Learning Art of Deception at Early Age : College baseball: Childhood competition with older brother shapes pitching approach taken by Titan reliever Chris Robinson.

Learning how to pitch wasn’t a matter of choice for Cal State Fullerton reliever Chris Robinson. It was a matter of self-preservation.

How else could Robinson compete with his older brother, Jeff, in their one-on-one baseball games, staged in the driveway of the family’s Yorba Linda home but played as if they were in Dodger Stadium with the National League pennant on the line?

The rules of the game were simple: The big eucalyptus tree in left field was their Green Monster. Hit the tennis ball over the tree or the house and it was a home run. Hit the tree and it was a double. Hit designated areas where fielders would normally be, and it was an out.

The tone of their games was anything but simple: “They became really, really competitive,” said Dan Robinson, the boys’ father. “There weren’t a lot of fights, but there was a lot of sulking after games.”

Chris did most of the sulking, which isn’t surprising. He’s eight years younger than Jeff, a former Titan standout pitcher who, after six major league seasons with the Giants, Pirates and Yankees, signed as a free agent with the Angels this past winter.

While young Chris was learning to hit Little League fastballs, Jeff was striking out Division I college batters. But Chris still wanted to compete with--and beat--his older brother back then, no matter what the odds.

He knew he wasn’t strong enough to throw the ball past Jeff, so he turned to deception.

“I’d have to fool him to get him out,” Chris, now 22, said. “I’d throw changeups, take something off certain pitches . . . you can do a lot of things with a tennis ball. I just did it to have fun.”

Little did Robinson know at the time that his driveway strategy would shape his future approach to pitching.

Chris didn’t begin pitching competitively until his sophomore year at Troy High School. After one junior varsity season, Robinson moved up to the varsity and became the Warriors’ ace as a senior.

He went 14-2 with a 1.40 earned-run average and 108 strikeouts in 1987 to lead Troy to the Southern Section 3-A championship. He also hit .412 with three home runs and 25 runs batted in.

Robinson was the winning pitcher and had a two-run single in the eighth inning to help the Warriors defeat Arlington, 7-4, in the 3-A title game in Dodger Stadium.

When he came to Fullerton in 1988, then-Titan Coach Larry Cochell converted him into a reliever, and Robinson, a 6-foot, 185-pound senior right-hander, has been Fullerton’s closer since his sophomore year.

But through his years as a starter at Troy and a reliever at Fullerton, Robinson’s style has remained the same: Throw strikes and change speeds.

“I probably throw the same way now as I did when we played in the driveway,” Robinson said. “That’s where I learned how to pitch--how to be effective with what I had. The only thing I didn’t have then is a split-fingered fastball.”

Like his big brother, the split-finger is Robinson’s out pitch, the one he uses to induce double-play ground balls. Last Friday, Robinson got California batters to hit into double plays to end the eighth and ninth innings, and he earned the save in the Titans’ 8-4 victory.

“The bottom really drops out of his split-fingered pitch,” Fullerton pitching Coach Rick Vanderhook said. “It’s a tough pitch to hit no matter how hard it’s coming.”

Robinson’s pitches don’t exactly have radar guns smoking. Most big league closers come in and throw heat, but Robinson barely warms batters over.

“I don’t throw hard enough to put it by anyone,” Robinson said. “But a reliever doesn’t necessarily have to strike anyone out. He has to throw strikes and ground balls. If I don’t have control, I’ll get hit.”

Control has been Robinson’s strength at Fullerton. In three previous seasons, he struck out 92 batters and walked just 36 in 130 innings. He has a 1-2 record, a 2.45 ERA and four saves this season for the Titans, who are 14-12 after a 3-9 start.

Robinson has struck out 21 and walked three in 22 innings, and opponents are hitting .224 against him, the lowest average against any Fullerton pitcher.

Many starters have trouble making the transition to reliever, adjusting to the pressure of entering a game with runners on base in the late innings, but Robinson has adapted well.

He said he likes pitching out of jams and that many of his problems actually come the inning after he enters the game, when there are no baserunners or outs.

“I come in and I’m real focused on the pressure situation, but sometimes I’ll start the next inning too relaxed,” Robinson said. “I’ll lose concentration, and that’s when I run into problems sometimes.”

And when Robinson runs into problems, you don’t want to run into Robinson. He doesn’t take losing well, but at least when you’re a reliever, you don’t have to wait another week or so until your next start to redeem yourself.

“If he loses one, you can’t talk to him for two or three hours afterward,” Dan Robinson said. “He takes everything as a personal affront if he fails, and all he wants to do is go out there and pitch again.”