Titan Baseball Team to Play Ball on Own Field in ’92

It’s official. The Cal State Fullerton baseball team will play its 1992 home games in the Titan Sports Complex, the on-campus stadium that is expected to be completed in January.

Jay Bond, Fullerton’s associate vice president for facility planning, gave Titan Athletic Director Bill Shumard the go-ahead this week, and Fullerton baseball coaches were informed of the decision Wednesday.

Construction crews began sodding the field Wednesday, and the grass will take 60 to 90 days to take root, Shumard said. The Titans, who played the 1991 season at Amerige Park in downtown Fullerton, open the season in early February.

“There’s a lot of excitement,” Shumard said. “It gives us an opportunity to generate revenue through season ticket sales, fence signs . . . all that is good. The team is excited, the department is excited.”

When construction of the facility began last fall, the Titans were expecting to play the 1991 and ’92 baseball seasons at Amerige, a park with quirky outfield dimensions that is located a few miles west of campus.

With construction of the Titan Sports Complex ahead of schedule, coaches began speculating last spring that they would begin playing in the facility in 1992.

But Samuel Verna, project manager for Taylor Woodrow Construction California Ltd., which is building the stadium, couldn’t guarantee last April that the field would be ready in time for 1992. This week, it was determined the field would be ready.

“We anticipated this, so it’s not a big surprise, but it’s still exciting,” said George Horton, Fullerton’s associate head coach. “We all went out there today and watched them sod the field. It’s going to be beautiful.”