Given that the Cal State Fullerton Titan Baseball team has opened up fall ball work outs as of October 4th, we thought it a good idea to start speculating on the opponents the Titans will face in the spring of 2024.
The Big West Conference released the 2024 schedule for the entire conference in July, marking the earliest fans have seen a conference schedule released in recent memory. The Titans will open conference play on March 15-17 at UC San Diego and ending on The Rock at Hawai’i Memorial Day weekend, May 23-25. Sandwiched in the middle of Big West Conference action, the Titans have a bye week, which they most assuredly will fill with a non-conference opponent.
(Photo courtesy of John Lozano / Titans Athletics)
The 2024 season for all Division 1 programs opens on February 16-18. The Stanford/Fullerton series to open the season appears to have found new life after taking a hiatus and Jason Dietrich has shown an interest in keeping it going into the foreseeable future. With that assumption, you can almost guarantee the Titans will open the season February 16-18 back on The Farm in Palo Alto. (The Titans hosted Stanford at Goodwin Field in 2023 so it stands to reason the Titans would travel up north in 2024.)
Just saw this. Makes sense seeing how Jason Dietrich was the pitching coach there most recently before taking the helm at Fullerton.
Last year’s Keith Leclair Classic was in early March. Assuming the weekend of March 1-3 would be the 2024 version. #TusksUp #CalStateOmaha https://t.co/mDOsXKtlyh pic.twitter.com/49AIUcR4Yh
— Cal State Omaha (@CalStateOmaha) June 15, 2023
We all know the March 1-3 weekend will have the Titans heading east to participate in the Keith LeClair Classic in Greenville, NC. We know East Carolina will be one of the teams in the tourney but the other two have yet to be announced.
(Photo courtesy of ECU Athletics)
That means, the weekend prior (February 23-25) and the weekend after (March 8-10) remain “To Be Announced”. Since both Stanford and The Keith LeClair Classic will be away from Goodwin Field, it’s safe to predict that those weekends will be home, non-conference series.
In Episode 83 of the 1544 Miles to Omaha Podcast, Jason Dietrich did say he knows the tentative 2024 schedule as of a few weeks ago but was unwilling to reveal it due to not all the official confirmations from the opponents had been submitted just yet. That’s where we come in and will try to predict those three open weekend series along with some mid-week / non-conference games.
Cal State Omaha Projected 2024 Schedule
February 16 – 18: at Stanford
February 19: TBA (Cal State Omaha prediction – Bay Area opponent Saint Mary’s, Santa Clara, San Jose State, San Francisco, Cal, etc.)
February 23 – 25: TBA (Cal State Omaha prediction – Mountain West or West Coast Conference opponent: San Diego State, Fresno State or Portland, Gonzaga, etc.)
February 27: TBA (Cal State Omaha prediction – Local D1 program, i.e. Pepperdine, LMU, USD, etc.)
March 1 – 3: Keith LeClair Classic, Greenville, SC
March 5: TBA (Cal State Omaha prediction – Cold Weather Power 5 program who played the previous weekend locally and stayed an extra day)
March 8 – 10: TBA (Cal State Omaha prediction – Mountain West or West Coast Conference opponent: Nevada, UNLV or Saint Mary’s, Santa Clara, etc.)
March 12: TBA (Local D1 programs located within bussing distance, i.e. USC, UCLA, USD, LMU, SDSU, etc.)
March 15 – 17: at UC San Diego (Big West Conference)
March 19: TBA (Local D1 programs located within bussing distance, i.e. USC, UCLA, USD, LMU, SDSU, etc.)
March 22 – 24: at Long Beach State (Big West Conference)
March 26: TBA (Local D1 programs located within bussing distance, i.e. USC, UCLA, USD, LMU, SDSU, etc.)
March 28 – 30: Cal Poly (Big West Conference)
April 2: TBA (Local D1 programs located within bussing distance, i.e. USC, UCLA, USD, LMU, SDSU, etc.)
April 5 – 7: at Cal State Bakersfield (Big West Conference)
April 12 – 14: UC Riverside (Big West Conference)
April 19 – 21: Cal State Northridge (Big West Conference)
April 23 – 24: Non-Conference mid-week mini-series (Cal State Omaha prediction – Arizona State)
April 26 – 28: at UC Santa Barbara (Big West Conference)
May 3 – 5: Big West Bye Weekend (Home or away Power 5 Conference opponent whose bye weekend aligns with Fullerton’s.)
May 7: TBA (Local D1 programs located within bussing distance, i.e. USC, UCLA, USD, LMU, SDSU, etc.)
May 10 – 12: UC Davis (Big West Conference)
May 17 – 19: UC Irvine (Big West Conference)
May 23 – 25: at Hawai’i (Big West Conference)
How did we arrive at these predictions?
In taking a look at previous schedules and understanding D1 baseball scheduling patterns, this is what we came up with. Here’s the logic behind the predictions:
February 19: at TBA (Cal State Omaha prediction – Bay Area opponent Saint Mary’s, Santa Clara, San Jose State, San Francisco, Cal, etc.)
– Staying over an extra day and delaying returning home after a road weekend series to play another D1 opponent relatively close has become more common lately. We saw it with Tulane last year. The Green Wave stayed an extra day in Orange County after playing UC Irvine the opening weekend in order to play the Titans the following Tuesday. In 2022, the Titans hosted Kansas State the Tuesday following their weekend series at Cal State Bakersfield. It stands to reason that the Titans would stay in the Bay Area an extra day to play one of those schools. San Jose State would be the most appealing due to the fact the Titans faced the Spartans and eliminated them from the post-season last June.
February 23 – 25 & March 8 – 10: TBA (Cal State Omaha prediction – Mountain West or West Coast Conference opponents)
– Not much science and research put into these predictions. Merely a gut feeling that we may not see Power 5 teams coming to Fullerton like we did with Texas and Michigan in 2023. Mountain West and WCC schools could come into Goodwin because the proximity of those schools could reduce travel costs.
March 5: (Cold Weather Power 5 program who played the previous weekend locally and stayed an extra day)
– Much like the Titans staying an extra day in Northern California, we predict a cold weather team may extend their stay in Southern California and play the Titans. We’ll be so bold as to predict it will be a Big 10 program like Indiana, Maryland, Rutgers, Ohio State, Penn State, etc. that travels west to escape the cold conditions before starting conference play. Maybe a Big 10 school coming to play USC or UCLA before those two schools jump to their new conference?
April 23 – 24: Non-Conference mid-week mini-series (Cal State Omaha prediction – Arizona State)
– Much like the return of the Stanford home and away series opens the season, we’re happy to see the Tuesday-Wednesday mini-series with college baseball Blue Blood Arizona State return. Last season the Titans traveled to Arizona prior to the final weekend in April. It stands to reason the Sun Devils will return the favor although it could happen during a previous mid-week in April.
May 3 – 5: Big West Bye Weekend (Home or away Power 5 Conference opponent whose bye weekend aligns with Fullerton’s.)
– This one may be the hardest to predict because a lot of stars need to align for two teams to have a conference bye week coincide. It just so happened to align perfectly that Cal State Fullerton’s 2023 Big West bye week aligned with TCU‘s Big 12 bye week. With it being so early and without seeing schedules released yet, this one may be the hardest to predict. With that said, knowing how Jason Dietrich likes to schedule challenging opponents, we’re confident the Titans have found a suitable brand name opponent to help fill this date. In the podcast, Deetz alluded that this weekend will likely be on the road.
Mid-Week Tuesday or Wednesday games
– Sticking with tradition and logistics, with so many high quality D1 programs located within a short bus ride of Goodwin Field, it stands to reason the Titans would either host or travel to the likes of San Diego State or University of San Diego and of course continue the tradition of playing home and away mid-week games with USC and UCLA.
What are your bold predictions for the 2024 Titan Baseball schedule?