Baseball Team Coming Together

Cal State Fullerton’s hitters led the Titans into a new college baseball season.

Then last weekend at Arizona, the pitching staff gave every indication that it also plans to keep up.

The Titans, who won two of three games against Stanford in the first week of the season despite allowing 23 runs, gave up only five runs in a three-game sweep of Arizona after allowing only two in a victory over UCLA.

“Our pitching staff definitely took a step forward,” said Fullerton associate head coach George Horton, who handles the pitchers. “In every case, our pitchers threw better than they had the previous week.”

The ratings this week reflected Fullerton’s fast start. The Titans (7-1) moved up to No. 3 in the nation in Collegiate Baseball’s poll. They are ranked 11th in Baseball America.

The Titans won the opener against Arizona, 10-2, with starter Jon Ward giving up only one run and five hits in seven innings. Tim Dixon started the second game and allowed only one run in six innings in a 10-2 victory.

Ted Silva capped the series with a complete-game 6-1 victory in which he allowed seven hits and struck out 11.

“This will make it a lot easier on us,” Silva said. “When people were talking before the season began about our pitching not being as strong as last season, we took that as a personal insult. We had kind of an attitude of we’ll show you guys on the field.”

Silva (3-0) has a 1.85 earned-run average in his move from relief pitcher to starter. “He’s been awesome,” Horton said. “He’s clearly been our most consistent pitcher. He’s tough to score on. He doesn’t walk anyone and he keeps the ball low.”

Silva said he’s enjoying his new role, but it has been an adjustment.

“I still have a lot to learn, and I don’t have the routine really down yet,” he said. “I’m still warming up too long because there’s a difference between starting and relief. It takes a different level of stamina.”

The Titans have eight players--either regulars or platoon players--hitting above .330. Outfielder Mark Kotsay leads the way with 18 hits in 35 at-bats (.514), including four doubles and a home run.

Fullerton plays at home at 7 tonight against San Diego, then goes to Fresno State for a three-game series beginning Friday. Fresno won two of three games from Stanford last weekend and is ranked among the nation’s top 20 teams.

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Home fields: Fullerton Athletic Director John Easterbrook said he’s hopeful about the university improving the facilities at the Titans’ baseball field. Eventually he would like to see the stadium ready for consideration as a site for an NCAA regional tournament.

“We’re taking bids now to have restrooms built, and we’re hopeful that we can have them ready no later than the start of the 1996 season,” Easterbrook said. There are only portable toilets there now.

“My plan was to spend my first year evaluating the needs from a facility standpoint, but that was such an obvious thing that I felt we needed to get going on it as soon as possible,” Easterbrook said.

A new scoreboard for the softball field is scheduled to be installed soon and some improvements at Titan Gym, which had been approved before Easterbrook’s arrival, are scheduled to begin this spring.

The gym floor will be refinished after the season, and the women’s locker room also will be refurbished. But even that will leave the Titans well behind their competition in the quality of their basketball facility.

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Injury update: Deborah Ayres, Fullerton women’s basketball coach, is happy to have Autumn Hollyfield playing again. Ayres hopes Hollyfield’s return will make the Titans more of a threat in the Big West postseason tournament.

Hollyfield missed 16 games after surgery for a knee injury that occurred in the second game of the season.

The nation’s top three-point scorer last season with 4.1 per game, Hollyfield did not play extensively against San Jose State and Hawaii last week, and Ayres hopes it won’t take her too long to get back to her old form.

Hollyfield, who led the team in scoring with a 17.9 average last season, scored 35 points in the two games before the injury. She had 13 points in Sunday’s 84-68 victory over Hawaii and 16 Tuesday in a 103-78 victory over Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

Hollyfield’s return will take more of the pressure off center Koko Lahanas, who leads the Big West in scoring with a 27.2 average, as well as guard Shayla Bradshaw, who averages 18.2.

The Titans (11-10) have climbed into fifth place in the conference at 7-6.

Notes

The Titan men’s basketball team (6-15) has five regular-season games remaining, but Coach Bob Hawking remains hopeful that his team will give a good effort down to the wire and in the conference tournament. The Titans play two games at home this week, against Pacific Thursday and against last-place San Jose State Saturday. . . . The women’s gymnastics team finished third in the UCLA Invitational over the weekend. The Titans have a dual meet at San Jose State Saturday. Fullerton is ranked 16th in the nation.