CAL STATE FULLERTON NOTEBOOK / LON EUBANKS : Weather Puts Baseball Team Behind Schedule

Whatever happened to the advantage Southern California college baseball teams are supposed to have this time of year?

That’s what Titan Coach Augie Garrido has been wondering during the recent rains. It must have reminded him of the three years he coached at Illinois, where the only place dry enough or warm enough to practice baseball at this time of the year had a roof on it.

Because of the rain, the Titans have been able to practice on an actual baseball field only five times since practice started Jan. 3.

“There’s no doubt that it has put us behind where we would like to be at this stage,” Garrido said, “but we can’t dwell on that.”

There are some aspects of preseason practice that don’t require dry turf, and Garrido has been trying to emphasize the mental side of the game. “We don’t look at it as dead time,” Garrido said. “There are quite a few things we can do in a classroom situation, and we’ve been spending quite a bit of time on that.”

The Titans have been working out indoors regularly, and the racquetball courts attached to Titan Gym have been turned into bullpens.

“Actually, the pitchers probably are pretty much on schedule,” Garrido said. “They’ve been able to get in quite a bit of work inside.”

But with the season opener rapidly approaching Jan. 31, Garrido was delighted to see sunny skies this week.

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Reserve center Fred Amos says it was “a lot of little things” that led up to his dismissal from the Titan men’s basketball team.

“But I think, as much as anything, they made an example out of me . . . shape up or ship out,” Amos said Tuesday. “But I’m not aware of any specific team rules that I didn’t follow.”

Amos had made no secret that he wasn’t happy his playing time had fallen off in the last five games. A source close to the team said it had affected his demeanor lately.

Titan Coach Bob Hawking, however, has declined further comment.

Amos, a senior, said he will concentrate on academics. “I need only 18 credits to graduate,” he said.

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Coach Lynn Rogers was pleased with the season-opening performance by his women’s gymnastics team against UCLA Friday, and is looking forward to seeing how the Titans will do Friday against Stanford.

UCLA defeated the Titans by a fraction of a point, 190.324 to 190.025.

The Bruins were ranked eighth in the nation in the preseason poll by the National Assn. of Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches; the Titans were 22nd.

“We were farther along than I was expecting us to be at the start of the season,” Rogers said. “It was a good reminder to me that they perform better in competition than they do in practice.

“We could have won the match. UCLA actually made more mistakes than we did, but they had more difficulty in their routines than we did. We don’t have the depth and difficulty that some of the top teams in the nation have. But we were more consistent than UCLA, and consistency is part of the game.”

Cristi Clifford was second in the all-around with 38.8 points and sophomore Alex Lott was fourth at 37.85.

“I was especially pleased with one of our freshmen, Christy Lutz, who was 9.6 on floor exercise and 9.5 on the beam,” Rogers said.

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Koko Lahanas, a big surprise this season for the Titan women’s basketball team, ranks fifth in the nation in scoring with an average of 25.9 points. She’s not far behind the leader, New Mexico State’s Anita Maxwell, who is averaging 26.9.

Lahanas, a 6-foot center who scored 40 points against Nevada Las Vegas on Jan. 8, already has scored 141 points more than she had last season as a junior. Lahanas is third in the conference in rebounding with a 10.8 average.

“Koko has done a great job for us,” Coach Debbie Ayres said. “We just have to get the ball to her, and she scores.”

Guard Shayla Bradshaw is averaging 18.4 points, which is fourth in the Big West.

Fullerton leads the Big West in scoring with an average of 73.3 points, but also ranks last in team defense, giving up an average of 78.7.

Fullerton plays Nevada Saturday and Pacific Sunday, both at home.

“Playing two games back to back definitely will be demanding with our lack of depth,” Ayres said.

Titan Notes

The Fullerton baseball team is ranked in the preseason top 20 in college baseball by three national publications. Fullerton, which advanced to the College World Series last year before losing to Georgia Tech in the semifinals, is ranked 16th by Collegiate Baseball, 13th by Collegiate Sports and 15th by Baseball America. . . . Baseball America, ranking this year’s recruiting classes nationwide, rated Fullerton 20th.