COLLEGE WORLD SERIES NOTES / MIKE DiGIOVANNA : Horton Bids for Washington State Job

George Horton, Cal State Fullerton associate head coach, is one of 10 finalists to replace the retiring Bobo Brayton at Washington State.

Horton, who guided Cerritos College to three State community college championships in six years before moving to Fullerton in 1991, plans to meet with Rick Dixon, Washington State athletic director, perhaps as early as this week, either in Omaha or Orange County.

The Cougars have reached the College World Series four times--in 1950, ‘56, ’65 and ‘76--and Horton believes the program has the potential to get back to Omaha.

“Like any other place, it’s a good school with good facilities,” said Horton, who will also apply for the vacant Florida job. “There’s enough good players there to form a good recruiting base, so it just comes down to developing them. The only drawback is the weather (in Pullman) and how much you can stay on the field.”

Horton, who has been primarily responsible for the Titan pitchers, has not decided whether he’ll leave if he gets an offer.

“It’s got to be right for my family and me,” said Horton, who has three daughters. “Can we afford to live on one income? Is the environment conducive to raising a family? Is it a place I want to stay at for a long time? I don’t want to move and then move again in three years.”

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Matt Wagner found out there’s more to pitching that just throwing the ball Sunday night in the College World Series.

“I didn’t cover first one time, and I didn’t back up at home once,” Wagner said. The Titans had a big lead at the time, and went on to a one-sided, 20-6 victory over Louisiana State. But Wagner still was upset at himself for his mental miscues.

“That’s probably part of the reason I came out of the game when I did,” Wagner said. “That is just as much a part of pitching as pitching is. I started both times, but for some reason just stopped.”

Titan Coach Augie Garrido said he felt Wagner was feeling frustrated at that point in the fourth inning after Louisiana State had scored five runs against him, four of them earned. Dan Ricabal came in to get the final out.

“That made it more difficult for him to stay focused,” Garrido said. “If it gets too ugly, it’s hard to bounce back from that. Matt had fulfilled his role and then Ricabal fulfilled his role.”

Ricabal wound up winning the game. He pitched 2 1/3 hitless innings. Chad Rolish and Ted Silva also pitched in the late innings.

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Dante Powell said Sunday his injured leg was the best it has been since the hamstring was strained against Oklahoma State in the regional championship game.

Powell was scheduled to be the designated hitter before the lineup was changed.

“It worked out well,” Powell said. “It got Sal (Mancuso) back in the lineup and he got some key hits for us.”

Powell went to the sidelines in the third inning, once Fullerton had built the big early lead.

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Mike Parisi’s pitching loss Friday was his first in NCAA postseason play. He won over LSU in the 1992 regional and then beat Florida State in the Series that season. He had a victory over Maine in the Central II regional last year. Parisi also beat Texas Christian in the Midwest I regional. “Mike pitched well enough against Georgia Tech to win,” said Horton.

Series Notes

There were 185 tickets sold to Titan fans for Sunday’s game against against Louisiana State. Family members and friends of Matt Wagner bought the highest number among Titan players, 31. “I grew up a couple of hours from here in Iowa, so we still have a lot of friends and relatives in the area,” said John Wagner, Matt’s father. . . . The 24 runs scored in the four first-round games is the lowest number for the opening round since the 1975 teams scored only 21.

Times staff writer Lon Eubanks contributed to this story.