Gophers - Fullerton preview

Game time for the Gophers is 6pm Friday or 50 minutes after the Stanford/New Mexico game.

*All games from Fullerton Regional will be shown on ESPN U

Cal St. Fullerton 41-15, Big West Champions, finished season #7 in Baseball America poll.

They are making there 32nd NCAA Appearance(19th straight) with 4 National Championships, the last in 2004 when they beat Glen Perkins and the Gophers in the opening game of the regional.

Notable alum-Tim Wallach, Jeremy Giambi, Mark Kotsay, Chad Cordero, Aaron Rowland, Kurt Suziki, Ricky Romero and former Twins Dan Naulty, Mike Lamb, Phil Nevin, and Adam Johnson.

*Fullerton has announced they will start there #3 against Minnesota on Friday. True Freshman Dylan Floro, who is 7-0 on the season, will be making his 6th start. He was a high school All-American.

*While they don't have a dominating ace, they have two other pitchers who had great numbers this year, Noe Ramirez, who was 10-1 with a 2.50 E.R.A. He struck out 95 with 16 walks in 90 innings. The other is Dan Renken who was 11-2 witha 3.95 E.R.A. Nick Ramirez(Noe's brother) was the closer with 9 saves on the year but he also is an All-Conference First Baseman who has hit home runs in four consectutive games.

*The biggest news of the regional is the loss of Fullerton's Best Player, CF Gary Brown, who fractured his middle finger while sliding into second base. Brown was recently named the Big West Player of the Year, hit .438 , 6 HR , 41 RBI , 31 SB , .485 OBP

Projected starting lineup

Catcher - Billy Marcoe
First Base - Nick Ramirez
Second Base - Corey Jones
Third Base - Richie Peroza
Short Stop - Christian colon
Outfield - Carlos Lopez
Outfield - Joey Siddons
Outfield - ?? three guys fighting for spot
DH - Tyler Pill

The lowest average of ther estarters is .320. Brown is certianly a huge loss with his bat and speed at the top of the lineup and in centerfield. The big, middle of the lineup bats are Ramirez and Colon. Ramirez has 13 HR, 68 RBI, .367 avg., 27 doubles, but does strike out alot. Colon has 14 HR, 58 RBI, and is fast and walks alot.

They have hit 56 Home runs ont he year and have 103 stolen bases, so Knudson will have to be on his game.

Fullerton is always a tough team. Well coached and those guys just know how to play ball. When I played at the U, we went there to play some spring break games, they came to the dome and we went there for a regionals, so I have become very familiar with their style of play. As an offense they use the whole field, they hit behind runners and will sacrifce. They will also put pressure on the defense with their aggressive base running. They hit for some power, but not a ton, not like the SEC schools.

On defense they make EVERY play. The just never beat themselves with errors and they always have good athletes all over the field. It seems like every guy on that team could play every position.

On the mound they have guys that throw strikes and compete. I was always surprised when we would go out there because you expect all these guys, at least the bullpen, to come out throwing very hard, but they never do. They just have guys that know how to pitch, pitch to contact and have good, but not great stuff. And they do not use a lot of guys out of the bullpen, but they will trot a guy out there who has made 5 apperances all year and he will be just as good as their closer who has thrown 35 times.

Coaching staff is very similar to the Gophers staff. They prepare their guys well for each situation, stress the fundamentals and they are very big on focusing alot of time, energy and money into the mental side of the game. Those guys are tough and they take each game, pitch by pitch, inning by inning, game by game. They work closely with a well respected team psychologist, just like the Gophers.

The Gopher Team, coaches and everyone involved with the program have a huge amount of respect for the Titans and I believe the Titans have a good deal of respect for the Gophs. There are many times that we would face teams from around the county and you knew they thought they would walk all over us because we were from the North. The coaches at Fullerton know better. They know how well prepared we are and every game will be a fight. The Titans actually remind me a lot of the Twins. They play the game the right way and play the game in a manner that will allow them to be in every game. They don;t beat themselves often and always have some power, but not enough so that they rely on it. The teams from the SEC will rely on power for the most part, the west coast style of ball and particulary the Titans play a smart style of ball, in my opinion at least.

Should be a good regional. I know I am a Gopher rube, so I have a bias, but I honestly feel that if they Gophers play like they have been, they have a shot at this regional. Problem is, they still have a young team and going to play against the mighty Titans could have them nervous for a while, but I hope not. If they can get past the Titans, Seth must have a huge game. Like I mentioned none of their guys are overpowering or domiant guys like your Strasburg, so they have a shot. After that I like the Gophs starting rotation and bullpen depth.

Good luck boys!

The game is at 10 pm central.

Great stuff, thanks JG.

I was at the Gopher/Fullerton NCAA tourney game a few years back when Glen Perkins pitched...beautiful facility and Fullerton sure has a great fan base.

We're playing with great confidence so hopefully that will get us off to a strong start.

Go Gophers!!

Fast start

The key to winning this game is getting off to a fast start. It seems like lots of times in the opening games of NCAA tournaments we get off to slow starts. Getting the lead early in this game is a must. It would be nice in the first inning to get a couple guys on and Kvas, Knutson, or Oshea gets a hold of one. Then for Rosin to come out and retire them one, two, three. I really think that first inning might very well determine the outcome the game.

gold04 said:

The key to winning this game is getting off to a fast start. It seems like lots of times in the opening games of NCAA tournaments we get off to slow starts. Getting the lead early in this game is a must. It would be nice in the first inning to get a couple guys on and Kvas, Knutson, or Oshea gets a hold of one. Then for Rosin to come out and retire them one, two, three. I really think that first inning might very well determine the outcome the game.

Click to expand...

Wow! You sure nailed it. Gophers got 3 runs in the first inning and that was it. Good job.