Titans No. 2 in Preseason Baseball Rankings

Cal State Fullerton is ranked No. 2 in Collegiate Baseball’s preseason poll announced Wednesday.

The Titans have five regulars and their top four pitchers back from a team that advanced to the College World Series and posted a 50-14 record.

Stanford is No. 1 in the poll. Fullerton and Stanford meet in a season-opening three-game series Feb. 4-6 at Stanford.

The rest of the top 10: Alabama, UCLA, Miami, Florida State, Rice, Louisiana State, Georgia Tech and Houston. USC is ranked 15th and Long Beach State 22nd.

WRESTLING

Wrestler T.J. Hill, a world junior champion in his weight class, has been cleared by the NCAA to compete for Cal State Fullerton when the Titans resume competition in January. June Kearney, the school’s athletic department compliance director, said the NCAA eligibility committee approved Fullerton’s request to have Hill moved to full qualifier status, based on his recent SAT score.

Kearney said Hill was admitted to the university Wednesday.

Before the ruling, Hill was listed as a partial qualifier, which would have required him to sit out one year before becoming eligible.

Hill, from St. Louis, won the world junior title at 50 kilograms (110 pounds) in August in Sydney, Australia. Coach Ardeshir Asgari said Hill will wrestle at 125 pounds for the Titans.