After Fading in ‘93, Parisi Is Pumped Up About New Season

As junior right-hander Mike Parisi stepped onto the mound at Stanford’s Sunken Diamond on Friday ready to fling the Titans into 1994, several notions flashed through his mind.

Notions such as losses, inconsistency, losing concentration.

Things he wants to avoid. Things he learned all too much about in 1993.

Parisi was 7-0 last season when he hit the wall. He went 3-3 in his final six decisions and, although his 10-3 record was impressive, the season’s last few weeks are what he remembers most.

“I was 10-3, but I didn’t feel like I had one of my better years,” Parisi said. “This year is going to be a lot better.

“The main reason is that I learned not to let down. I’ve got to keep working hard day in and day out. Maybe I relaxed a little bit and thought, ‘OK, I’m 7-0.’ Maybe I thought I wasn’t going to lose.”

Any thoughts of that were scotched shortly after Big West Conference play started and Long Beach State swept three in a row at Titan Field. Parisi was the losing pitcher in two of the three games, losing one as a starter and one in relief.

“After that, I wanted to start over,” Parisi said. “I took things a little differently after that.”

By the end of the season, Parisi was determined to work harder than ever during his time off and, as 1994 dawns, he thinks he has put himself in position to have his strongest spring yet.

“I’m in the best shape of my life,” he said. “I worked hard, lifted weights. . . . I wanted to gain weight, lift the proper way. I didn’t want to run too much because I wanted to gain weight. I’m eating right--staying away from fast foods and trying to eat pastas.”

Parisi, 6 feet 3, weighs 195 pounds this spring, 10 more than last. He thinks it will help him stay stronger. He has already seen results. His fastball, he says, is now in the upper 80s. Last year, it was in the low-to-mid 80s.

On Friday, Parisi was the winning pitcher as the Titans opened their season with a victory over Stanford. In seven innings of work, Parisi allowed eight hits, two runs--both earned--and walked five. He struck out three.

His second start is scheduled for Friday, when Arizona opens a three-game series at Titan Field.

“I’d just like to get better as the season goes on,” Parisi said. “You set goals, wins and losses and earned-run average (Parisi preferred to keep them to himself), but I just want to work hard and help this team get back to the College World Series.”

*

Further proof that the Titan football helmets will see more mothballs than mud next fall: National signing day is today and still no word on the future of Fullerton football. There is still no coach and, by not signing any players today, there is still no team.

University President Milton Gordon said in November that he would not make a decision until he saw Gov. Pete Wilson’s budget in mid-January, and that, too, has come and gone. Insiders say Gordon is simply not ready to make a public announcement but that it could come in the next 30 to 60 days.

*

Big shots: In three weeks, the Titans will play host to the Anaheim Hilton & Towers Baseball Classic that will feature, among others, No. 1 Georgia Tech. On Feb. 25, the tournament’s first day, Georgia Tech will play perennial powerhouse Oklahoma and the Titans will face the University of San Diego.

Double-headers are scheduled for all three days of the tournament.

*

Big shots, part deux: UCLA managed to hold off the Titan women’s gymnastics team Friday, 192.20-188.60, but the evening went well enough that Titan Coach Lynn Rogers remains optimistic for the rest of the spring.

“Considering UCLA was ranked fourth in the country last year, for us to get as close as we did was good news,” Rogers said. “We bettered our score from the week before by three points and we showed progress on the uneven bars. Knock on wood, if we can keep this club together, we can be pretty good.”

The Titans stayed close to the Bruins even though Cristi Clifford fell during her last event, the floor exercise. Still, Clifford finished second overall for Fullerton with a score of 38.3, behind Celeste Delia’s 38.675.

“It’s the same ol’ same ol’ for us,” Rogers said. “We’ve got a shot at being pretty good, getting a couple of kids to the nationals and maybe sneaking our team in there.”

The schedule doesn’t get any easier for the Titans. They are at Oregon State this week and play host to Stanford Feb. 18.

*

Score this: One thing Rogers and his gymnasts are dealing with is a revamped NCAA scoring system.

“It demands more difficulty if you want a higher score,” Rogers said. “There were too many 9.9s and 10s.”

Titan Notes

Fullerton students will be admitted free to all home basketball games this semester. When they voted to assess themselves an extra $14 fee per semester that will go to the athletic department, the agreement was that students would be admitted free to home events beginning next year. But Athletic Director Bill Shumard, as a token of appreciation, wanted to admit the students free beginning this semester. . . . Wrestler Jeff Maes is ranked eighth in the country at 126 pounds. . . . The status of the women’s softball game scheduled Feb. 13 at Cal State Northridge is up in the air because of earthquake damage to the Northridge campus. . . . The baseball teams plays host to Arizona at 7 p.m. on Friday and at 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. . . . The softball team opens its season Feb. 11 at home against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.