BIG WEST
• Cal State Fullerton claimed its 20th Big West Conference title with a 19-5 mark and was followed by UC Santa Barbara (16-8) in second place. UC Irvine finished third at 15-9 while Cal Poly secured the fourth spot with a 14-10 record. Hawai’i posted its best conference finish since joining the Big West in 2013 with a fifth-place mark of 12-12. Long Beach State ends the season sixth at 11-13 and UC Davis grabbed the seventh slot with a 9-15 mark. CSUN (8-16) finished eighth and UC Riverside rounded out the nine-team field with a 4-20 record.
• The Big West Conference owns three of the Top 10 spots in the country in earned run average with UC Santa Barbara leading the trio with a 2.45 ERA, good enough for third place. CSUN ranks sixth with a 2.61 ERA and Cal State Fullerton tied for 10th at 2.89. Individually, Titan Thomas Eshelman paces the Big West Conference with the nation’s 14th-best ERA of 1.58.
• UC Davis reached the century mark in stolen bases for the first time in DI school history with 103 which ranked 12th in the country. This is an impressive feat considering one would have to combine the Aggies’ stolen base totals from the previous three seasons just to reach 100 (105). The last time a Big West team totaled over 100 stolen bases was back in 2010 when Cal State Fullerton recorded 112.
• Twenty-seven Big West Conference athletes were selected on the final day of the 2015 Major League Baseball First-Year Draft, increasing the league’s draftee total to 36 for the ninth-highest total in conference history.
UC Santa Barbara paced the conference with a school-best 10 selections, which ties for fourth in the Big West for most draftees. Pitcher Dillon Tate highlights this year’s draft as he was taken as the fourth overall pick by the Texas Rangers to become the Gauchos’ first-ever first round draftee. Prior to this year, the highest Gaucho selected in the draft was Maury Ernest, who went to the Milwaukee Brewers in the third round as the 76th overall pick in 1980. In all, seven of the 10 gauchos drafted were pitchers with Justin Jacome going in the fifth round and a handful of hurlers selected on day three.
Cal Poly witnessed six players drafted and its infield become almost obsolete as a trio of infielders were the first Mustangs nabbed with second baseman Mark Mathias and first baseman Brian Mundell selected on day two of the draft. Mathias went to the Cleveland Indians in the third round and Mundell is headed to the Colorado Rockies as their seventh-round pick. Shortstop Peter Van Gansen was the first Cal Poly player drafted on day three, going in the 12th round to the San Diego Padres.
Defending Big West champion Cal State Fullerton also experienced six players selected, including its second round pick pitcher Thomas Eshelman, who was snatched up by the Houston Astros as the 46th overall pick. A pair of Titans followed with pitcher Justin Garza picked in the eighth round to the Cleveland Indians while closer Tyler Peitzmeier was scooped up in the ninth round by the Chicago Cubs.
UC Irvine, UC Davis and Hawai’i each had three players drafted while CSUN and Long Beach State showcased two players apiece in this year’s draft. UC Riverside earned one selection on the final day to guarantee every Big West school at least one player drafted.
• Freshmen Chris Mathewson (7.0 IP, 8K, 1BB) and Darren McCaughan (2.0 IP, 3K) made Long Beach State history as they combined for the first no-hitter in program history on March 1 with a 4-0 win over Wichita State. Mathewson was dominant on the mound, retiring the first 11 batters he faced and then his final six before handing off to McCaughan in the eighth, who retired all six Shockers in order to preserve the no-hitter. The Shockers sent just 28 batters to the plate, which is one above the minimum.
The Duos’ gem became the 17th no-hitter in Big West history and the first since May 24, 2015, when Cal State Fullerton’s Justin Garza threw a no-no against CSUN.
• In 2015 Cal Poly produced 27 wins to bump Head Coach Larry Lee’s victory total to 423 wins during his tenure in the Big West, moving him to sixth all-time in the conference annals. He surpassed UNLV’s Fred Dallimore (1985-95), who registered 402 overall wins during his time in the Big West. The top names on the elite list are as follows:
547 Bob Bennett, FS (1970-76, 85-92)
511 Dave Snow, LBSU (1989-01)
490 George Horton, CSF (1997-07)
485 Bob Brontsema, UCSB (1994-10)
464 Augie Garrido, CSF (1975-76, 85-87, 91-95)
• A total of 17 Big West regular season baseball contests aired across ESPN3 and ESPNU platforms this spring. All games originated from Southern California member institutions Cal State Fullerton, CSUN, Long Beach State, UC Irvine and UC Riverside, and every Big West school made an appearance on the schedule. In addition, ESPNU and FOX Prime Ticket also aired a select few contests throughout the year.
Every game on ESPN’s platforms was available through WatchESPN, accessible online at WatchESPN.com, on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app, on Xbox 360, Xbox One, Apple TV, Google Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV and Roku. Live streams of all the Watch ESPN Networks are available at no additional cost to fans who receive ESPN as part of their TV subscription.
• The Big West sent two teams to the 64-team NCAA Baseball Championship for the 11th time in conference history. Big West Champion and at-large selection UC Santa Barbara, both of which were selected to host an NCAA Regional.
• With Cal State Fullerton advancing to the Super Regionals this year, the Big West has now sent at least one team to the Super Regionals 12 out of the last 13 years. The 2012 season was the lone year where the Big West was not represented at the Super Regionals.
• Seven teams posted a .500-or-better overall winning percentage this year for the first time since 1990 - Cal Poly, Cal State Fullerton, CSUN, Long Beach State, UC Davis, UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara.
• The Big West posted a 151-114-2 (.569) record versus nonconference opponents during the regular season.
• Since 2000 the Big West Conference has posted a 123-89 (.580) record in the NCAA Tournament, which includes 17 Super Regional appearances, nine College World Series participants and one national champion (Cal State Fullerton, 2004).
• The Big West Conference has had two baseball National Championships, with both of them claimed by the Cal State Fullerton Titans (1995, 2004). The other two titles the Titans earned in 1979 and 1984 were when they were competing in the Southern California Baseball Association (SCBA). In all, the conference has sent four different teams to the College World Series - Cal State Fullerton, former member Fresno State (1988, 1991), Long Beach State and UC Irvine.
• Cal State Fullerton was the lone school in the 2015 College World Series from a conference that doesn’t sponsor Division I-A football. In 2004 the Big West Conference became the nation’s only Division I-AA or Division I-AAA multi-sport conference to win a national championship in baseball with Cal State Fullerton’s national title.
• This marks the second straight year the Big West Conference has had a representative in the College World Series with UC Irvine carrying the conference torch in 2014.
CAL POLY
Cal Poly Finishes Fourth: A year after capturing its first conference championship, the Mustangs finished 2015 ranked fourth with a 14-10 conference mark.
Rollercoaster Season: Cal Poly, missing the presences of 2014 Big West Player of the Year Mark Mathias at second base due to injury, opened the year dropping six of its first seven games. Once Mathias returned to the field things started to fall into place for the Mustangs as they strung together victories which included a series win over then-ranked No. 19 Oregon State. They closed the year winning 17 of its final 26 contests.
CAL STATE FULLERTON
Happy 20th: Cal State Fullerton collected its 20th Big West Conference title with a 19-5 mark. Cal State Fullerton has now produced 41 consecutive 30-win seasons.
Hot Streak: The Titans entered the CWS having won 18 of their last 21 contests with their only three losses coming against No. 6 UC Santa Barbara (3-1), No. 2 UCLA (5-4, 10 inn.) and No. 4 Louisville (9-3).
Against The Best: Cal State Fullerton produced a 16-11 mark against the Top 25 this season.
CSUN
A Look Back: The Matadors enjoyed many highlights during the 2015 season including 33 wins, their most since 2002 and a 9-1 start, their best 10-game start to a season since 1996.
O’Neil Sets CSUN Save Record: Conner O’Neil ended the year with 12 saves, setting a CSUN all-time single season save record.
Power Arms: CSUN concluded the year boasting the conference’s second-lowest ERA of 2.61, a vast improvement from last year’s seventh place finish (4.02).
LONG BEACH STATE
Friedrichs Closes Season With A Bang: Pitching his final game of the collegiate career, Kyle Friedrichs fanned 11, in just six innings of work, to up his season strikeout total to 109 and become the first LBSU pitcher to reach 100 strikeouts since 2005 when current Major Leaguer Marco Estrada struck out 104 batters.
Diaper Dandies: The future looks bright for the Dirtbags as freshmen led the way in 2015. Luke Rasmussen paced the team with a .315 batting average while Saturday starter Chris Mathewson, Big West Freshman Pitcher of the Year, sported a 1.94 ERA during his first season at LBSU.
UC DAVIS
UC Davis Returns Home In Search Of A Win: UC Davis finished the season with a 30-26-1 overall record -- joining the 2008 squad (35-24) as the only teams to record 30 wins in a season during the program’s Division I era.
Lynch Becomes Doubles Leader: Senior Nick Lynch blasted a nation-best 31 in 2015, breaking the Big West single-season record of 29, set by CSF’s John Eccles in 1986. His career total of 56 is a new school record and was just one away from cracking the league’s top 10.
UC IRVINE
Season Recap: UC Irvine ended the season 33-23 overall and 15-9 in the Big West to finish third. During the course of the season the Anteaters tallied a 15-game win streak (3/14-4/11), the longest in the program’s Division I history.
Dynamic Duo: Led by junior Mikey Duarte (.345) and 2015 Big West Freshman Player of the Year Keston Hiura (.330), UC Irvine ranked third in the conference in hitting with a .283 mark. This is an impressive feat considering just a season ago the Anteaters finished the year in the seventh spot.
UC RIVERSIDE
UCR Closes Season On A High Note: UC Riverside ended the season the same way they opened it...winning a weekend series but this time it was against a ranked opponent. The Highlanders upset No. 8 UC Santa Barbara, 2-1, to claim their only conference series of the year. The back-to-back victories snapped a 13-game skid.
Fernandez Leads The Way: Vince Fernandez ends the season ranked in the league’s top 10 in batting average (.316 - 10th), hits (65 - T9th), RBI (34 - T7th) and doubles (16 - 5th).
UC SANTA BARBARA
Making History: The Gauchos conclude the year with 40 wins, which sets a new program record for wins against Division I opponents in a single season (37, 2001).
Triple Threat: UC Santa Barbara paced the Big West Conference in hitting (.289 BA), pitching, (2.45 ERA) and fielding (.976). The Gauchos’ impressive ERA places them third in the country.
Offensive Output: The 20 runs scored against UC Riverside (5/21) was the most scored by the Gauchos in a single game since Mar. 15, 2009 (UCSB 25-11 St. Mary’s).
HAWAI'I
Fans Pack Les Murakami Stadium: Hawai’i ranked in the top 20 in attendance this year as 97,979 fans walked through the turnstiles at Les Murakami Stadium to watch the Rainbow Warriors, who placed fifth in the Big West with a 12-12 record for their first .500 finish since joining the league in 2013. UH posted the nation’s 16th-best average attendance with 3,265 fans per game.
A Look Back: Junior pitcher Tyler Brashears finished the regular season ranked second in the Big West with a 1.86 ERA and 28th in the nation.