Delay of Games at New Park Almost Over

After several delays caused by unstable turf conditions and inclement weather, it appears the Cal State Fullerton baseball team will finally play in the new Titan Sports Complex this season.

“Barring rain, everything should be ready to go by late this week,” said Ron Andris, Fullerton’s director of sports facilities and recreation.

The Titans are tentatively scheduled to practice in the on-campus stadium Wednesday night and play Saturday’s 1 p.m. doubleheader against Loyola Marymount in their new home.

They were hoping to play the entire 1992 season in the stadium, but school officials, unhappy with the condition of the infield, decided to re-sod it during the winter. Then, heavy rains further hampered efforts to prepare the playing surface.

John Tornavacca, who oversees maintenance of Anaheim Stadium’s turf, has been working on Fullerton’s field.

“People have talked about this stadium for a decade and we’re finally playing a game in it,” Titan Athletic Director Bill Shumard said. “That’s a milestone.”

The Titans, who improved to 28-11, 11-4 in the Big West Conference after a three-game sweep of Nevada Las Vegas, have only three more home games scheduled after Saturday, against UC Irvine May 1-3.

“But it’s still nice that people will get a preview of the complex going into next school year and football season,” Shumard said. “Hopefully, it will whet their appetites before we go into a full-blown marketing campaign for the stadium.”

Honored: Titan third baseman Phil Nevin, who went eight for 16 with five doubles, a home run and nine runs batted in in four games, was named Big West Conference player of the week Monday. It’s the second time this season he has won the award.

Nevin, a junior, improved his team-leading average to .434 and team-leading home run total to 17. He also leads the team in hits (59), runs (49), walks (40), total bases (126) and slugging percentage (.926).

“He’s been unbelievable--he’s just having a player-of-the-year type of season,” said George Horton, Fullerton associate head coach. “He’s done it day in and day out on offense and defense, and his attitude has been great. We can’t ask any more of him.”

Senior Dan Naulty, who threw a four-hitter and struck out 12 in Friday’s 8-1 victory over UNLV, was named conference pitcher of the week. Naulty improved his record to 8-1 and lowered his earned-run average to 3.87.

Friend and foe: When Fullerton closes the regular season at San Jose State May 8-10, the Titans will recognize at least one player in the Spartans’ lineup.

Kraig Constantino, who spent the fall of 1990 as a Titan but never played a regular-season game at Fullerton, is batting cleanup for San Jose State and has helped transform the Spartans from a 25-30 team last season to 26-11-1, 11-4 in conference.

The 6-foot-5, 235-pound designated hitter/first baseman is batting .289 with a team-leading 10 home runs and 42 RBIs.

Constantino, who grew up in San Jose and attended Mission College in Santa Clara, signed with Fullerton while Larry Cochell was still the coach. But Cochell left for Oklahoma in the summer of 1990 and was replaced by Augie Garrido. Constantino remained through the fall but then transferred to San Jose State, where he spent last season as a redshirt.

“He was homesick and he didn’t feel like he fit in well here,” Horton said. “Hopefully, it wasn’t the program or the coaching staff, and we didn’t hear anything of that nature. He thought it best to go back home, and it seems to be working out well. We’re happy for him.”

On staff: Don Johnson, an offensive line coach at Riverside College the past four seasons, has joined the Titan football staff as an assistant, Fullerton Coach Gene Murphy said.

Johnson, who will coach offensive linemen, replaces running backs coach Hue Jackson, who took a job with Arizona State. Receivers coach Rich Sheriff will be responsible for running backs next season, and graduate assistant Paul Schulte will coach receivers.

Before his Riverside experience, Johnson had been an assistant for eight years at Santa Ana High School and one at Corona High.

Bleacher creatures: The Fullerton football team won’t play in the Titan Sports Complex until September, but Murphy already is putting the new on-campus stadium to good use.

As punishment for being late to or missing team meetings, spring workouts and study halls, Murphy now banishes players to the stadium, where they must run up and down the concrete steps for about a half-hour--beginning at 6 a.m.

“Now that we have the stadium, it’s better aerobically for them,” Murphy said. “It’s not better if they fall down, but no one has fallen down yet.”

Old kids on the block: The Titans, who did not have a tight end in their formation the past two seasons, now might have the oldest tight ends in college football.

Letterman Robert Bedford, who played slotback in 1991 and will move to tight end in Fullerton’s new option offense, is 27. He entered the military after high school and didn’t start his football career until 1989 at Golden West College.

Newcomer Jeff Williamson, a transfer from Cal State Long Beach, is 25 and will turn 26 in October. He’s the son of former NFL cornerback Fred (The Hammer) Williamson.

Titan Notes

Catcher Kim Powers, who went six for 10 and scored four runs in four games, was named Big West Conference softball co-field player of the week. . . .Softball pitcher Tiffany Boyd shut out New Mexico State, 7-0, Saturday to record her 13th consecutive victory, a career streak for the junior right-hander. She is 21-5 with a 0.74 ERA for the fifth-ranked Titans, who are 27-12 and 9-5, and five games behind first-place Fresno State (35-7, 17-3). . . . The Fullerton baseball team was ranked seventh by Baseball America and 12th by Collegiate Baseball in national polls that were released Monday. . . . Fullerton placed five wrestlers on the Pacific 10 Conference All-Academic team. Laszlo Molnar, a sophomore physical education major with a 3.29 grade-point average, was a first-team selection. Junior Michael Grubbs, a finance major with a 3.77 GPA, was a second-team pick, and sophomore Ron Cottrell (3.08, undeclared major), junior Christian Holiday (3.12 in history) and sophomore Can Tran (3.14 in biology) were honorable-mention selections. . . . Four Titan men’s gymnasts competed in the NCAA West Regionals over the weekend, but none qualified for the NCAA championships.