COLLEGE BASEBALL : ‘Rusty’ Titans Lose by One Run

Cal State Fullerton Coach Augie Garrido is no stranger to watching his team take some lumps while playing tough early-season opponents.

That’s why he didn’t act as if the world had ended after a 3-2 loss to Florida State on Friday night in what has become a displaced three-game series.

But even on an even keel, Garrido was displeased with his sixth-ranked Titans’ play early in the game and with a crucial, game-ending call.

The Titans (4-4) just could not provide enough run support after starter Dan Ricabal (2-1) spotted the No. 23-ranked Seminoles (8-0) three early runs.

The Titans were playing for the first time since Feb. 17, with Tuesday’s College World Series rematch with Pepperdine rained out.

“I think that the word I would use, without appearing to use excuses, was we were rusty,” said Garrido, who had to turn a four-team tournament at home into a three-game trip to Florida State because of heavy rain in California.

“We had our chances to win in the second half of the ballgame. Danny was uncharacteristically wild in the first half of the ballgame, and the game was decided in that first part. Not that it should have ended like that.”

Garrido was referring to an exchange of words between assistant head coach George Horton and home-plate umpire Bruce Ravan in the ninth inning. Horton, coaching first base, questioned a called strike on second baseman Jeremy Carr that gave Florida State reliever Phil Olson a 1-2 count with two out and Nate Rodriquez on first.

After about a minute, Horton returned to his box, but Ravan had to eventually coax Carr back into the batting box.

Sure enough, Olson grooved a fastball low and away that Carr watched, and Ravan called a strike. Carr was furious, and briefly walked behind Ravan toward the Florida State dugout before eventually returning to the Titan side.

“I think it’s a very poor time for an umpire of that experience to prove a point,” Garrido said. “There’s a time in a game for an umpire to establish himself, but not at the end. He’s a mature umpire, and he has a lot of experience.”

When asked if he was concerned about Carr taking the pitch under those circumstances, Garrido replied, “I wasn’t expecting the call. He’s a good umpire. He got down to the level of the situation, not rise above it.

“What did he need to prove? That he was in control? That’s not proving anything. That’s just saying, ‘Screw you.’ ”

Still, Garrido was impressed with a Seminole pitching staff that is under major renovation after losing its entire rotation from the team that lost twice to the Titans in last year’s College World Series.

Paul Wilson (3-0), Jonathan Johnson and Olson combined on a seven-hitter with 10 strikeouts.

“The credit has to go to their pitching,” Garrido said. “They had 10 strikeouts, and we’re tough to strike out.

“The main thing I saw was that everyone who went to the mound for them had a major-league arm. All were good athletes.”

The Titans finally got to Wilson in the sixth. Kyle Evans and Carr singled, but Wilson fielded Dante Powell’s grounder and threw to third base for the forceout. Carr went to third on Tony Banks’ single and scored on a fielder’s choice.

After Jim Betzsold singled in a run and Bret Hemphill drew a walk to load the bases, Johnson relieved Wilson and struck out D.C. Olsen to end the inning.

Fullerton appeared to get a big break in the seventh when Ricabal picked pinch-runner Grady Jordan off second to end Florida State’s only threat over the final six innings.

But after a leadoff infield single by Evans, Johnson retired the next three batters.

“I felt we had some momentum going in the second half,” Garrido said. “We had several chances to break the game open.”

Johnson left in the ninth with one out, Rodriguez on first and a 2-0 count to Evans. In came Olson, a 6-foot-3, 220-pound right-hander who enters the game with the song “Wild Thing.”

Olson struck Evans out on three pitches before striking out Carr for the final out.

Garrido had warned that his team would still be struggling to find itself early in the season against tough competition. The Titans opened the season by winning two of three from 10th-ranked Stanford, but lost two of three at third-ranked Texas before a 12-4 victory over Loyola Marymount.

“We don’t need three more losses, which is probably going to happen,” Garrido said before the three-game series became a reality. “But we do need to play no matter what the outcome.”

Garrido will start right-hander Mike Parisi (1-0, 5.40 ERA) against Seminole left-hander Bryan Harris (0-0, 1.80) in today’s game that starts at noon (EST).