NCAA South II Regional Baseball : Casian Pitches In for Titans : Left-Hander Throws Three-Hitter to Beat Louisiana Tech, 11-0

Larry Casian and Mike Harkey are starting pitchers for Cal State Fullerton. They ride the same buses, sit in the same dugouts and wear the same color uniforms. That, with the exception of success, is all they have in common.

Harkey is a powerfully built right-hander who looks like a pitcher. Casian is a slight-of-build left-hander who looks more like a bat boy. His uniform hangs loosely on him. One insleeve drapes to the wrist of his pitching arm. The other bunches up around what vaguely resembles a bicep.

But what is it they say about looks being deceiving?

Casian has spent most of the 1987 season following Harkey in the Titans’ pitching rotation and proving that brains can compensate for lack of brawn. Saturday afternoon, he was at it again.

The senior from Lakewood followed Harkey’s four-hit shutout Friday with an even more impressive three-hitter, leading Fullerton to an 11-0 victory over Louisiana Tech in the third round of the NCAA South II Regional tournament at the University of New Orleans.

The Titans had a six-run second inning and battered four Louisiana Tech pitchers for 17 hits. That was several more than Casian needed to put Fullerton in a position to reach the College World Series for the first time since 1984, the year the Titans won their second NCAA title. Using an array of off-speed pitches and pinpoint control, Casian (11-1) struck out seven, walked one and faced only three batters over the minimum.

The victory puts Fullerton two wins away from a trip to Omaha and a chance at another national championship. The Titans (44-16) will need to beat Louisiana State (46-17) twice today to win the regional title. LSU beat New Orleans, 3-0, Saturday night and is 3-0 in the double-elimination tournament. Fullerton is 2-1 and needs a victory in the 11 a.m. (PDT) game to send the Tigers into a 6 p.m. (PDT) contest for the championship.

With Casian’s shutout, the Titan pitching staff has allowed only one run in 27 innings in this tournament, that coming in a 1-0 loss to Southern University in the first round. Throw in a 4-0 victory over UCLA in the regular-season finale and Fullerton pitchers have allowed one run in their last 36 innings.

Coach Augie Garrido hasn’t had to go to his bullpen yet in the regionals. Saturday’s complete game was the 25th of the season for Fullerton’s Big Three of Harkey, Casian and Longo Garcia, prompting some to wonder which of Garrido’s starters is the ace of the staff.

“That’s a good question,” he said.

Casian had an answer. “We don’t have one. We all get our wins. It’s a team thing with us.”

It may have to be today. Freshman Mark Beck (6-3) is expected to start against LSU, but Garrido figures to use anyone and everyone to try to get the Titans to Omaha. “Larry’s pitch total was fairly low in this game,” Garrido said. “Don’t be surprised to see all of them come back. We’ll go to Garcia. We’ll go to Harkey and Casian. We’ll go to someone out of the stands if we need to.”

Garrido might have prefered saving some of Saturday’s runs for today. The Titans, baffled by Southern pitcher Allan Ratliff in a stunning first-round loss, appeared fully recovered against the Bulldogs. Ken Garcia, who moved up a notch to hit fifth in the Fullerton batting order, went 4 for 5 with three RBIs. Greg Mannion and Andy Mota had two hits and two RBIs each, and Paul Cameron hit Fullerton’s first home run of the tournament, a solo shot to right field in the sixth.

All of this was more than enough for Casian, who continued to prove that you don’t have to be built like Harkey to win like him.