This won’t be one of those notorious “no-life” entries of incredible length. See, I spent all day down in San Diego for the USD-Fullerton game this afternoon, then spent a few innings at the UAB-San Francisco game over at Tony Gwynn Stadium. Then, as if that wasn’t jam-packed enough, I went to the House of Blues in downtown San Diego for the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club concert.

(pause to exhale)

Fullerton coach Dave Serrano is counting on All American shortstop Christian Colon to help what has been a very sluggish offense so far.

Then of course, add the two hour drive back to Smogtown.

So I think – emphasis on “think” – that the Fullerton boys are starting to figure things out. Sure, a 4-2 win at USD isn’t Earth-tilting. But they sure looked a lot more self-assured AND the dugout had a lot more energy and looseness to it, compared to the stiff, uber-serious dugout I saw at the TCU series at the beginning of the season.

Noe Ramirez got dirty for his cause today.

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WHAT I SAW AT CUNNINGHAM STADIUM TODAY.

Fullerton – 021 010 000 – 4 9 1
San Diego- 000 000 200 – 2 4 1

WP: Noe Ramirez (2-1)
LP: Kyle Blair (1-1)
Save: Nick Ramirez (2)

Well now THIS is the Noe Ramirez we’re used to seeing. If THIS Noe Ramirez had shown up for that game one start in Omaha last June, we coulda seen a whole different Titan result in Rosenblatt, don’tcha think? Well, with the way Texas and LSU played, it IS just a thought.

But the lanky soph righty was tack-like sharp, going 8.0 innings, striking out seven, walking just one and giving up a miserly three hits. Damn, that’s stout.

On the offensive side of things, the Titans were potent once again, getting hits when they needed them in a timely manner and all. Christian Colon was the catalyst, setting the table from his leadoff spot by reaching base four times in his five plate appearances.

Tyler Pill pumped a right field fence-scraper in the 2nd inning to open up the scoring and Billy Marcoe – also known as the human bruise – earned three plunkings and also was battered behind the dish by digging out cutters in the dirt all game long. In fact, it was Marcoe’s bases-loaded beaning that gave Fullerton the winning run in the end.

Billy Marcoe, in pain again.

Incredibly, it was also Fullerton’s first back-to-back wins on the season as the Titans improved to 6-7. USD is now 8-8.

The Toreros would get off the goose egg by getting a no-doubter dinger in the 7th inning from the formerly dormant but potentially dangerous Victor Sanchez. But the proverbial too-little, too-late as Fullerton was able to close things out soon after.

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ONE OF THE GREATEST POST-GAME INTERVIEWS EVER.
I gotta say, Titan headmaster Dave Serrano isn’t usually the most verbose guy in the room. Sure he’ll give a couple lines on any one subject, but today, he was almost Dick Vitale-like going on an unexpected blue streak when talking about his team after today’s win.

Here’s the deal. Instead of being coy with some phony story on what coach said and then cleverly tying it back to the game story, I’m just going to give it to you verbatim.

After meeting with his team following the game, I approached him and quipped, “So Coach, is your team starting to look more like you were hoping?”

Then, he went on this spree:
“Yeah, we’ve taken a little bit of time to get the ball rolling. I’ve described it as we’re a team that is a seed that is planted in the ground, and with a little more water, a.k.a. games we play, then the more the plant is going to grow out of the ground. We’ve still a long ways away from where I think we can be, but just like I’ve been telling people… we’re going to end up being pretty good in the end. And that’s what you have to keep in mind.

You know, I thought up a scenario yesterday to the team: Okay, if we were No. 2 in the country and everyone was talking about us and if Christian Colon was the leader of the Golden Spikes Award and Daniel Renken was the leader for the Roger Clemens Award, and all that, it’s still about today. It’s still about the Big West. It’s still about everything that is out there in front of us.

I just ran into this analogy recently. I pulled up the internet the other day before I got on the bus to come down here and I looked at the Yankees last year – you know, the World Champions – and I looked at what their record was a fifth of a way through the season. And they were 14-16 in their first 30 games. Hardly anybody even remembers that because they ended up being the world champions.

We’ve played a fifth of our season too and everybody knows that we’re shitty right now. But in the end, they’re not going to remember that. I mean, the scenario I was thinking about last night and painting for them was, ‘How good would it feel if we were getting off that bus everyone was talking about us, saying the Titans are the team to beat this year?’ But that’s not really what it’s about. What it’s really about is confidence. And I saw a little bit of it yesterday. I saw a little bit more of it today.

Honestly, we made this game today a little bit tougher than it actually should’ve been. We should’ve won this game more handily. We had the right guys up at the right situations, and I said that to the team. I told them we have to stop putting so much pressure on ourselves, thinking we HAVE to get it done, I think things are going to start to roll.

I’m starting to see the pitching really come around now, which is huge. We’ve now had four straight solid outings. Tyler Pill was good on Thursday night (in the loss to Fresno State), Daniel Renken was okay yesterday (in the 11-1 win over SDSU), but it was still a step forward for him, and Noe today was great. And I really think that’s the strength of this team, especially when they set the tone early in the game. When we’ve struggled, it’s been when we haven’t set the tone. When we have set the tone on the mound it’s taken the pressure off the lineup that is still trying to find itself.

(I did break in at this point and said, “Like Christian Colon?”)

Christian (Colon) is the one who sets the tone offensively. But Christian is doing what a lot of kids do in his situation – pressing, worrying about the perception of what people are thinking about him. He’s just got to remember that whether he’s off to a good start or a bad start, he’s one of the better players in the country and is still going to be the player that everyone is looking at. And I think we’re starting to see that when he’s getting on base and making things happen, it makes it a lot easier on everybody else. ‘Coz when your go-to guy, your leader, is struggling, the younger guys see that, they get a little more timid. He’s starting to be the guy he wanted to be and not putting as much pressure on himself.

We’ve struggled as a team, but they’re starting to get a lot of confidence about them. I mean, these guys wanna do it so badly. But that’s also why I have all the faith in the world that, come three months from now, we’ll be talking about who is going to pitch the first game of the regionals.”

Damn! That’s huge coach. Thanks for the extensive commentary after my initial question. Unreal. And I dig it.

Stephen Yarrow clacks helmets after his 9th-inning grand slam for USF.

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WHAT I SAW THE LAST FEW INNINGS OF AT TONY GWYNN STADIUM.
Was just using this game as a go-between for the three-hour wait before the concert started in downtown SD. Still it was good to see the legendary Ron Polk in his assistant coaching role, even if it came in the third straight loss for the Blazers.

USF – 101 220 215 – 14 19 1
UAB – 001 001 500 – 8 13 3

Got to the stadium just in time to see the Blazers put up a 5-spot in the bottom of the 7th inning, closing the gap on the Dons to a one-run game. But USF would plate a single run in the 8th and then would get a door-slamming four-run bomb in the 9th to put this one to rest for good.

The grand slam was hit by USF 3rd baseman Stephen Yarrow, which helped the Dons get the W, improving the Green and Gold to an even 8-8 on the season. UAB fell to 7-6, dropping its third straight game out in San Diego this long weekend.

Legendary coach Ron Polk meets with Fresno's Mike Batesole as the Bulldogs were taking the field for their game with SDSU.

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THE DAILY ACCOLADES.
Alright, I’ll admit it. I’ve only seen scores today, not a single bit of information on how things happened even came my way today. No stats. No nothing. The late concert and lack of internet most of the day meant I wasn’t able to check in on things very often. So, looking strictly at scores and nothing else, since that’s all I had time to check out before going to bed, here’re the goods for the day…

THREE UP.

1- Virginia.
Last I heard from a friend of mine, UVa was trailing at Florida State 5-2. Now I see they rallied and scored a 9-8 win, clinching the series. Strong comeback Cavs.

2- Clemson.
Swept a pair of games from No. 30 N.C. State, 12-7 and 12-6.
What a way to start ACC play as the No. 9 Tigers prove – for a day – that they deserve that lofty ranking.

3- Eastern Illinois.
Swept a pair from South Florida, 7-6 and 11-9.
EIU needed this one. After missing out on the at-large invite last year, and getting off to a rough start this year, this pair has to inspire confidence as they head into Ohio Valley play.

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THREE DOWN.

1- Florida International.
Lost twice to Rutgers, 20-11 and 11-8.
Okay, after seeing the youthful, but talented Panthers last weekend in Arizona, this week they fall flat on their faces against the northern denizens. Ah the joys of having a young, inconsistent team. Sorry coach Thomas, it’ll still take some time.

2- The pitching of Florida Gulf Coast and South Carolina-Upstate.
FGCU won both games in today’s doubleheader, 20-11 and 10-9. Ouch! I hope Chris Sale wasn’t involved in either game. His MLB stock could suffer a bit, if so.

3- Connecticut.
Lost two games today, 11-8 loss vs. Marshall, and a 3-2 loss to Tennessee. I guess the Elliot Glynn-Bryan Morgado showdown went Morgado’s way. And this disappointing two-game sweep comes after a crazy-successful trip out West last week where the Huskies beat CSUN and USC.

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AND ONE TO GROW ON.
New Mexico went to 10 innings in both games with Louisiana Tech and won by a single run each time, 15-14 and 7-6. So let’s give the heartbreak award to Tech for these pair of painful near-misses.

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OH, AND THIS…
Since the House of Blues refuses to let people take pictures inside their establishment, here is a pic of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club I took when I saw them in Phoenix after an Arizona State game two years ago.

Oh shit, now I’ve gotta push the alarm clock AHEAD one hour? Damn!.

G’night.