August 6: Remember the Titans?

By winning nine of its last 10, the Texas A&M Aggies have only managed to trim Wichita State's lead to 18 games, as the Shockers won eight during the same stretch.  During the past week, red-hot Aggies 3B John Byington managed to take the league lead in batting average at .329, but his 102 RBIs is currently only good for 3rd place behind Pete Incaviglia's 112.  Incaviglia has a 10-game hitting streak going, the longest in the league at present, and has raised his average to .275, although his Cowboys remain mired only a game out of the cellar.  But let's turn our attention to a highly-regarded squad that hasn't made much noise during the season, the 1995 Cal State-Fullerton Titans.

Who's Getting It Done:  1995 Player of the Year Mark Kotsay leads the team in many categories, including batting average (.293) and homers (10), although neither total places him among the best in the league.  Staff ace Ted Silva (12-9, 2.74) has been reliable, displaying excellent control and ranking second only to Roger Clemens in SO/BB ratio.  Mark Chavez has been an effective workhorse (6-9, 2.86, 86G) coming out of the bullpen.  Defensively, the team has been outstanding, currently leading the league with the fewest errors allowed.

.123:  Silence of the Lamb

Who's Not:  The Titans were hoping for more from 1B D.C. Olsen (.196 vs. his actual .307).   And, his .123 batting average would never lead one to suspect that C/3B Mike Lamb would have a 10-year MLB career in front of him.  But the real downfall for the Titans has involved the pitching staff.  Only Oklahoma State has a worse team ERA than Fullerton, and #4 starter John Mitchell (10-11, 6.08) has been fortunate to win 10 games with his 1.74 WHIP in a pitching-dominant league.  Closer Tom Dillon (1-6, 6.56) makes any late-game lead an adventure.  If '95 Fullerton wishes to stake a claim to be the greatest college team ever, it would need better performance out of rotation beyond Ted Silva, or more offensive firepower that would enable it to win high-scoring games.


Cal State Fullerton Titans  **Team Batting Stats**
Last        First   AVE   G    AB   SO   BB  H    2B   3B   HR  R    RBI  SB   E
Miranda     Tony    .276  118  526  91   25  145  36   8    8   83   36   37   7
Kotsay      Mark    .293  118  471  52   46  138  31   4    10  63   60   16   4
Fraser      Joe     .268  118  467  71   24  125  35   1    9   42   71   16   13
Loyd        Brian   .285  118  466  62   39  133  22   5    6   57   58   39   6
Olsen       DC      .196  118  454  114  30  89   25   0    7   31   49   0    4
Giambi      Jeremy  .276  118  445  65   67  123  18   6    0   53   55   10   1
Ankrum      CJ      .253  108  411  91   55  104  12   9    1   49   38   9    0
Jones       Jack    .208  118  400  130  23  83   6    1    1   26   20   9    28
Martinez    Tony    .210  104  362  88   12  76   6    1    5   26   25   0    4
Matos       Robert  .262  46   80   15   3   21   0    0    2   13   6    11   0
Lamb        Mike    .123  22   57   13   1   7    1    0    0   5    1    0    4
Hernandez   Ruben   .238  22   21   5    1   5    2    0    0   2    2    0    0
Wright      Mike    .100  18   10   2    1   1    0    0    0   1    0    0    0
Chatham     Steve   .000  3    2    1    0   0    0    0    0   0    0    0    0
-           -       .252  1460 4172 800  327 1050 194  35   49  451  421  147  73

Cal State Fullerton Titans **Team Pitching Stats**
Last         First    ERA   G    GS   CG  W    L    SV  IP    SO   BB   H   R    ER   
Silva        Ted      2.74  30   30   0   12   9    0   220.0 192  30   198 78   67    
Dixon        Tim      3.58  30   30   0   9    12   0   206.1 149  131  175 90   82    
Ward         Jon      3.67  27   27   0   7    12   0   186.1 158  83   178 84   76    
Mitchell     John     6.08  26   26   0   10   11   0   170.1 155  118  182 118  115   
Chavez       Mark     2.86  86   0    0   6    9    3   132.0 100  54   116 50   42    
Hild         Scott    3.35  41   5    0   5    6    8   88.2  62   15   98  33   33    
Dillon       Tom      6.56  63   0    0   1    6    19  60.1  57   96   37  45   44    
Hollibaugh   Kimson   11.57 8    0    0   2    1    1   7.0   6    5    14  9    9     
-            -        3.93  311  118  0   52   66   31  1071.0879  532  998 507  468   

College Greats League Standings

Year      Team                     W    L    PCT   GB   L10  STRK 
1982      Wichita State Shockers   91   27   .771  -    8-2  L1   
1989      Texas A&M Aggies         73   45   .619  18.0 9-1  W4   
2001      Miami Hurricanes         59   59   .500  32.0 3-7  W1   
1983      Texas Longhorns          59   59   .500  32.0 6-4  W1   
1967      Arizona State Sun Devils 58   60   .492  33.0 6-4  L1   
1997      LSU Tigers               55   63   .466  36.0 2-8  L1   
1995      Cal State Fullerton      52   66   .441  39.0 2-8  W1   
1971      USC Trojans              48   70   .407  43.0 4-6  L2   
1985      Oklahoma State Cowboys   48   70   .407  43.0 5-5  L4   
1985      Miss State Bulldogs      47   71   .398  44.0 5-5  W2