Titans Are Winners in the Big West : Baseball: Conference committee gives Fullerton a share of title, and announces postseason tournament that school will play host to in ’96.

The Cal State Fullerton baseball team received two boosts from the Big West Conference executive committee, which is meeting this week in Palm Springs.

First, the Titans were awarded a share of the conference championship when Fullerton’s make-up game with Pacific was canceled by the committee.

And second, the committee announced the conference will switch to a postseason tournament to decide the automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs starting in 1995. Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach State will be co-hosts of the first two tournaments, which will be played at Blair Field in 1995 and at Fullerton in 1996.

Fullerton is now a Big West tri-champion with Nevada and Long Beach State. Nevada and Long Beach State finish the regular season 16-5; the Titans are 15-5. Based on head-to-head competition, Nevada gets the automatic NCAA tournament bid for this season.

Fullerton and Long Beach State are hoping for at-large bids when the playoff field is announced Monday.

Fullerton won at Pacific twice this season, but the third game was rained out.

“When the game was reset last week, it appeared that it might have a bearing on the automatic playoff berth,” said Rob Halvaks, assistant conference commissioner. “But when Nevada swept last weekend that issue was no longer a factor. At that point, the conference had to look at it from a cost-containment standpoint.”

Rain this week in Stockton made field conditions questionable as well.

Cal State Fullerton Coach Augie Garrido was pleased by the news.

“In view of all the things the committee had to consider, I think it was the right thing to do,” Garrido said about Fullerton was awarded a share of the title.

Garrido also was pleased with the conference’s decision to go to a postseason tournament.

“(Long Beach State Coach) Dave Snow and I have moved to the beat of the drum on a postseason tournament,” Garrido said. “We need things like that to promote our product and I think a postseason tournament will generate a lot of interest.”