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IRVINE, Calif. - The Big West’s automatic qualifier, Cal State Fullerton, will head north to the Stanford Regional to begin its run in the 2023 NCAA Division I Baseball Championship, as announced on Memorial Day morning Monday live on ESPN2.
Regular-season runner-up Cal State Fullerton is back in the postseason for the first time since 2018. The Titans tied for second with CSUN at 20-10 apiece in conference play, but won the head-to-head tiebreaker, rallying after dropping the April 28 series opener in Northridge to take the set, two games to one. UC San Diego is actually the first-time Big West champion, but the Tritons remain ineligible for the postseason this year and next while completing their NCAA-mandated four-year reclassification period up from Division II to Division I.
Cal State Fullerton (31-22) is the No. 3 seed at the Stanford Regional, and starts its Road to Omaha this Friday, June 2, against second-seeded at-large entrant Texas A&M (36-25) out of the Southeastern Conference in primetime at 7 p.m. PT on ESPN2 and ESPN+. The Aggies are coming off of a run to the SEC Tournament final, where they dropped a 10-4 decision to Vanderbilt on Sunday.
The regional at scenic Klein Field at Sunken Diamond also features No. 8 national seed Stanford (38-16), and No. 4 seed San José State (31-25), an automatic qualifier as the Mountain West Tournament champion and regular-season co-champion. The Spartans are in the field for the first time in over two decades, since 2002. The host Cardinal are an at-large participant, having won the Pac-12 by five games before bowing out of the conference tournament in the semifinal round last Friday.
The winner of the Stanford Regional is matched up for a Super Regional with the victor of the Coral Gables Regional in Coral Gables, Fla., which consists of No. 9 national seed Miami, Texas, Louisiana and Maine.
Fullerton won nine consecutive sets of three games or more starting with a home series with Big 12 regular-season tri-champion Texas at the start of March, and ending with a two-games-to-one loss in Forth Worth, Texas, against another Big 12 power, TCU, in early May. The Titans went 20-10 in league play, taking eight of their 10 Big West weekends, with three sweeps. Jason Dietrich led a rather remarkable turnaround for a program with tremendous NCAA postseason pedigree, going from seventh in 2022 with a sub-.500 overall and conference mark, to a share of second place and a first NCAA Championship berth since 2018.
Fullerton clinched its postseason return with 9-4 and 7-4 wins on Thursday and Friday night in San Luis Obispo against 2022 league runner-up Cal Poly.
The Titans began their 2023 campaign with an 8-1 triumph at Goodwin Field over then-third-ranked 2022 College World Series participant and eventual Pac-12 regular-season champion Stanford, before dropping that set. They won each of their first seven Big West weekends before the setback to the Tritons. Fullerton’s non-conference ledger also included home-and-home splits with local Pac-12 foes UCLA and USC, with the Bruins ranked No. 12 at the time of the Titans’ 15-5 romp on March 28, ahead of a 4-2 victory over USC, also at home, on May 3. Fullerton split a two-gamer at No. 17 Arizona State in late April, grabbing an 11-8 decision in 11 innings to even that mini-set.
Fullerton has been led on the mound all year by its senior starter tandem of Fynn Chester and southpaw Tyler Stultz. Chester (7-3, 4.21 ERA), who ranks fifth nationally in walks allowed per nine innings (0.94) with just six bases on balls issued over 57.2 innings, left a May 20 start in the second frame due to injury and missed the entire Cal Poly series. Stultz turned in another strong effort against the Mustangs in last Thursday’s series opener, fanning nine over 7.2 innings, and is 7-4 on the year with a 4.53 ERA and team highs of 15 starts, 89.1 frames and 90 strikeouts. At the plate, Caden Connor is ninth in the conference with a .333 batting average to go with a team-best 19 doubles, 36 runs, four home runs and 40 RBI. Fifth-year senior leader Zach Lew (.279) has added 13 doubles, seven long balls, and team highs of 43 runs, 43 RBI and 43 walks. Nate Nankil (.307) has 37 runs, 18 doubles, five homers and 38 RBI.
Fullerton is set for its 41st tournament all-time with an overall record of 127-57 (.690), 18 College World Series trips and four national titles in 1979, 1984, 1995 and 2004. The final two of those crowns, 15 CWS advancements and 33 NCAA berths have come as a member of The Big West. The Titans are record 22-time Big West champions.