CAL STATE FULLERTON NOTEBOOK / MIKE DiGIOVANNA : Ward Swinging Into Form for Titans

How did Cal State Fullerton forward Agee Ward improve his shooting skills last summer? By whacking a few baseballs around the batting cage, of course.

No, this wasn’t the most orthodox cross-training program, but it seemed natural to Ward, who, for the first time in many years, spent the summer with his father, Gary Ward, a former major league baseball player who lives in Riverside.

Gary Ward has a variety of exercise equipment in his home, ranging from weights and a stationary bicycle to a swimming pool and batting cage, and Agee took advantage of it all, including the baseball gear.

“I swung the bat a little bit and that helped my hand-eye coordination,” said Ward, a 6-foot-6 senior from Los Angeles Washington High School. “It helped my touch a little bit.”

That helps to explain Ward’s shooting percentage this season--having made 91 of 148 field-goal attempts for a team-leading 61.5%, Ward hasn’t tossed up many curveballs.

But you can only attribute so much of Ward’s improvement to his baseball swing. A more likely culprit was the conditioning program Ward put himself through last summer and the one Fullerton Coach John Sneed put the Titans through last fall.

In addition to his time in the batting cage, Ward lifted weights, rode the stationary bike, swam laps in the pool and ran through the hills near his father’s house.

He came to school in better shape, and after a more rigorous team conditioning program, which included weight-lifting and running, Ward started the season in better shape.

The results have been obvious. After averaging 27 minutes per game last season, Ward is averaging 32 minutes this season. For the first time in his Fullerton career, he went the distance--all 40 minutes--against Drake Dec. 28.

With the exception of a sluggish and scoreless first half against Cal State Northridge Dec. 21, Ward has seemed more fresh this season and hasn’t sunk into the prolonged lapses that plagued him last season.

He leads the 4-6 Titans with a 19.8 scoring average and is second in rebounds at 7.7 entering Thursday night’s game at Fresno State. He has had outstanding games against Butler (33 points), Portland (35), UCLA (30) and Houston (24) and has earned Big West player of the week honors twice.

“Being in better shape has a lot to do with it,” Ward said. “I don’t think about being tired as much this year, and that has something to do with the conditioning program this year. It gave me more strength and endurance.”

Experience has helped, too. Ward’s excellent leaping ability allows him to get his jump shot over taller players, but he’s also used some sly post moves to fake out some pretty good players, including UCLA’s Don MacLean and Nevada Las Vegas’ Elmore Spencer.

“I already had all the moves I’ve been using this year,” Ward said. “But having more experience, I know when to do what particular move. I don’t really think about what move to do during the heat of the game, I just let it come naturally.”

Playing hardball: The Titan baseball team, ranked fifth nationally in the Collegiate Baseball Magazine’s preseason poll and 14th by Baseball America, begins practice Friday at Tustin High School. Fullerton opens the season Feb. 3 against UCLA at Amerige Park.

Two Titan players have received preseason accolades--junior infielder Phil Nevin was a second-team selection on Baseball America’s Preseason All-American team, and outfielder Dante Powell was named the second-best freshman in the nation behind Arizona State’s Antone Williamson.

Nevin, who hit .335 with 19 doubles and 46 runs batted in last season, also was projected as the 21st college player to be chosen in the 1992 professional draft.

One other Big West team--Cal State Long Beach (fifth)--is ranked among Baseball America’s Top 25, as are four of Fullerton’s nonconference opponents--Arizona (eighth), Stanford (10th), USC (17th) and Ohio State (24th).

“I’m not sure we can justify being ranked fifth, but 14th is probably more accurate,” said George Horton, Titan associate head coach. “I like our team. We work hard and have better athletes this year. We’ll find out in a hurry how good we are with our schedule. There are no softies in there.”

Crowded house: The Fullerton women’s gymnastics team, ranked 20th nationally, is expecting a large turnout for its season-opening meet against 18th-ranked Stanford Saturday night in Titan Gym.

Arrowhead Water, the team’s primary supporter, purchased 2,500 tickets for the meet, and all have been given away through a promotion with radio stations KFI and KOST.

Francine Garrett, a member of the Israeli national team who has enrolled at Fullerton, arrived in Southern California Sunday and began practicing with the Titans Monday. She’s expected to be one of Coach Lynn Rogers’ top athletes, along with sophomores Karena Mills and Celeste Delia and freshman Wendy Minch.

The Titan men’s gymnastics team, under the direction of first-year Coach David Stow, also opens the season this weekend at the San Jose State Spartan Open, which is scheduled for Friday and Saturday. The seven-member team will be led by junior Roger Donate.

Titan Notes

The Fullerton wrestling team takes a 3-2-1 dual-meet record into home matches against Boise State Wednesday night and Northern Iowa Thursday night. Northern Iowa is ranked sixth in the country. The Titans placed seven wrestlers in the finals of the Fullerton Open Dec. 29. Redshirt freshman Christian Holiday won at 150 pounds, and junior Donnie Kiernan, in his first competition after recovering from a back injury, won at 158. Lyndon Campbell was ranked seventh nationally at 134 pounds after finishing third in December’s Las Vegas Invitational. . . . Fullerton forward Agee Ward ranks third in the Big West Conference in scoring (19.8 points per game), fourth in rebounding (7.7) and third in field-goal percentage (.615). Forward Bruce Bowen leads the conference in rebounding (9.1). Guard Joe Small leads in free-throw percentage (.938) and is sixth in scoring (19.0). And point guard Aaron Sunderland is second in assists (7.5). . . . Among the women, Fullerton guard Joey Ray (16.9) and forward Claudette Jackson (16.0) rank fifth and sixth in scoring. Center Kisa Hughes ranks fourth in rebounding (9.1), third in field-goal percentage (.598) and first in blocked shots (2.5). Point guard Lianne Ishikawa is fourth in assists (5.4).