Titans, Georgia Tech, Oklahoma Begin Baseball Tournament Today

Four of the nation’s top college baseball players and two of the nation’s top teams will be featured in this weekend’s Anaheim Hilton & Towers tournament, which begins today at Cal State Fullerton.

The Titans, ranked third by Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball Magazine and second by USA Today, will face San Diego at 3 p.m. today. Georgia Tech, ranked No. 1 by Baseball America and USA Today and No. 2 by Collegiate Baseball, will play Oklahoma at 7 tonight.

San Diego (8-3) plays Georgia Tech (5-0) at 2 p.m. and Fullerton (12-2) plays Oklahoma (5-0) at 6 p.m. Saturday, and San Diego plays Oklahoma at noon Sunday. Georgia Tech will face Fullerton in the tournament’s featured game at 4 Sunday.

The Yellow Jackets have three players who were rated among the nation’s top-25 college prospects by Baseball America: catcher Jason Varitek (No. 5), shortstop Nomar Garciaparra (No. 8) and pitcher Brad Rigby (No. 16). Titan center fielder Dante Powell was rated the 11th-best college player in the country.

Varitek, a starter on the 1992 U.S. Olympic team and a first-round pick (21st overall) of the Minnesota Twins last June, is batting .611 with a home run and seven runs batted in. Garciaparra, a former La Puente Bishop Amat High standout who also started on the 1992 Olympic team, is batting .524 with two triples and four RBIs.

Rigby is 2-0 with an 0.69 earned-run average but is tentatively scheduled to pitch against Oklahoma, not Fullerton. Powell is batting .299 with four homers and 16 RBIs. Oklahoma, ranked 22nd by USA Today and coached by former Fullerton Coach Larry Cochell, is led by junior shortstop Rich Hills, a former Esperanza High standout.