not have a conference tournament, the team with the best intra-conference record automatically receives a bid. However, the Tritons, who joined the Division I level in 2021, were ineligible to make the postseason, thus giving the nod to the Titans.
For most of the season, Cal State Fullerton was a hit-or-miss, especially in conference play. The Titans started off with back-to-back nonconference series losses to Stanford and Michigan before off victories over Texas and Pedderdine.
In Big West play, Cal State Fullerton won six consecutive series before being swept by UC San Diego. The Titans would lose nine of their last 12 games, including matchups against Big 12 tournament runner-up TCU and UCLA on the road.
The Titans ended the regular on a positive note, picking up the series victory over Cal Poly. While California State Northridge also finished 20-10 in Big West play, Cal State Fullerton won the early season matchup 2-1, and held the tiebreaker, thus giving them the nod over the Matadors.
PITCHING
Offensively, the Titans were mixed. On the mound, Cal State Fullerton dominated opponents. Pitching will be its bread and butter throughout the Stanford Regional if the program hopes to advance to face the winner of the Coral Gables Regional in a best-of-three series.
As a unit, the Titans finished with a team earned run average of 4.96 and a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 2.15. Both rank inside the top 70 of all programs and lead all teams at the Stanford Regional.
Right-hander Evan Yates (2-2, 3.57 ERA) has been the most consistent starter and possesses the best ERA among all qualified pitchers in the regional. He struck out 63 batters during the regular and finished with an 8.34 K/9 ratio. In Big West play, his 97 MPH fastball only allowed him to finish with a 2.98 ERA and 49 strikeouts.
Yates looks to be the big gun in the series, but he's not the only hurler with juice. Senior Fynn Chester and junior Tyler Stultz each posted ERAs over 4.2, but they totaled seven wins apiece in at least 15 starts. Reliever Jojo Ingrassia features a three-pitch combination and posted an ERA of 2.63, along with a 10.94 K/9 rate during the regular season.
Ingrassia could be the x-factor in setting the tone for the Titans in Game 1. After posting an ERA of 19.29 in February, he's allowed just seven runs in the span of three months and has closed out the month of April with an ERA of 1.72.
OFFENSE
The 181st-ranked offense in baseball doesn't feature ample power, but it can hit for contact. The Titans finished with 505 hits (182nd), 247 walks (149th), 324 runs (214th) and 34 home runs (259th). They also posted a .274 batting average (181st), .371 on-base percentage (195th), and .401 slugging percentage (232nd).
Junior infielder Caden Conner leads the team in batting average (.333), slugging percentage (.500), hits (70) and doubles (19), while ranking second in RBIs (40) and third in OBP (.422). Both Brendan Bobo and Zach Lew lead the team in home runs (7) and rank top five in RBIs. Lew, a senior infielder, leads the team in runs scored with 43.
Sophomore outfielder Moises Guzman could be a nightmare on the base paths despite having a .255 batting average. He leads the Titans in both OBP (.425) and stolen bases (10). Senior outfielder Carter White ranks second in stolen bases with nine, while no other Titans player has more than five swiped bags.
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