Orange County College Baseball : Sweep of Fullerton Dims Chances of NCAA Bid

The last weekend of Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. play turned out to be a lost weekend for Cal State Fullerton.

If being eliminated from title contention wasn’t bad enough, the Titans hurt their chances for an at-large bid to the NCAA playoffs when they were swept at home by UC Santa Barbara.

Sunday’s 12-6 loss to the Gauchos signaled a complete collapse for Fullerton, the 1984 national champion. The Titans’ pitching staff, ranked 10th in the nation with a team earned-run average of 3.05 coming into the UCSB series, was shelled for 41 runs and 35 hits in three games. And though they finished the regular season with a 36-21 record, the Titans lost their last four. In PCAA play, Fullerton was 12-9. Against conference powers Nevada Las Vegas, Fresno State and Santa Barbara, the Titans were 1-8. All of those losses came at home.

Those aren’t the kind of statistics that will impress the NCAA playoff selection committee, in whose hands the Titans’ fate now lies.

Even Fullerton Coach Augie Garrido is having a difficult time being optimistic about the Titans’ chances of being invited to the West Regional.

“We have to prepare the team as if we’ll be involved,” he said Sunday after watching four Titan pitchers combine for 10 walks and two hit batters. “But when you lose four games in a week coming down the stretch, that’s a big negative.

“We had a job to do this week and we didn’t get the job done. If we do what we were supposed to do, this could have been a championship game.”

The Titans, who could have won their 12th conference crown by sweeping the Gauchos, can only hope that all 10 spots in the West Regional will be filled by teams from the West Coast. In that case, with their record and past history, the Titans could get one of the final playoff spots. But if the selection committee opts to place two outside teams in the West Regional, the Titans will have to break out the mothballs.

Of the 40 spots in the NCAA tournament, 25 are automatic bids.

UCSB clinched the PCAA’s automatic berth with Friday night’s 15-8 victory, a game in which Fullerton led, 7-5, with two out in the eighth inning, and it seemed only fitting that the Gauchos wrap up their first PCAA crown in 14 years at Titan Field. Two years ago, in a similar situation, UCSB came to Fullerton needing a sweep to win the conference crown. Instead, the Titans swept the Gauchos and went on to win their second College World Series title. Santa Barbara, with a 46-21 record that year, missed out on an at-large berth, as it did last season despite a 37-22 mark.

Gaucho Coach Al Ferrer certainly knows what Garrido is going through, waiting by the telephone for word from the selection committee.

“I know how he feels because I’ve been there before,” Ferrer said. “But I wouldn’t say I’m sympathetic. We’ve had to go through it and nobody was shedding any tears for us.”

If there were any tears being shed Sunday they were for the Titan pitchers, who failed for the third straight day to contain a UCSB team that has a .349 batting average. As in the series’ first two games, Fullerton made things more difficult by having control problems.

Starting pitcher Mike Belanger lasted 2 innings. He gave up just two hits and struck out three but allowed six walks, including four straight in the third inning.

The first of three Titan relievers, Larry Casian, didn’t fare much better than he did Friday as a starter when he failed to make it past the fifth inning. Casian gave up three hits and three runs in 2 innings Sunday, striking out one and walking two.

Gil Villanueva, who walked four of the first eight batters he faced Friday, was a little more accurate Sunday. He walked just one but hit a pair of batters, committed a throwing error on a pick-off attempt and gave up four hits and four runs in 3 innings. Dean Yamashita, in his third appearance in three days, walked the first batter he faced Sunday and gave up a two-run double to the second before getting the final two outs.

In other PCAA action:

Fresno State 6, UC Irvine 4 (11 innings)--Fresno’s Mike Stewart hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the 11th inning to win it for the Bulldogs.

For the Anteaters, Gene Roumimper hit a solo home run in the eighth inning. It was his ninth home run of year, tying a school record held by four others. He went 4 for 5 and finished the season with a 15-game hitting streak.

Pitcher Mike Goff improved his record to 11-5. Bo Kent (7-6), who went the distance, took the loss.

UCI finished fifth in the conference, 9-12 and 20-26-2. Fresno’s finished 12-9 and 29-27-1.