CAL STATE FULLERTON NOTEBOOK : New Field Exceeds Expectations--by Many Feet

When George Horton, Cal State Fullerton assistant baseball coach, first measured the field at Fullerton’s Amerige Park in early December, he sensed something wasn’t right.

The wheel odometer he pushed from home plate to right-center field clicked 305 times, one click per foot, but when he stood at the light pole in the outfield, he seemed farther away.

So he measured it a second time. Again, 305 clicks.

“I thought the wheel wasn’t going to lie,” Horton said, “but it did.”

Horton re-measured the dimensions with a fence builder’s odometer 1 1/2 weeks ago, and it turns out the Titans’ new home field won’t be as cozy as Horton initially believed.

Straight-away right field, originally measured at 300 feet, is actually 335 feet, and right-center field, originally measured at 305 feet, is actually 365 feet.

“We kind of chuckled about it,” Horton said. “The guy who I took the original measurements with was there, and the (fence builder) said, ‘Did you use that orange wheel right there?’ We said, ‘Yeah.’ He said, ‘Oh, that one’s broken.’ We couldn’t believe it.”

The information caused some last-minute adjustments for field developers, who had been planning to erect a 40-foot-high mesh net from right field to right-center to help offset the easy-to-reach dimensions.

But instead of a Fenway Park-like outfield, the Titans, who opened their season Tuesday at home by beating Cal Poly Pomona, will have a 10-foot fence around the entire field.

“I was excited and relieved about the dimensions being more realistic, because now it’s a legitimate field,” Horton said. “Right-center is still a little short but it’s not an easy poke.”

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Titan basketball Coach John Sneed said he did some soul-searching after Saturday night’s loss to UC Irvine, the Titans’ fifth in their past six games, and will make some changes to help offset the team’s lack of depth.

Starting center Aaron Wilhite is still out with a knee injury and reserve center Ron Caldwell has been suspended from the team, leaving Sneed with a seven-man rotation.

“We’ve been exhausted in the last five minutes of every loss, and that affects our defense and shooting,” Sneed said. “We want to make some changes in the first half that will allow us to have some energy in the end.”

Sneed didn’t want to reveal specific changes, but the Titans, who normally look to run at every opportunity, will likely attempt to slow the pace to conserve energy.

Titan Notes

Women’s basketball Coach Maryalyce Jeremiah must be wondering what her team has to do to break into the national rankings. The Titans beat fifth-ranked Nevada Las Vegas Jan. 19, 24th-ranked Cal State Long Beach Jan. 21, and Saturday, they beat UC Santa Barbara to take over first place in the Big West Conference. Still, Fullerton (15-4) got only 75 votes in Monday’s Associated Press poll and was two spots from the top 25. The Titans play their next three games on the road at San Jose State (Saturday), UNLV (Monday) and Long Beach (Feb. 7). . . . For the fourth time in seven weeks, Fullerton center Genia Miller has won or shared conference player of the week honors. Miller, who had 99 points, 39 rebounds and 14 blocked shots in victories over Long Beach, UC Irvine and UCSB, was named co-player of the week with Fresno State guard Geri Gainey, a former Mater Dei High School standout. . . . After playing its 10th game in 25 days Saturday, the men’s basketball team will finally get a little breather. The Titans travel to Utah State for a game Thursday night, then don’t play again until Feb. 7 at home against the University of the Pacific. . . . Titan baseball Coach Augie Garrido has had discussions with Orange County Sports Assn. director Don Andersen about starting an annual college baseball invitational tournament, which would begin after the new Titan Sports Complex opens on the Fullerton campus in 1992.