OMAHA, Neb.—Moments after his team was eliminated from the College World Series, Cal State Fullerton coach Dave Serrano was making plans for next year.
“With the pitching we have coming back, and as many guys as we have, we expect to be back,” Serrano said.
The No. 2-seeded Titans became the first team eliminated from the CWS, losing 7-5 to Virginia in a Bracket 1 elimination game Monday.
Fullerton, which finished 47-16, will return three pitchers who earned freshman All-America honors and award candidates in shortstop Christian Colon and right fielder Gary Brown.
Serrano was at a loss to explain how the Titans went two-and-out in their 16th trip to Omaha. Fullerton lost 10-6 to Arkansas on Saturday.
“I’m not taking anything away from Virginia or Arkansas, but we didn’t play very well,” the second-year coach said. “We didn’t stay very true to ourselves and got out of character. We’ll have to go back to the drawing board and see what happened.”
Titan starting pitcher Daniel Renken, who lost for just the third time in 14 decisions, offered his theory about the dismal showing.
“I think we pressed ourselves a little too hard during both games,” the sophomore right-hander said. “I can’t speak for the offense, but it looks like they were pressing themselves as well.”
Renken lasted 5 2-3 innings in his 33rd career outing before yielding to Nick Ramirez. Renken’s six earned runs were the most of his career.
“Today I was falling behind in the count and letting the hitters get comfortable in the box,” Renken said. “I didn’t execute my game plan.”
Fullerton came into the CWS on a nine-game win streak. Before Saturday, the Titans hadn’t allowed 10 or more runs by a CWS opponent since a 14-4 loss to Oklahoma State in 1990.
The Titans had six players who were on the roster of the 2007 CWS team, and their offense was prolific. They had three players with 10 or more home runs for the first time in a decade, they stole 121 bases, led the nation with 124 hit batters and had a .416 on-base percentage.
They were coming off their most offensive regionals and super regionals ever, averaging more than 12 runs a game while batting .447 as a team in five games.
Fullerton batted .318 at the CWS but never found an offensive rhythm.
“We had good at-bats when it didn’t matter,” Serrano said, “and bad at-bats when it did.”
