Orange County Sports : CAL STATE FULLERTON NOTEBOOK : For Murphy, Even a Short Road Trip to Fresno Is Welcome Relief

Cal State Fullerton football Coach Gene Murphy likes to refer to his traveling band of Titans as the road warriors, but these days, they’re just road weary.

In the past three weekends, Fullerton has logged more than 12,000 air miles, about 1,000 road miles and has spent at least a dozen hours waiting in airports.

Not to mention three defeats, to Auburn (38-17), Mississippi State (27-13) and Akron (48-17).

“All the travel could be catching up to us,” Murphy admitted Monday. “There are a lot of things I’d like to say that I’m not going to say, but you can read into that.”

We can? Let’s give it a try.

Gee, we’re just tickled to death that our athletic department changed Saturday’s Fresno State game from a home game to an away game so we could make more money.

Now, we get to spend even more time on buses, another night in a hotel and play another game in a hostile environment. Now, we’ll have five consecutive away games instead of three.

OK, bad read.

Murphy doesn’t like playing games he has virtually no chance of winning, like the one Sept. 8 against Auburn. And he doesn’t like playing five consecutive road games, like he will by the time the Oct. 6 game at Nevada Las Vegas rolls around.

But he has learned to bite his tongue when it comes to criticizing the athletic administration for its scheduling philosophy. That will only get him in hot water.

So instead, he tries to find something positive in the situation and focus on that. Here’s Murphy’s upbeat outlook for this week:

“It would have been great to play a home game, but we don’t have to leave too early Friday, the bus ride to Fresno isn’t that long, and we should get plenty of rest before the game. In the past, players have told me they’d rather play at Fresno because they attract big crowds, it’s big-time football, and it’s first-class all the way.”

Murphy was very pleased with his team’s effort against Auburn and Mississippi State, but he couldn’t say the same about Saturday’s game, in which Fullerton blew a 10-0 first-quarter lead and was badly outplayed by Akron from the second quarter on.

“Some played hard and some didn’t--it was a matter of inconsistency,” Murphy said. “We didn’t match the effort of the previous two games.”

One player, quarterback Paul Schulte, might have given too much effort, Murphy said. Schulte passed for 183 yards in the first quarter but went on to throw five interceptions and complete just one more pass in the second and third quarters.

“He’s a competitive son of a buck, but he may have done something against his nature by trying to make big plays by himself,” Murphy said. “There are very few athletes in our conference who can do that, but when we fell behind, he tried to do too much.”

Murphy said the players were emotionally fatigued and physically exhausted after the Akron game, but he believes they’ll bounce back this week.

“The positive thing about this week is we play a conference game, and our kids get excited about those,” Murphy said. “So from an emotional standpoint, we should be ready to play.”

Titan baseball Coach Augie Garrido, who returned to Fullerton in August after three seasons at Illinois, held his first fall practice Monday, and his wasn’t the only new face on the field.

Garrido and first-year assistant George Horton have recruited nine more players, including former Cerritos College all-state pitcher Dan Naulty, to join the 10 returning players and the five players recruited by former Coach Larry Cochell.

Naulty, a former Ocean View High School pitcher, is a hard-throwing, 6-foot-5 right-hander who has a sidearm motion. He had signed with Miami last spring but wasn’t accepted to the school. He has been admitted to Fullerton, Horton said.

Garrido has also added community college pitchers Yusef Ford (Laney), Paco Chavez (Cerritos) and Darin Pometta (Merced), and outfielders Chris Powell (Cerritos), Craig Fairbrother (Cerritos) and Jeff Manship (Fullerton).

Two Illinois players, infielder Jason Moler, a former Esperanza standout, and outfielder Vic Boyd, a former Mater Dei standout, have transferred to Fullerton, but neither has received a release yet from Illinois Athletic Director John Mackovic. Moler and Boyd will redshirt this season and become eligible next year. If they don’t get releases, Moler will have two years of eligibility remaining and Boyd three.

Jack Bailey, a former Mission Viejo High and Rancho Santiago College pitcher who was academically ineligible last spring, will join the Titans this season.

However, former Golden West College pitcher Jason Hutchins, who signed with Fullerton last spring and said he would honor his commitment if Garrido became coach, has enrolled at Texas A & M, Horton said.

Titan Notes

Football Coach Gene Murphy said there’s an “outside chance” that injured starters Terry Tramble (safety), Michael Jones (rover) and Kerry Reed (receiver) will return for Saturday’s game at Fresno State. Tramble broke his left forearm against Auburn, Jones broke a finger in the season opener against Sonoma State, and Reed damaged knee ligaments against Sonoma State. Offensive guard Shannon Illingworth, who injured his knee in practice after the Sonoma State game, will miss at least one more game. Offensive tackle Mike Simmons, who missed the Akron game because of a sprained ankle, is questionable for the Fresno State game, as is reserve tackle Jim DeFelippo, who started Saturday in place of Simmons and suffered shoulder and knee injuries. . . . Including the 1983 California Bowl game, this will be Murphy’s ninth game at Fresno in 11 years. Under Murphy, the Titans are 2-6 at Bulldog Stadium. . . . The 7 p.m. game will be televised live on SportsChannel with Greg Papa and Jack Snow calling the action. . . . The two-time defending Big West Conference champion Bulldogs are 4-0 with victories over Eastern Michigan, New Mexico, Utah and New Mexico. They are averaging 34.5 points and 485 total yards per game.

The Titan baseball team will play 10 games this fall, beginning with an Oct. 25 contest at Chaffey College. Nine of the games are against community college teams. . . . According to American Volleyball Coaches Assn. statistics, Titan junior middle blocker Stephanie Scofield is ranked 16th in the nation in digs per game with an average of 4.35. The Fullerton volleyball team fell to 3-10, 0-2 in conference with losses to Cal State Long Beach and UC Irvine last weekend.