This week’s Thursday Thoughts: Fresno State & USC edition, comes with a bit of struggle. After starting the season 0-4, the euphoria of the Saturday night 14-3 drubbing up in Fresno gave quite a bit of hope to Titan Baseball fans.
Was the old-time football score reflective of what the future holds? Seeing how the following two games resulted in losses, tumbling the Titans record to 1-7 on the early season, it may be a harbinger of the remaining season.
Join us as we yet again look at the Good, the Bad and the Ugly that was the Fresno State and USC mid-week games in week two of the 2025 Titan Baseball season.
The Results
Overall Record: 1-7
Conference Record: 0-0
Streak:Lost 2
Last 10: 1-9 (Dating back to May 24, 2024)
Offense
Runs Scored: 50
Hits: 67
Doubles: 11
Triples: 3
Home Runs: 11
RBI: 45
Team Batting Avg: .244
On-Base %: .339
Slugging %: .425
Walks: 32
Extra base hits: 25
Total bases: 117
Hit by pitch: 8
Stolen Bases: 4
Strikeouts: 67
Defense
Errors: 8
Fielding %: .972
Double Plays turned: 5
Passed Balls: 2
Stolen Bases allowed: 2
Pitching
Team ERA: 7.70
WHIP: 1.97
Batting average against: .337
Hits allowed: 101
Total Runs Allowed: 70
Earned Runs Allowed: 59
Walks Issued: 35
Strikeouts: 65
Home runs allowed: 8
Titans of the Week
Winners chosen via Twitter/X poll
Pitcher of the Week
Andrew Wright: 4.2IP – 3H – 0ER – 1BB – 4K – 0.00 ERA
Also considered:
Brady Dockan: 3.2IP – 3H – 0ER – 0BB – 2K – 0.00 ERA
Ryan Faulks: 2.1IP – 1H – 0ER – 2BB – 5K – 0.00 ERA
Mikiah Negrete: 6IP – 4H – 3ER – 1BB – 7K – 4.50 ERA
Vote on the #CalStateOmaha Pitcher of the Week@BDockan: 3.2IP – 3H – 0ER – 0BB – 2K – 0.00 ERA@ryan_faulks2: 2.1IP – 1H – 0ER – 2BB – 5K – 0.00 ERA@NegreteMikiah: 6IP – 4H – 3ER – 1BB – 7K – 4.50 ERA@andrew_wright44: 4.2IP – 3H – 0ER – 1BB – 4K – 0.00 ERA#TusksUp
— Cal State Omaha (@CalStateOmaha) February 26, 2025
Batter of the Week
Matthew Bardowell: 6/13 – .460 – 4R – 4RBI – 0BB – 2K – 3HR
Also considered:
Eli Lopez: 6/14 – .430 – 2R – 0RBI – 2BB – 2K
Waldie Perez: 2/4 – .500 – 1R – 0RBI – 1BB – 1K
Marcos Rosales: 5/12 – .420 – 6R – 7RBI – 5BB – 3K
Vote on the #CalStateOmaha Batter of the Week@BardowellJ: 6/13 – .460 – 4R – 4RBI – 0BB – 2K – 3HR@elixeli7: 6/14 – .430 – 2R – 0RBI – 2BB – 2K@PerezWaldie: 2/4 – .500 – 1R – 0RBI – 1BB – 1K
Marcos Rosales: 5/12 – .420 – 6R – 7RBI – 5BB – 3K#TusksUp #CalStateFullerton— Cal State Omaha (@CalStateOmaha) February 26, 2025
The Good
Saturday in Fresno
Jason Dietrich on the Titans 14-3 win and the team hitting seven home runs.#TusksUp pic.twitter.com/StZ809LipX
— Titans Baseball (@FullertonBSB) February 23, 2025
Anytime a team puts up two touchdowns and converts both extra points, that has to qualify in the “good” category.
Scoring a touchdown in the first inning by way of a grand slam by Andrew Kirchner, a solo job by Max Ortega and then finished off with first of two homers from Matthew Bardowell put the Titans up big to before Fresno State starter Aidan Cremarosa.
The Titans put up 11 runs before the Bulldogs could muster their first run in the bottom of the fifth.
Bombs Away Saturday
Grand Slam Andrew Kirchner!#TusksUp | @Andrewkirchner0 pic.twitter.com/yHLbEHFBGt
— Titans Baseball (@FullertonBSB) February 22, 2025
A major complaint regarding the Titans offense over the past few seasons was the lack of power. That complaint disappeared on Saturday as the Titans combined for seven home runs. Cal State Omaha Batter of the Week Matthew Bardowell collected two over wall jobs on the day.
Bardo Bomb 💣#TusksUp | @BardowellJ pic.twitter.com/HrdPZ9AEsZ
— Titans Baseball (@FullertonBSB) February 22, 2025
All in all, seven home runs from six Titans including the aforementioned Kirchner, Ortega and Bardowell along with Cam Burdick, Marcos Rosales and Carter Johnstone.
.300 Club
Marcos with a three-run shot!#TusksUp pic.twitter.com/awZo1pucwf
— Titans Baseball (@FullertonBSB) February 23, 2025
Undoubtedly, the bats came alive on Saturday but the good news to report remains four Titans, Eli Lopez, Marcos Rosales, Maddox Latta and Mathew Bardowell, all have batting averages at or above .300.
Rosales holds the second-best batting average at .304 behind Lopez’s .310, and leads the team in OPS (1.340), runs scored (9), total bases (19), slugging percentage (.826), walks (7) and on-base percentage (.514)
Fair to say that Rosales has completely recovered from the injury that kept him sidelined for most of the season in 2024.
The Bad
Pitching Woes
End 2 | Another 1⃣2⃣3⃣ inning for Negrete#TusksUp pic.twitter.com/r87ZXy2Abm
— Titans Baseball (@FullertonBSB) February 22, 2025
With the exception of Mikiah Negrete and Andrew Wright, the Titan arms have left much to be desired in the early going of 2025.
Seven Titan pitchers hold earned run averages in the double digits with Grady Faris and Chad Gurnea holding ERAs of 27.00.
We hate to say it, but Jason Blood has looked like everything but a Bonafide Friday starter with a 21.21 ERA and a 3.86 WHIP. Payton Hawkinson appeared poised to take the mid-week role for the remainder of the season, but his two starts have him at a 18.00 ERA and 2.50 WHIP. Sunday starter Dylan Smith has racked up a 21.60 ERA and a 3.60 Whip in his two starts.
Getting knocked around and knocked out of games right around the second inning can spell disaster for a team trying to find its identity. The starters and the bullpen arms will need to improve this weekend in Wichita, Kansas.
With the addition of the Big West Tournament this season, that means one less non-conference series is available. The Titans have this weekend in Wichita and then a mid-week vs. San Diego State before conference play on the road at Cal Poly.
The Ugly
1-7 to Start 2025
Yes, the season is still young but starting the season with a .125 winning percentage is not the way you’d want to draw up a season.
If you find yourself in the “silver linings” camp, the last time the Titans started 1-7 came in 2018. You may recall that year the Titans not only went to the Regionals but hosted the Super Regionals at Goodwin Field.
The Titans found themselves on the edge of going to Omaha for the second consecutive season but lost Game 3 in extra innings.
Looking Ahead
This weekend the Titans hit the road to take on the Wichita State Shockers, a college baseball program steeped in traditional almost as much as Cal State Fullerton. The Shockers have advanced to Omaha seven times and won the National Championship in 1989.
Series History
Much of the series history with the Titans and the Shockers has come in the regular season and surprisingly not in the postseason during both programs’ heydays. The first meeting came in 1982, a year these two programs would meet again in the College World Series.
Those experts in Titan Baseball history may recall that the mid-week trip to Wichita State in 1995 was part of the short losing streak that spurned the Titans’ historic run to their third national championship.
The last time these two programs collided came in 2016 with Wichita State sweeping the Titans in March. The Shockers hold the slight edge in the overall series history with a 12-11 advantage.
Times listed are Pacific time:
February 28, 2025 (Friday)
@ Wichita State – 1:00 PM
March 1, 2025 (Saturday)
@ Wichita State – 12:00 PM
March 2, 2025 (Sunday)
@ Wichita State – 10:00 AM
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