Garrido’s Gang Has Another Chance to Prove It Belongs

Now the Cal State Fullerton baseball team has to wrestle with an opponent it never figured to face this late in the season:

Its nerves.

Fullerton is only 7-7 in its last 14 games and, although an NCAA tournament berth is still likely, it is not a sure thing.

“I don’t know, we’re trying as hard as we can,” second baseman Jeremy Carr said. “We’re working our butts off. Things just aren’t falling our way.

“Nothing is going our way right now.”

A 5-3 loss Sunday to San Jose State, coupled with Cal State Long Beach’s sweep of Nevada over the weekend, knocked the Titans down to second place in the Big West Conference.

At one time this season, the Titans had won 14 in a row and were ranked second nationally. This week they are 10th according to Baseball America (down from ninth last week) and 13th in Collegiate Baseball (down from 11th).

Three consecutive losses to Long Beach in mid-April started their current tailspin. And now, with one scheduled game left--at home Tuesday night against UCLA--the Titans find themselves in a most unexpected place: At the mercy of the NCAA selection committee.

“We figured we’d be in good position right now,” outfielder Dante Powell said. “Even after the Long Beach series, we thought we were in pretty good position.

“I guess we’ve got to wait and see now.”

NCAA tournament pairings will be announced May 24 in a televised ceremony at noon on ESPN. Regionals begin May 27-28.

The Titans still figure to be included in the proceedings, although Coach Augie Garrido said Sunday’s loss magnifies the importance of Tuesday night’s game.

“If we can beat UCLA, we’ll have a winning record against two of the top four (Pacific 10 Southern Division) teams,” Garrido said. “And I think our nonconference schedule holds up.”

The Titans are 2-2 against UCLA and Arizona this season, having defeated the Bruins, 7-6, on April 28 and having lost two of three at Arizona on the first weekend of May.

“With the schedule we’ve played, I think we’ll go,” Carr said. “They’ve got to give us some consideration.”

Said Tony Banks: “Of course I think we deserve to be in, but the committee has been shaky on certain things. We definitely feel (Tuesday’s UCLA game) is important.”

Added Powell: “That game will be very important. Very important.”

Still fresh in the minds of Garrido and the players who were around then is the NCAA’s snub of Fullerton in 1991. The Titans had tied Fresno State for first with Long Beach finishing a game back. Yet Fresno got the automatic berth, Long Beach was an at-large selection and the Titans were bypassed.

One similarity: The 1991 team, like this year’s team, had been to the College World Series the previous year.

That didn’t matter in 1991; the team was snubbed anyway. As for this year, the Titans will spend more energy than they would like worrying about it.

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Without an automatic bid, the Titans are faced with what to do after Tuesday’s game against UCLA. There is a gap of nearly two weeks between that game and the NCAA selection announcement.

Garrido is considering adding some games with local teams, but the worry now becomes: Could poor performances in those games hurt a team’s chances for an at-large bid?

It’s something Garrido is considering.

“We’ll probably try to add some games,” Garrido said. “It’s going to be hard. We’re going to have to do them locally, if we do anything.”

Garrido had spoken with the University of Miami about the possibility of playing the Hurricanes in Miami, but those talks ended when Miami couldn’t put together a financial guarantee that would have allowed the Titans to go.

George Horton, Garrido’s assistant, said a break such as the one the Titans will face could conceivably help.

“It can actually work for you,” he said. “You can play intrasquad games and experiment a little bit. Our guys don’t have a tough time getting competitive.”

The Titans also will probably take some time off to let the players prepare for final examinations, but they will practice often during the next two weeks.

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Remember last winter’s rains? Garrido was concerned at the time that it would hurt the Titans, and he believes it has.

“That’s one of the things that has hurt us,” Garrido said. “We were rained out of seven games on this field, and right now we’re sitting at 49 games instead of 56. A lot of it is because of this facility.”

Titan Field has had drainage problems since it opened last year.

“It’s like building a new house,” Garrido said. “No matter how you plan, something breaks down. They’re going to get the drainage (problem corrected) this summer.”

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As Athletic Director Bill Shumard juggles numbers in his shrinking budget, he said a couple of weeks ago that two positions in the athletic department will not be replaced next year: Those of Cindy Walton, former assistant sports information director, and Jerry Lloyd, long-time head trainer who is on medical leave this year and headed for retirement.

One problem: Lloyd has not officially announced his retirement.

“When I read it in the paper, I was a little upset,” said Lloyd, who has been Fullerton’s trainer for 23 years. “I’m on sick leave now and I’m not going to make a decision until my sick leave is up.

“The chances are probably great that if my health stays the same or gets worse, I probably will retire.”

Lloyd has polycystic kidney disease and is awaiting a kidney transplant.

“I’m not closing the door on my career when I don’t have to make a decision until August or September,” Lloyd said.

Shumard was apologetic.

“It’s unofficial and I want to honor that,” he said. “He hasn’t officially notified us yet.”

Titan Notes

Fullerton had the third-best grade-point average among the nation’s wrestling teams in the 1992-93 season, according to the National Wrestling Coaches Assn. The starting 10 and top two reserves combined for a 2.93 GPA. They trailed Stanford (3.17) and Virginia (2.98). Michael Grubbs, whose GPA was 3.80, was a first-team selection. He wrestled at 118 pounds.

Big West Baseball

League Overall School W L T W L T CS Long Beach 17 4 0 35 17 0 CS Fullerton 16 5 0 33 16 0 San Jose State 11 10 0 33 19 0 New Mexico State 9 12 0 31 23 0 Nevada Las Vegas 9 12 0 22 24 0 Nevada 6 12 0 27 17 1 Pacific 7 14 0 28 25 0 UC Santa Barbara 6 12 0 22 27 1