NOTEBOOK / LON EUBANKS : Titan Pitching Staff Should Benefit From Less-Taxing Format

The College World Series, which begins today, won’t place the same kind of demands on a pitching staff that NCAA regional play did, and that should help Cal State Fullerton.

“There’s less pressure on the pitchers because you’re not playing every day and you never have to play twice in one day the way you do in the regional,” Titan associate head coach George Horton said. “That means you can be a lot deeper for each game.”

The Titans played five games in four days in the Midwest I Regional at Oklahoma State, stretching thin a staff with good depth. Hitting becomes a more dominant factor in the late stages of regional play.

Horton said Mike Parisi (11-3) is the Titans’ scheduled starter in today’s opening game against Georgia Tech. Brad Rigby (13-4) will start for the Yellow Jackets.

“We feel he matches up better with them than anyone else,” Horton said. Parisi also was the winning pitcher when Fullerton beat Georgia Tech, 2-0, this season on the Titans’ home field.

This year’s series field is loaded with strong pitching.

Rosenblatt Stadium is known as a pitchers’ park. The stadium, home of the Omaha Royals of the American Assn., has a large center-field area and the wall is 408 feet from the plate and 10 feet high. It is 332 feet down the lines and the alleys are 360 feet.

Fullerton comes into Omaha with the third-best earned-run average among the eight teams. Miami is first at 2.43, Florida State second at 2.97. Fullerton has a 3.15 ERA. Louisiana State (4.40) and Oklahoma (4.23) have the highest.

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The umpires’ inconsistent strike zones was an issue at the Oklahoma State regional, and Horton and the Titan pitchers are anxious about what it might be like in Omaha.

Matt Wagner, the Big West pitcher of the year, didn’t pitch as well in Stillwater as he normally does, and Horton thought the umpiring could have been a factor.

“In the game Matt started, we had an umpire with a tight strike zone compared to the others,” Horton said. “That made him pitch more out of character. He may have been a little too excited, too.”

By contrast, one of the other umpires in Stillwater called a loose zone.

“The way an umpire views the zone is an important issue and it does have an impact on us,” Titan pitcher Dan Ricabal said. “It doesn’t bother me as much as it does some pitchers because I’m always around the strike zone. If an umpire gets used to seeing a pitch in a certain spot, you tend to get the close calls.”

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Titan center fielder Dante Powell, who suffered a hamstring pull late in Fullerton’s regional championship game against Oklahoma State, is optimistic that he will be able to play today.

“I’ve jogged on it and it feels all right, but I guess we won’t know for sure until the first time I go all out on it,” Powell said.

Coach Augie Garrido said Powell’s playing status “will have to be a day-to-day thing.” Powell has lifted his batting average to .306 after going 11 for 23 in the NCAA regional. He was six for six against Memphis State.