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A lot of great short stops have come through the doors at Cal State Fullerton, Christian Colon is arguably one of the best to have ever worn the Blue and Orange. A three-year player at Fullerton, Colon played for the Titans from 2008 through 2010 and was drafted fourth overall by the Kansas City Royals in 2010. (What's notable about that 2010 draft, Colon and teammate Gary Brown were both drafted in the first round. That is the only year multiple Titans were selected in the first round of the same draft.)

During his time at Fullerton, Colon batted .349 with 29 home runs and drove in 147 runs. His 17 home runs in 2010 led the team and he currently still ranks in the top 10 in numerous Titan Baseball categories. His single season records with the Titans has him ranked tied for eighth with Sam Favata for runs scored at 82 in 2009. His 21 sacrifice hits in 2008 ranks second for a single season and is a Titans freshman record. Talking about sacrificing his body, he is tied for sixth with Ivory Thomas and Reed Johnson being hit by a pitch in 2009.

For his three-year career in college, Colon's 766 at-bats ranks 8th but first among 3-year players. His 267 hits ranks sixth all time but again, ranks first among three-year players, ahead of other notable 3-year Titans like Mark Kotsay and Phil Nevin. Colon scored 214 runs in his Titan career, again, tops among three-year players. Christian was not only good at the plate, but he also had an excellent glove recoding 219 assists in 2010 which ranks third for a single season and 547 total assists in three years. Those 547 assists ranks fourth all time in Titan Baseball history and you guessed it, ranks No. 1 among three-year Titans. Only David Bacani, Justin Turner and Shane Turner, all four-year Titans, have more assists than Colon.

An All-American all three years on campus, Colon also played for the Team USA Collegiate National teams in 2008 and 2009. Drafted fourth overall by the Kansas City Royals, Colon would make his debut July 1, 2014 with the Kansas City Royals. Playing six years in Major League Baseball with the Royals, Maimi Marlins and Cincinnati Reds, Colon's seminal moment came in Game 5 of the 2015 World Series vs. the New York Mets.

Tied 2-2 in the Top of the 12th inning with Jarrod Dyson on third with one out, Colon gets a pinch-hit opportunity facing Addison Reed. On a 1-2 count, Colon hits a single into left field scoring Dyson to score the go-ahead run.

Recently Colon was named the manager of the Arkansas Travelers, the Double - A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners.

Highlights include:

🎙️ Growing up and moving as a kid (8:43)
🎙️ Choosing Cal State Fullerton (15:00)
🎙️ Choosing college over the MLB draft out of high school (22:08)
🎙️ Frosh year at CSUF (25:57)
🎙️ Broken leg before Junior year (36:10)
🎙️ Draft day (44:42)
🎙️ 2010 Super Regionals vs. UCLA (49:53)
🎙️ Starting professional career (51:46)
🎙️ Getting called up to the Show (58:21)
🎙️ Hit & stolen base in 2014 AL Wild Card (60:29)
🎙️ Now manager of Arkansas Travelers (1:08:37)

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Welcome into Episode 84 of the 1544 Miles to Omaha Podcast. Today's guest, Spencer Oborn, is arguably one of the greatest "one and done" players to have worn the Fullerton Orange and Navy Blue uniform.

Oborn played for the Titans for the 1999 season and is ranked in the top ten in numerous single season achievements for the Titans. For that one season, Oborn hit .395, blasting 14 home runs and driving in 82 runs. His 104 hits in 1999 ranks tied for seventh with Kurt Suzuki for hits in a season. He hit seven triples which ranks tied for fourth with the likes of Hank LoForte, Gary Brown, Jose Mota and Matt Vejar. Those 82 runs batted in ranks tied for 10th with Titans Slugger Jared Clark. Oborn touched 182 total bases that season which ranks sixth in Titans single season history.

Oborn's fantastic season did not go unnoticed earning Baseball America All-American 3rd team honors, Big West 1st team all-conference and named the Big West Conference Player of the Year.

Selected in the 14th round of the 1999 MLB draft by the Chicago White Sox, Oborn played three seasons in the White Sox organization playing in the Midwest and Carolina Leagues.

Episode Highlights include:

🎙️ Growing up Spencer Oborn (5:30)
🎙️ Playing for BYU first (9:32)
🎙️ Choosing to transfer & come to CSUF (12:29)
🎙️ First impression when joining the 1999 Titans (20:57)
🎙️ 37-game hit streak (26:44)
🎙️ Why so much success at the plate (34:30)
🎙️ Draft Day 1999 (39:25)
🎙️ South Bend Regional (42:37)
🎙️ Choosing to stay on the road after South Bend (44:46)
🎙️ Super Regional at Ohio State (51:00)
🎙️ Omaha (53:11)
🎙️ Game 1 vs. Stanford (55:00)
🎙️ Game 2 vs. Texas A&M (57:20)
🎙️ Game 3 vs. Florida State (58:17)
🎙️ Once a Titan, Always a Titan (1:02:22)
🎙️ Going to play professionally (1:05:07)
🎙️ Coaching youth baseball now (1: 12:17)

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Welcome into Episode 83 of the 1544 Miles to Omaha Podcast. Today's guest is once again, Cal State Fullerton Baseball Head Coach Jason Dietrich.

In today's episode we'll touch on heading into his third season as the head coach of the storied Titan Baseball program, updates from the summer, getting his thoughts on the MLB Draft, incoming transfers and signees along with what to expect with the upcoming fall practices.

Highlights include:

🎙️ Catching up from the summer (2:16)
🎙️ Advantage of maintaining same staff for three years (4:21)
🎙️ Jake Pavletich 3rd paid assistant (5:29)
🎙️ Titans that had a good summer ball (6:47)
🎙️ Thoughts regarding 4 titans leaving via MLB draft (8:52)
🎙️ Recruits that went undrafted in danger of going pro (10:08)
🎙️ Thoughts on the 4 transfer portal additions (11:53)
🎙️ New faces that could contribute in spring (14:13)
🎙️ Players could shift to corner infield positions (16:20)
🎙️ Players competing for outfield spots (17:43)
🎙️ Predicting the weekend starters (19:22)
🎙️ Road Fall Scrimmage opponent & date announced (20:43)
🎙️ Spring Schedule still getting finalized (21:45)

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Welcome into Episode 82 of the 1544 Miles to Omaha Podcast. Our guest is once again, Cal State Fullerton Baseball Head Coach Jason Dietrich.

We'll be discussing with coach the 2023 season, his second complete season as head coach of the historic and tradition rich program.

The 2023 Titans finished the year 32-24, 20-10 in the Big West Conference and earned the automatic bid into the postseason playing in the Stanford Regional in Palo Alto. There the Titan went 1-2 eliminating San Jose State and preserving the streak of never going 0-2 in a Regional.

Highlights include:

🎙️ Comparing Year 1 to Year 2 as Head Coach of Titan Baseball (2:18)
🎙️ Getting the team to mesh in 2023 (3:46)
🎙️ How did the Titan get hot in March & April (5:09)
🎙️ Losing streak in May (7:06)
🎙️ Players reaction to going to postseason for 1st time (9:32)
🎙️ Postseason reaction as a head coach (11:18)
🎙️ Thoughts on seniors Lew, White, Chester & Stultz (12:43)
🎙️ Ambiguity of the MLB draft & preparing for guys leaving or coming back (14:00)
🎙️ Titans playing in Keith LeClair Classic in 2024 (18:52)
🎙️ Staying competitive in the transfer portal (20:21)
🎙️ NIL & transfer portal turning College Baseball into MLB free agency? (19:45)
🎙️ Building blocks from 20233 to 2024 (26:00)

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In Episode 81, Cal State Fullerton All American Mike Parisi joins Dave Lamm via Twitter Spaces to discuss the final regular season weekend series vs. Cal Poly and gaining a berth into the NCAA Regionals after a 5 year layoff.

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Warning - This podcast contains foul language and discusses adult subject matters that some may find objectionable. Listener discretion is advised.

In Episode 80, we brought together members of the 1993 Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach State baseball teams that took part in one of the most infamous brawls in college baseball history.

30 years ago on April 16, 1993, a brawl broke out in the top of the fourth inning, when Long Beach catcher Brian Whatley plowed into Fullerton catcher Bret Hemphill during a rundown that precipitated a bench-clearing brawl. The brawl delayed the game roughly 15 minutes and resulted in four ejections.

Later on in the podcast we will lay out the exact details of the game and the brawl as described by Los Angeles Times staff writer Scott Miller published the following day.

We gathered together a number of Titans and Dirtbags from those 1993 teams and brought them together via Twitter Spaces in a roundtable discussion, each sharing their perspective on that fateful night. Those that joined us from the Titans included:

Mike Parisi - Pitcher
DC Olsen - First Baseman
Dante Powell - Outfielder

From Long Beach those that joined included:

Tim Falsken - 3rd Baseman
Rudy Rodriguez - Shortstop

(Catcher Brian Whatley wanted to join the conversation but was on a flight at the time and was unable to use his phone.)

Please subscribe to the show on whatever platform you are listening and share with family and friends. While there, please leave a 5 star rating and review. This helps other fans find the show more easily.

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