BIG WEST CONFERENCE BASEBALL PREVIEW : Titans Favored, but Tournament Has Final Say

The Big West Conference baseball race starts Friday, with little doubt about the team to beat for the championship.

Even if Cal State Fullerton (24-3), the nation’s No. 1 ranked team, should turn the regular-season race into a runaway, Big West coaches expect added interest all the way to the end, thanks to the new postseason tournament that will determine who gets the conference’s automatic NCAA playoff berth.

The top four teams will make the conference tournament. This year’s double-elimination event is scheduled for May 12-14 at Blair Field in Long Beach. The tournament will be at Fullerton in alternate years.

Conference coaches unanimously support the new format, which they say will provide a good prelude to the NCAA tournament.

Three teams from the conference--Fullerton, Nevada and Long Beach State--reached the NCAA playoffs last season, and coaches are optimistic that three, and possibly four teams, will be chosen for the regionals.

Those three teams, which shared the regular season title in 1994, are at the top of the coaches’ poll. Fullerton received seven of eight first-place votes. Long Beach State picked up the other, although the 49ers (12-11-1) have not been as successful as expected.

Nevada, 19-5 and ranked 14th nationally, appears to be the leading threat to Fullerton at this stage.

“We’re excited at this point, particularly since we’ve played only three of our first 24 games at home,” Nevada Coach Gary Powers said. “But we know our biggest challenges are ahead of us.”

Nevada plays a three-game series at Long Beach beginning Friday. “That should be a good measuring stick of where we really are,” Powers said.

Nevada, which lost seven position players and two pitchers who were 17-game winners, has one of the conference’s top starting pitchers returning in Bobby Post. He was 10-1 in 1994 and is off to a 5-0 start. Relief pitcher Rico Lagattuta has four victories and six saves.

Long Beach State Coach Dave Snow said he has been disappointed with his team’s performance so far and is well aware that a big turnaround is needed if the 49ers are to have a fifth consecutive NCAA tournament appearance.

“We’re just not happy with where we are,” Snow said.

The 49ers have made 42 errors in 24 games, and Scott Rivette, who was one of the top pitchers in the Big West last season with a 14-1 record and 2.50 earned run average, is struggling. Rivette, a junior right-hander, is 2-3 with a 3.10 ERA this season.

The conference’s biggest surprise has been New Mexico State, picked to finish last but off to a 23-10 start. There appears to be more balance in the conference than in recent years. Pacific is 19-7 and Nevada Las Vegas is 19-9. The only team with a losing record is San Jose State (11-15-1).

San Jose State plays Fullerton this weekend, and Spartan Coach Sam Piraro, like the other conference coaches, expects to face a difficult challenge against the Titans. Piraro shudders when he considers Fullerton’s .342 team batting average and 236 runs scored in 27 games.

“That’s a very proficient offensive team,” Piraro said. “You’re talking about a team that deserves to be No. 1 in the country.”

Fullerton Coach Augie Garrido said even he has been surprised by the Titans’ fast start.

“I never thought they’d be this consistent at this stage of the season,” Garrido said during a conference call with other coaches Wednesday. “Our players have shown a great work ethic, and we just need to continue to stay focused.”