Frustrated Titans Get Aggressive

Cal State Fullerton’s hitters were frustrated and embarrassed by being shut out on three hits in the College World Series opener against Georgia Tech.

But Titan Coach Augie Garrido came up with an answer and a whole new twist for the baseball coaching manual Sunday.

“We hit from center field toward home plate in our practice session before the game,” Garrido said with a smile. “Maybe that’s what turned our karma around.”

Instant karma certainly got the Titans going Sunday night. Fullerton scored 11 runs in a bizarre first inning and rolled on to 20-6 victory over Louisiana State, sending the defending national-champion Tigers (46-20) back to Baton Rouge with consecutive losses. The Titans (46-15) meet Florida State, a 12-4 loser to Georgia Tech earlier in the day, in an elimination game Tuesday.

It was the kind of game that made Garrido just roll his eyes and ask: “Where the hell did that come from? It sure wasn’t something that we expected. This was a very strange game for me. Just weird. I’m just glad that I was on the right side of it.”

It was the most runs the Titans had ever scored in one game in the College World Series. Notre Dame in 1957 and Arizona State in l984 share the record for most runs scored in a Series game at 23.

“I thought it was a good game for four pitches,” LSU Coach Skip Bertman said. “Then it fell apart. When you play 70 games a year everything is going to happen to you, good and bad. And the good happened for Fullerton, but they were real good.”

Second baseman Jeff Ferguson was two for three with three runs batted in and four runs scored, one of them on his 12th home run of the season. He moved into the leadoff spot because Dante Powell remained hobbled. Garrido had planned to use Powell as the designated hitter, but changed the lineup at the last minute, putting Powell back in center field and putting Sal Mancuso back in the lineup as the designated hitter. And Mancuso wound up getting two hits in the first inning.

Ferguson opened with a double. Then bunts by Mark Kotsay and Bret Hemphill that LSU misplayed got the Titans rolling with one run in and the bases loaded. Mancuso promptly singled in another run and then the roof fell in.

Adam Millan walked, forcing in another run. Jason Gill’s infield out scored another, and more shoddy defensive play helped Fullerton. Jack Jones bunted and LSU appeared to have an out at the plate, but the Tiger catcher lost control of the ball, giving the Titans a 6-0 command. Kotsay, batting for the second time in the inning, walked on four pitches, forcing in another run and building the lead to 7-0. Bertman finally got pitcher Brett Laxton out of the game.

The next Tiger pitcher, Jeremy Tyson, didn’t fare much better. He struck out Powell for his second out, but the Titans put four more runs on the board before LSU could stop the bleeding. Hemphill singled in two more runs and Mancuso had a one-run single. Another error on Millan’s ground ball added the final run.

The Titans built their lead to 13-0 with Ferguson’s two-run homer in the second. LSU picked up a run in the third, but Fullerton led, 14-1, after Jeremy Giambi’s bases-empty home run in the fourth.

Given a 13-run led going into the fourth, Titan starter Matt Wagner got into trouble and gave up four runs on three hits and left the game. Dan Ricabal came on in relief to get the final out.

The rout continued with Fullerton scoring five runs in the fourth to make it 19-5. A two-run double by Jim Betzsold and a one-run single by Craig Skyberg were the big hits for the Titans.