Fullerton-LBSU Series Preview: What's At Stake?

The No. 12 Cal State Fullerton Titans are playing the Long Beach State 49ers (nickname: the Dirtbags) in what should be a thrilling conference series finale.  The Titans currently hold a one game lead over the Dirtbags heading into this weekend’s action, but there are many who believe that the scrappy Dirtbags will pull the upset and steal the auto-bid.  Which brings us to the question: Will Fullerton get an at-large bid if they lose the series?

As of May 15^th, the Titans are ranked No. 15 according to NCAA Baseball RPI Standings.  The Dirtbags are sitting at No. 59 for those of you who are comparing head-to-head rankings.  The next closest Big West team is Cal Poly at No. 85.  Being that the Titans are in a mini-slump right now, it is very possible for the Dirtbags to take the conference by surprise and end up on top.  If this happens, I firmly believe that Fullerton will get an at-large bid into the Regionals.  Whether or not they can get a host site, depends on how they play this week against the Dirtbags (win or lose).  If the Titans get swept this weekend, at worst, I can envision them in a No. 3 seed.  However, if the Titans go 1-2, they might be still ranked high enough to get a Regional host site.  Remember, all of this is assuming that Fullerton will lose the conference title this week.

On the other hand, if Fullerton wins the conference title, the Titans will most assuredly be given a host site.  However, this scenario brings up a very interesting situation for the Dirtbags.  As I’ve stated earlier, the NCAA RPI ranks them at 59 (this was before last week’s series win over Pacific).  If the Dirtbags don’t get blown out, and salvage a win, I feel that they could end up as a No. 4 seed in some regional.  If the Titans sweep the Dirtbags though, it’s sayonara for LBSU and they’ll be watching the College World Series instead of participating.  Can LBSU get any higher than a No. 4 seed?  Only if they win the conference title, and even then, it’s a stretch…unless of course, the secret council of the highly supreme NCAA RPI mathematicians value the Big West so highly in baseball that LBSU gets a generous seeding.   Whatever the case, 49er fans will have a lot to root for this week, while Titan fans will be rooting for their pride.