Baseball To Battle Cal State Fullerton In Super Regional
Jun 11, 2004 | Baseball
June 11, 2004
FULLERTON, Calif. - The Tulane University baseball team will have an opportunity to take on step closer to its preseason goal of making it to Omaha beginning on Saturday, June 12 when the Green Wave take on Cal State Fullerton in game one of the 2004 NCAA Fullerton Regional at 9 p.m. at Goodwin Field.
The Green Wave and the Titans will play a best-of-three-game series, and the winner of the Super Regional matchup punches its ticket to the College World Series. Following Saturday's game, the two teams will battle again on Sunday at 8 p.m. Game three is slated for Monday, if needed, and all three games will be televised live in the New Orleans are on ESPN2.
Tulane comes into the Super Regional 41-19 on the season, including a second-place finish in the Conference USA standings with a 21-0 mark. After coming up short in the C-USA Tournament, the Green Wave came back to win three straight in the NCAA Oxford Regional to advance to the Supers for the second time in school history.
For the season, the Green Wave are hitting .316 with a .483 slugging percentage courtesy of 126 doubles, six triples and 70 home runs. Junior outfielder Matt Barket leads the way with a .378 batting average, followed by fellow juniors Greg Dini and Wes Swackhamer with marks of .356 and .353, respectively. Dini paces the squad in home runs with 11, and sophomore right fielder/left-handed pitcher Brian Bogusevic leads the team in RBI with 68.
As a team, the Tulane pitching staff has tallied a 4.12 ERA in 530.1 innings in 2004. Opponents are hitting .282 off the Green Wave hurlers with 584 hits in 2,074 at-bats. Tulane has also done a good job of keeping the ball over the plate with 408 strikeouts and just 155 walks.
Cory Hahn and Brian Bogusevic pace the team with nine wins each, Bogusevic leads the club with 82 strikeouts and 107.0 innings pitched, and J.R. Crowel heads the squad with a 3.33 ERA. The Green Wave bullpen has 12 saves to its credit, including six by Daniel Latham.
Cal State Fullerton, meanwhile, comes into the weekend 40-21 overall and fresh off a pair of lopsided wins over Pepperdine in the NCAA Fullerton Regional last Sunday. The Titans are hitting .330 as a team with a .469 slugging percentage on the strength of 134 doubles, 17 triples and 45 home runs.
Catcher Kurt Suzuki leads Cal State Fullerton with a .435 batting average, while outfielder Clark Hardman and utility player P.J. Pelittere follow with averages of .356 and .347, respectively. Suzuki paces the Titans with 15 home runs and 83 RBI, while infielder Ronnie Prettyman leads the squad with 11 stolen bases.
As a staff, Cal State Fullerton hurlers have a 3.89 ERA, and like Tulane, have done a tremendous job of keeping the ball over the plate with 407 strikeouts and just 149 walks in 545.2 innings of work. Opponents are hitting just .254 off Titan pitching, and the bullpen has three saves to its credit, including a pair by Ryan Schreppel.
This weekend's games will mark the seventh, eighth, and possibly ninth times the two teams will meet on the diamond, and the Green Wave enter the 2004 NCAA Fullerton Super Regional looking for their first-ever win over the Titans as Cal State Fullerton owns an impressive 6-0 lifetime mark vs. Tulane. Under head coach Rick Jones, Tulane is 0-4 vs. the Titans. In their last meeting, the Green Wave held a 1-0 lead going into the ninth, but pinch hitter Suzuki hit a two-out, two run double down the left field line to lift the Titans to a 2-1 win on Feb. 28 in game one of the 2004 KIA Baseball Bash at Goodwin Field.
