1544 Miles to Omaha

We tracked down Cal State Fullerton Head Baseball Coach Rick Vanderhook to get his thoughts on how the position players and hitters are shaping up coming out of fall practice. In Episode 35, we spoke to Pitching Coach Dan Ricabal about the arms and in this episode, Hook reveals who Titan Baseball fans can expect to see out in the field and at the plate. Vanderhook had high praise for outfielders J...

Fall practices have come to a close and although this year's fall ball was quite different due to COVID-19 protocols, Cal State Fullerton pitching coach believes it was more beneficial for the development of the 2021 pitching staff. We caught up with Cal State Fullerton Titan Baseball Pitching Coach Dan Ricabal to discuss the prospects of Tanner Bibee returning to his normal Friday night role, whi...

We caught up with Cal State Fullerton Titan Baseball Associate Head Coach and Recruiting Coordinator Sergio Brown to discuss a number of topics. The two main topics included Titan Baseball getting back on the field and practicing in a limited capacity to stay within COVID-19 safety protocols and National Signing Day. Coach Brown was able to reveal that all 11 high school players that had verbally...

Earlier this month, Easton Diamond Sports released a video featuring the return of the "Green Easton", one of the most iconic aluminum bats in college baseball, and used Cal State Fullerton's Titan Baseball program amid the backdrop of the iconic Rosenblatt Stadium. We talk with Austin Hurwitz, Vice President of Marketing and Ecommerce with Easton Diamond Sports about the return of the Green Easto...

Matt Brown has been the Cal State Fullerton Athletics photographer for over 20 years and has captured some of the biggest moments in Titan Baseball history. A photographer from a very early age, Brown has shot for some of the biggest publications including Sports Illustrated and ESPN the Magazine and has captured some of the biggest sports moments including Super Bowls, The World Series, The NBA F...

Nate Nankil is the next guest in our series of podcast episodes featuring incoming players to join Titan Baseball for the 2021 season. Nankil will arrive on campus by way of San Diego playing at Bonita Vista High School in Chula Vista. An outfielder by trade, Nate is a 6'3" and around 200 pounds and is projected to compete for an outfield position in the lineup for the upcoming 2021 season. Perfec...

Deylan Pigford is the next guest in our series of podcast episodes featuring incoming players to join Titan Baseball for the 2021 season. Pigford is an incoming transfer by way of Midland College in Texas. Originally from a small town of Farmington in the four corners area of New Mexico, Pigford is a speedy, switch hitting outfielder expected to compete for a major role in the 2021 season. In this...

Tristan Gomes is the next guest in our series of podcast episodes featuring incoming players to join Titan Baseball for the 2021 season. Gomes, a three sport athlete from Millard West High School in Omaha, Nebraska, chose to attend Cal State Fullerton despite his mom and dad being alumni and his older brother currently playing for the Cornhuskers. A middle infielder in high school, due to his heig...

Christian Rodriquez is the next guest in our series of podcast episodes featuring incoming players to join Titan Baseball for the 2021 season. A tall, right handed pitcher from Orange Lutheran High School, Rodriguez is another Titan legacy to follow his father to the Cal State Fullerton campus. Rodriguez's dad, Josh Weller, played for the Titans in the early 2000's. Rodriguez will arrive on campus...

Brendan Bobo is an incoming freshman into the Titan Baseball program by way of Harbor High School in Santa Cruz, California. Bobo committed to Cal State Fullerton last summer and made it official by signing a national letter of intent in the fall. A three sport athlete at Harbor High in football, basketball and of course baseball, Bobo played middle infield spot in high school and expects to stay...

Josh Fellhauer played for the Titans during the 2007 through the 2009 seasons. Fellhauer was drafted in the seventh round in 2009 after completing his junior season with the Titans. He headlined the 2009 MLB draft for Fullerton and was drafted ahead of future big leaguers Khris Davis and Dustin Garneau. A member of the 2008 Collegiate National Team and playing for Team USA, Fellhauer was a Nationa...

Paul Fiarkoski is the author of the book "Romancing the Blatt: Memoir of a Love Affair with Omaha’s Field of Dreams. Paul joins Dave for a conversation remembering the iconic stadium where Cal State Fullerton played 16 of its 18 College World Series in and the site where all four national championships were won. Listeners will learn of the history of the College World Series, Rosenblatt Stadium an...

Today's guest is Sahid Valenzuela who most recently played for the Titans from 2017 through 2019 and was drafted by the Oakland A's in the 13th round of the 2019 MLB draft. In his freshman season in 2017, Sahid played in 57 games, 55 as a starter, including both games in the College World Series primarily playing second base. He finished his freshman campaign batting .314 and received numerous awa...

Ricky Romero played for the Titans from 2003 to 2005 and was selected 6th overall in the 2005 MLB draft. Romero would make his Major League debut with the team that drafted him, the Toronto Blue Jays on April 9th, 2009, becoming the 46th Titan to play in the Major Leagues. During his professional baseball career, Romero would pitch two opening days and was selected to the 2011 MLB All-Star game. I...

Guest: Associate Head Coach and recruiting coordinator, Sergio Brown. Sergio joined the Titans in July 2019 after coaching at the University of Arizona for four years. Coach Brown is currently in his third go around with Titan Baseball having served on the staff in 2001-03 and 2007-10. He also was a member of the 1995 Titan Baseball team that won the National Championship, the third of the four na...

Conversation with Cal State Fullerton Titan Baseball Head Coach Rick Vanderhook. Currently in his ninth year at helm of the baseball program he played for and was an assistant coach for years, Hook recently surpassed 300 wins as a head coach with a 6-1 victory over Stanford on February 15th. His win total ranks third all-time in Titan Baseball history behind George Horton at 490 and the legendary...

Conversation with Titan Alumnus and Major Leaguer Dustin Garneau. Garneau played at Cal State Fullerton for four years, from 2006 to 2009. Nicknamed Drago for his uncanny likeness to actor Dolph Lundgren who played Ivan Drago, the imposing Soviet Union boxer in the film Rocky 4, Garneau is currently with his fifth Major League Baseball club, the Houston Astros. A 19th round draft pick of the Color...

The 2020 Titan Baseball season is right around the corner, opening up February 14, 2020 at Stanford. We preview how the team is shaping up and make our predictions as to who will be starting on the mound on the weekends and the closer role. We'll also preview the bullpen contributors. The second half of the episode, we preview the positions players including what looks to be the designated hitter...

Special guest: Eric Sorenson, staff writer for D1Baseball.com Known as Stitch Head, Eric Sorenson grew up in Omaha, Nebraska but has since moved to Southern California. He covers college baseball for D1Baseball and frequently covers Southern California college baseball teams due to his close proximity. He also covers other college baseball teams and wrote the fall preview on the 2020 Cal State Ful...

Connor Seabold played in the 2015 - 2017 Titan Baseball seasons going to Omaha twice, the first in 2015 as a freshman and 2017 as a junior. Seabold from Newport Harbor High was selected by the Baltimore Orioles in the 2014 MLB draft in the 19th round but elected to attend Cal State Fullerton. In just three years he would improve upon that draft position and was selected in the third round (83rd ov...

Cal State Fullerton President Fram Virjee has been on the job two years and has the tall task of balancing athletics expectations along with academic excellence. We visited with President Virjee at his office that overlooks the Cal State Fullerton campus to discuss his background, his ascent to being named interim President and falling in love with the job to eventually becoming the 6th President...

Our conversation with former Cal State Fullerton and University of Oregon head baseball coach, George Horton. Call him King George or Saint George, we're calling this episode "Breakfast with the King" Because we met coach and shared breakfast at a local establishment. We met to discuss the influence Cerritos College has had on the Cal State Fullerton baseball program, the incredible run to the nat...

Cal State Fullerton Pitching Coach Dan Ricabal took time out of his schedule to discuss his role with the Titan baseball program. Ricabal was a right handed pitcher transfer from Cerritos College and earned All-American honors at Cal State Fullerton in 1993 and was an integral part of the Titans' 1994 College World Series team. He played professionally for the Dodgers and Giants organizations befo...

Cal State Fullerton Titan Baseball Assistant Coach Andy Jenkins joins the podcast. Jenkins breaks down what he has seen and experiencing since joining the Titan baseball staff, reflects on his time as a player and coach at Oregon State along with the rigors of recruiting the right athlete to fit into a college baseball program. Coach Jenkins also discusses current players on the roster Kameron Gua...

Our conversation with Darric Merrell, right handed pitcher for the Cal State Fullerton Baseball team from the 2001 - 2003 season. Merrell played in Omaha twice in 2001 and 2003 and was drafted by the Colorado Rockies following the 2003 season. He currently is the head coach for Temecula Valley High School. Darric discusses his career at Cal State Fullerton, minor league baseball and eventually tak...