Everything Works for Titans : College baseball: Cal State Fullerton defeats Maine, 11-5, and will face USC tonight.

It was after Kevin Costner had finished his hot dog and second baseman Jeremy Carr had stolen three bases, after Cal State Fullerton had executed two perfect squeeze bunts and turned the Maine Black Bears inside out, when Coach Augie Garrido held up his hand.

“I want to make an announcement,” he said. “We’ve just traded for (Brooks) Kieschnick. He’s coming over to pitch the third game for us.”

Garrido grinned the grin of a man who had spent the afternoon signaling for plays his opponent didn’t have a prayer of stopping.

A trade? For Brooks Kieschnick, the Texas Longhorn ace, Collegiate Baseball’s 1993 player of the year?

OK, so the Titans didn’t accomplish everything Friday but, considering their 11-5 victory over Maine in an opening-round NCAA Central II Regional game, they weren’t concerned enough to skip that Texas barbecue later in the evening, either.

Playing a game for the first time in 2 1/2 weeks, the Titans (34-17) laced up their spikes, loosened up their arms and then lit up Maine (33-26) to advance to tonight’s game against USC, a 7-1 winner over Kentucky.

It was the Titans’ 13th consecutive regional victory, and they are 17-3 in regional play since 1984. And, they are 2-0 this season playing in front of Costner, the school’s most famous alum, who is in town filming a movie with Clint Eastwood. He spent the afternoon watching baseball from a front-row seat near the Fullerton dugout.

He saw the Titans score on a safety squeeze and a suicide squeeze, two on wild pitches, two more on errors and another on a sacrifice fly.

They tied a season high with seven stolen bases and used the hit-and-run on several occasions.

Mark Ballard (8-3) started for Maine, faced eight batters and left trailing, 3-0. He threw only 30 pitches before complaining of numbness in his fingers and shoulder.

“(Maine trainer) Wes (Jordan) says he can’t understand it,” Black Bear Coach John Winkin said. “Mark warmed up real well, he felt well, and Wes said he threw well.

“It’s strange.”

But true. Fullerton baseball, when the Titans are on their game, is 3 1/2 hours of the Home Shopping Network or Roseanne Barr singing the national anthem. Sheer torture for opponents.

“The kind of offense we play puts a lot of pressure on defenses,” shortstop Nate Rodriquez said. “It tends to break you down if you’re not mentally there. We jumped on them so quickly that, mentally, I think they had doubts. We saw it early.”

Indeed, after Mike Parisi (10-3) retired the first three Black Bears, Carr led off in the bottom of the first with a routine grounder that freshman shortstop Mike Sidoti booted.

Carr stole second and third baseman Jeff Ferguson was hit by a pitch. Then, Carr stole third and Ferguson second.

After center fielder Dante Powell struck out, Carr scored on a wild pitch and left fielder Tony Banks dropped a perfect squeeze bunt to score Ferguson.

In the second, it was much of the same. First baseman D.C. Olsen walked and Rodriquez fouled off a hit-and-run attempt. The Maine defense had shifted around toward right so Rodriquez, batting right-handed, ripped the next pitch down the left-field line for a double, scoring Olsen.

That was it for Ballard and, two batters later, Rodriquez scored on Carr’s sacrifice fly to make it 4-0. Betzsold then scored on a Ferguson single.

The Titans’ biggest problem was that they used four pitchers. Even though Maine never came closer than 5-2--and Fullerton quickly bumped that up to 9-2--the Black Bears made some noise. Their biggest problem was a lack of clutch hitting; they left 14 runners on base.

Using Parisi, Derek Fahs, Kimson Hollibaugh and Ted Silva didn’t seem to bother Garrido even though the weekend has just begun for the Titans.

“It’s OK because it has to be,” he said. “We’re just trying to win. We have to accept the game. The game tells us what we have to do. We tried to buy an inning out of Kimson, who was struggling and needs confidence.

“The game said, ‘Aw, the hell with you. You have to use somebody else.’ ”

But the game also allowed Carr and Ferguson two RBIs apiece and Powell, Rodriquez and Adam Millan two hits apiece.

Titan notes

The Titans get a kick out of counting Kevin Costner among their fans. “He’s the 10th man, we know that,” shortstop Nate Rodriquez said. “He went to Santa Barbara for a game, practiced with us. Coach (Augie Garrido) told us he has all of our stats, He’s right there with us. He told Skip what he wouldn’t give to put on a uniform.” Actually, Costner did, for a day--he practiced with Fullerton in January, playing shortstop in an intrasquad game. “He got a hit, too,” Rodriquez said. “He had a couple of plays in the field, too, and he made them. He wasn’t spectacular, but he made them.” . . . Game-time temperature was 77 degrees, but by the end of the game the Disch-Falk Field scoreboard thermometer read 88 degrees. “The heat just sits there (on the artificial turf),” Rodriquez said. “The turf doesn’t breathe. I don’t like it at all.” . . . Right-hander Dan Ricabal (11-2, 3.39 ERA) will start tonight’s game, which is scheduled to begin about 6 p.m. (PDT). He’ll face USC’s Mike Collett (8-4, 4.32 ERA). The game will be broadcast on KMNY (1600) radio.

* NCAA BASEBALL ROUNDUP: C7