The Longhorns hit the road to go to California for their first true away series of the season to take on the Cal State Fullerton Titans. Dubbed by many as the Augie series, Texas and Cal State are heavy weights in college baseball when looking at winningest programs all times. Both programs are in the group of seven teams nationally that have four or more national titles. Augie Garrido famously won national titles with Cal State Fullerton in 1979, 1984, and 1995 and then finished his career with two titles at the University of Texas in 2002 and 2005.
Cal State while historically has been very good has hit a rough patch over the past few years and currently own a three year streak of losing seasons. Coach Jason Dietrich was brought in last year to help right the ship and turn things around for the legendary program. Coach Dietrich is very highly thought of on the West Coast and also happens to be a Cal State alum, along with the rest of his staff, so the love and dedication is there.
So far this season has been a bit of a mixed bag for the Titans. Cal State kicked off the year by beating #2 Stanford and were in position to win the series against Cardinal, but the bullpen could not hold on and eventually lost the series by dropping back to back games (7-5 and 21-13 in 10 innings) against Stanford. During the mid-week game after the Stanford series, the Titans beat Tulane in walk off fashion to score a big RPI win. Unfortunately, last week weather played a large role and Cal State was only able to play a DH against Michigan on Sunday, in which they got beat in both. This past Tuesday while Texas was playing LSU, Cal State again had to postpone a game against USC due to heavy rain and field conditions.
Also check out the latest episode of [Around the HORNS] as @AaronLittleOB and I recap the weekend series against Indiana, the Tuesday game against #1 ranked LSU and a look around college baseball.
Matchup:
Date: March 3-5
Time: 8pm CT, 7pm CT, 2pm CT
Where: Goodwin Field (Fullerton, CA)
TV: ESPN+
Radio: 104.9 FM The Horn/1260 AM
Record:
Texas: 3-5 (0-0)
Cal State: 2-4 (0-0)
RPI:
Texas - 138
Cal State - 197
SOS:
Texas - 60
Cal State - 117
Series Records:
All-Time: Texas leads 20-17
Last Meeting: Texas swept Cal State Fullerton 3-0 in Austin during the COVID shortened 2020 season
In Fullerton: Cal State has a 2-0 series record against Texas
Look at the numbers:
Batting Average:
Texas - .214
Cal State - .284
On-Base%:
Texas - .314
Cal State - .393
Slugging%:
Texas - .337
Cal State - .422
Home Runs:
Texas - 5
Cal State - 4
Walks:
Texas - 35
Cal State - 32
ERA:
Texas - 3.15
Cal State - 7.36
Strikeout/Walk Ration:
Texas - 3.03
Cal State - 1.82
Errors:
Texas - 12
Cal State - 7
Pitching Matchups:
Fri - Texas LHP Lucas Gordon (0-0, 0.84 ERA) v. Cal State LHP Tyler Stultz (1-1, 5.00 ERA)
Sat - Texas RHP Zane Morehouse (1-0, 4.00 ERA) v. Cal State RHP Trevor Hinkel (0-1, 9.35 ERA)
Sun - Texas RHP Travis Sthele (0-2, 3.12 ERA) v. Cal State TBD (potentially Jason Blood or Evan Yates)
Here are some notes from @AaronLittleOB on the pitching matchups for Cal State.
Hitting Matchups:
Predictions:
Look around the Big 12 (Record and Mid-Week Results):
College Baseball Series to Watch:
Cal State while historically has been very good has hit a rough patch over the past few years and currently own a three year streak of losing seasons. Coach Jason Dietrich was brought in last year to help right the ship and turn things around for the legendary program. Coach Dietrich is very highly thought of on the West Coast and also happens to be a Cal State alum, along with the rest of his staff, so the love and dedication is there.
So far this season has been a bit of a mixed bag for the Titans. Cal State kicked off the year by beating #2 Stanford and were in position to win the series against Cardinal, but the bullpen could not hold on and eventually lost the series by dropping back to back games (7-5 and 21-13 in 10 innings) against Stanford. During the mid-week game after the Stanford series, the Titans beat Tulane in walk off fashion to score a big RPI win. Unfortunately, last week weather played a large role and Cal State was only able to play a DH against Michigan on Sunday, in which they got beat in both. This past Tuesday while Texas was playing LSU, Cal State again had to postpone a game against USC due to heavy rain and field conditions.
Also check out the latest episode of [Around the HORNS] as @AaronLittleOB and I recap the weekend series against Indiana, the Tuesday game against #1 ranked LSU and a look around college baseball.
Matchup:
Date: March 3-5
Time: 8pm CT, 7pm CT, 2pm CT
Where: Goodwin Field (Fullerton, CA)
TV: ESPN+
Radio: 104.9 FM The Horn/1260 AM
Record:
Texas: 3-5 (0-0)
Cal State: 2-4 (0-0)
RPI:
Texas - 138
Cal State - 197
SOS:
Texas - 60
Cal State - 117
Series Records:
All-Time: Texas leads 20-17
Last Meeting: Texas swept Cal State Fullerton 3-0 in Austin during the COVID shortened 2020 season
In Fullerton: Cal State has a 2-0 series record against Texas
Look at the numbers:
Batting Average:
Texas - .214
Cal State - .284
On-Base%:
Texas - .314
Cal State - .393
Slugging%:
Texas - .337
Cal State - .422
Home Runs:
Texas - 5
Cal State - 4
Walks:
Texas - 35
Cal State - 32
ERA:
Texas - 3.15
Cal State - 7.36
Strikeout/Walk Ration:
Texas - 3.03
Cal State - 1.82
Errors:
Texas - 12
Cal State - 7
Pitching Matchups:
Fri - Texas LHP Lucas Gordon (0-0, 0.84 ERA) v. Cal State LHP Tyler Stultz (1-1, 5.00 ERA)
Sat - Texas RHP Zane Morehouse (1-0, 4.00 ERA) v. Cal State RHP Trevor Hinkel (0-1, 9.35 ERA)
Sun - Texas RHP Travis Sthele (0-2, 3.12 ERA) v. Cal State TBD (potentially Jason Blood or Evan Yates)
Here are some notes from @AaronLittleOB on the pitching matchups for Cal State.
- LHP Tyler Stultz was the Friday night guy in 2022 and is back in that role for his 6th season of college baseball. He has a thin frame and a four-pitch mix from the left side. Stultz hides the ball well and makes the fastball appear harder than what the radar gun says. Stultz has good command of his slider and curveball, the slider looked especially tough on lefties in the tape I watched. Stultz went five innings allowing just one run against a strong Stanford team.
- Trevor Hinkel is a prototypical big righty with a fastball and a breaking ball. Hinkel’s fastball can reach mid-90s at times and the curveball has 12-6 movement, making it tough on righties and lefties. Hinkel’s fastball has some decent sink and will run in on righties from time to time. Hinkel has been knocked around to start the year, allowing three homers to Stanford and five earned runs in a loss to Michigan.
- RHP Jason Blood
- JUCO transfer who really signed in the Fall
- 6'2" RHP
- Strike thrower that has FB in the low 90's with an excellent changeup and average breaking ball
- RHP Evan Yates
- 10 weekend starts as a freshman
- 6'2" strike thrower
- 90-91 FB with dependable change
Hitting Matchups:
- Jr RF Nate Nankil (.370)
- Speed
- led Titans with 14 bases
- Jr 1B Caden Connor (.346)
- 4th year Junior
- hit .327 with 4 HR, 37 RBI and 33 walks in 2022
- Left handed bat
- So 2B Maddox Latta (.333)
- JUCO transfer that is well-rounded
- Sr 3B Zach Lew (.292)
- 5th year senior
- smaller in stature, but puts together quality ABs in the box
Predictions:
- @ZachattheDisch (2-1) - I think Texas wins two of three on the road. Horns are a young team and still have not clicked yet on offense, so hard to predict a sweep, but I believe that the Horns are the better overall team.
- @AaronLittleOB (1-2) - First true road test. Feels like a coin flip series and I will take the home team. They showed they could really swing it against Stanford and I worry if this turns into a shootout.
Look around the Big 12 (Record and Mid-Week Results):
- Texas Tech (10-0): one of 9 undefeated teams left in college baseball. Texas transfer Gavin Kash stats (.538 avg, 1.655 OPS, 15 R, 4 doubles, 2 triples, 4 HR, 19 RBI, 1.051 SLG%, 8 BB)
- Red Raiders hate the troops beating AF 9-4 and 18-5
- Kansas (5-2):
- did not play a mid-week game
- TCU (5-3):
- came back in extra innings to beat Dallas Baptist 4-1
- Okie State (5-3):
- scored 7 runs in the 7th to come back to beat Missouri State
- West Virginia (4-4):
- lost 0-6 to the Arizona Diamondbacks - unfortunately Texas alum Ivan Melendez went 0-3 with 2Ks on the night
- Oklahoma (4-4):
- Sooners game against UT-Arlington was cancelled due to bad weather
- Kansas State (4-5):
- Wildcats dropped a close decision to Omaha in which they gave up 4 runs in the 8th
- Texas (3-5):
- Horns lost a pitching duel to #1 LSU
- Baylor (2-6):
- Bears gave up 5 runs in the 4th inning and the struggles continue
College Baseball Series to Watch:
- Texas Tech v. Texas A&M - Shriners Classic in Houston - great early season matchup
- TCU v. Louisville -
- South Carolina v. Clemson - Tigers coming off of being swept by UCF and the Cocks have really been swinging the bat for power well
- Dallas Baptist v. Southern Miss - intriguing matchup between mid-majors
- Florida v. Miami - Gator two-way player Jac Caglianone is must watch tv at this point!
- Vandy v. Maryland - interesting matchup for the early OOC season
