Stanford to Give Titan Baseball Team Early Test

Cal State Fullerton baseball fans won’t have to wait to get a reading on the strength of this year’s team.

The Titans play a three-game series at home beginning Friday against Stanford, which might have the best pitching staff in college baseball this season.

Baseball America ranks Stanford No. 1, mainly because of its pitching.

Stanford’s top three pitchers--Kyle Peterson, Chad Hutchinson and Jeff Austin--are each regarded as potential first-round draft choices.

Hutchinson, who plays quarterback for the Cardinal football team, was drafted in the first round--the 26th pick overall--by the Atlanta Braves in his senior year at Del Mar Torrey Pines High two years ago. Hutchinson, who has a 94-mph fastball, turned down a $1.4 million offer from the Braves to play at Stanford.

Peterson, a junior, was 10-5 with a 3.71 earned-run average last season despite going 2-3 in the first month of the season. The year before as a freshman, Peterson was 14-1 with a 2.96 ERA and 10 complete games.

Hutchinson was 7-2 (3.51 ERA) and Austin 6-4 (3.81 ERA) last year as freshmen.

“I think people look at those three pitchers and rate us high, but we’ve still got the rest of the team to develop,” Stanford Coach Mark Marquess said.

While Baseball America has Stanford ranked first, Collegiate Baseball has the Cardinal 15th. “I think Baseball America goes a lot by what the pro scouts think, and there’s no question that those three pitchers are outstanding prospects,” Marquess said. “But in our own conference coaches’ poll, USC was rated ahead of us and we were tied with UCLA for second.”

Fullerton is ranked 12th by Baseball America and ninth by Collegiate Baseball.

Stanford has three starters back who batted above .320 last season. First baseman Luke Quaccia (.369, 27 runs batted in) moved into the starting lineup in late March. Joe Kilburg (.358, 45 RBIs), who will play either in right field or at second base, and center fielder Jody Gerut (.321, 46 RBIs) are the other key players for offense.

“I think we’ll be solid, especially after we get to the point in the season when we can expect to get seven or eight innings out of our starting pitchers,” Marquess said. “Our bullpen is a big question mark for us right now, especially as we look around for a short reliever.”

Fullerton’s starting pitchers this weekend probably will be Matt Wise, transfer John Alkire and Scott Hild, the only returning starter from last season.

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The Fullerton-Stanford baseball series has been particularly lively in recent years with both teams ranked high in the national polls.

In 1995, Fullerton won two of three games from the Cardinal at Titan Field, knocked Stanford out of the No. 1 ranking, and went on to win the national championship with a 57-9 record.

Last season, when the Titans were ranked No. 1 in the preseason, second-ranked Stanford won the opening game, 5-0, with Peterson and Hutchinson combining for a one-hitter. The Titans won the second game of the series, 7-0. The third game was rained out and never rescheduled.

Marquess and Titan Coach George Horton plan to continue the series, which Fullerton leads 24-23.

“I started it because of my friendship with Augie [Garrido], but we want to keep it going even though Augie has moved to Texas,” Marquess said. “George is a good coach and a good baseball man.”

In addition to the Stanford series next year, Horton said he has scheduled three-game nonconference series with California, Fresno State and Nevada Las Vegas. Horton is keeping one weekend open for a possible tournament at Fullerton involving two other Big West teams and three Southeastern Conference teams, if it can be arranged.

Titan Notes

The Titan men’s basketball team had 15 steals in Saturday’s victory over UC Irvine, including five by Ali Nayab and four by Chris Dade. That was the most steals by the Titans in a game since they had 18 against Concordia in the 1993-94 season. The Titans are shooting 55.1% over the last three games, including last Thursday’s loss to Utah State. . . . The Titan wrestling team is 0-6 in dual meets, but 118-pounder Orlando deCastroverde is 9-4, 134-pounder Joseph Coughran is 4-1, and Jason Webster, who wrestles either at 167 or 177 pounds, is 6-4. The Titans lost to Boise State and Brigham Young, both by 32-14 scores, last weekend.

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Coming Attractions

Here’s a look at key games this week for Cal State Fullerton:

* Baseball against Stanford, Friday and Saturday 7 p.m., and Sunday 1 p.m., at Titan Field.

* Men’s basketball at Idaho 7 p.m. Thursday, and at Boise State 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

* Women’s basketball against Idaho 7 p.m. Friday, and against Boise State 3 p.m. Sunday, in Titan Gym.