Missed Plane Keeps Powell From Landing Honor

In four games last week against Pacific 10 opponents, Cal State Fullerton outfielder Dante Powell batted .550 (11 for 20), with one homer, seven runs batted in, two triples, two doubles, and was four for four in stolen-base attempts.

The Big West Conference player of the week award, though, went to Nevada Las Vegas’ John Coats, who batted .571 (eight for 14) with a homer, two doubles and seven RBIs in three games against lowly Nevada.

But don’t complain to the Big West Conference--chalk it up to the joys of traveling.

Because Fullerton’s game at Arizona went 10 innings on Sunday, a handful of Titans--including Coach Augie Garrido and assistant sports information director Tim Murphy--missed the plane while they were returning rental vans and U-Hauls.

As a result, they didn’t get back to campus until late Monday morning, too late for Murphy to nominate Powell.

In other baseball news, the conference championship will come down to six games this weekend: Fullerton’s three against San Jose State at Titan Field and Cal State Long Beach’s home series against Nevada. Fullerton and Long Beach are tied for first, but Long Beach, having swept Fullerton last month, will win any tiebreaker.

The Titans could hit a landmark before the weekend, though: Garrido, needing only one more victory to reach 1,000 for his career, could get it Wednesday when the Titans play at Cal State Northridge.

The game will also give Adam Millan, who has homered in four consecutive games, a chance to extend his streak.

Fullerton dropped to ninth (from eighth) this week in the Baseball America poll and to 11th (from seventh) in the Collegiate Baseball poll.