CAL STATE FULLERTON NOTEBOOK / LON EUBANKS : Long Beach State Turns Up the Heat on Titans

Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach State were expected to be the top baseball teams in the Big West Conference this season.

For a while, it looked as if only one team was going to live up to expectations.

Fullerton (30-5) won 18 of 19 games and climbed to No. 1 in the nation. Long Beach was only 12-11-1 when conference play started two weeks ago.

But the 49ers have come to life in the last two weeks, with six victories in the last eight games and now are 18-13-1.

The teams are tied for the Big West lead with 5-1 records going into their only three-game series of the regular season, beginning at 7 p.m. Friday at Titan Field. They play again at 7 p.m. Saturday and at 1 p.m. Sunday.

The Titan coaches aren’t surprised Coach Dave Snow’s team has found new life.

“We really expected that to happen,” said George Horton, Fullerton’s associate head coach. “They played a very tough schedule early in the season, and they had some injuries that hurt them. Dave’s teams always seem to play their best baseball when the league season rolls around, and it looks as though that’s happening again.”

Long Beach State’s slow start included defeats in two of three games against well-regarded Tennessee and Wichita State, along with two losses to UCLA.

Titan assistant Rick Vanderhook thinks the 49ers have been stronger since Jason Knupfer settled in at shortstop, and Jeff Liefer was shifted from the outfield to third base.

Liefer is Long Beach’s leading hitter at .339. Outfielder Nic Frank and first baseman Jason Hodges are hitting .333.

The 49ers’ top pitcher a year ago, Scott Rivette, also has improved since conference play began.

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Unlike earlier in the season, the Titans have struggled more to win lately. Fullerton swept a three-game series at Santa Barbara over the weekend but won the games by a total of six runs.

Horton, who handles the pitchers, was displeased with the Titans’ effort.

“Those were three really competitive games,” Horton said. “But I was disappointed with the number of runs and hits we allowed. We didn’t pitch with the kind of quality we’re going to need against the teams we’ll face later on, including this weekend.

“We’ll be facing some teams that can generate a lot of offense on their own, and we’ll have to be better than that. It definitely was a step back for us from a pitching standpoint. But the kids have been working hard, and I still think we’ll be fine.”

The Titans continue to get outstanding hitting from outfielders Mark Kotsay (.428 prior to Wednesday’s game), Tony Miranda (.405) and C.J. Ankrum (.373). Kotsay, a leading candidate for national player of the year honors, has driven in 48 runs in 34 games and has nine home runs. He leads the Big West in batting average, home runs and RBIs.

Coaches and players from both teams look forward to this series each year, and it should again be a good one.

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The Titan softball team also has a big weekend coming up.

Fullerton meets San Jose State at 4 p.m. Friday and Pacific at 1 p.m. Saturday in Big West games. Arizona (38-1), the nation’s No. 1 ranked team, comes to Fullerton Sunday for a 1 p.m. game.

The Titans, ranked fourth in the nation with a 23-8 record, almost upset Arizona the last time the teams met in the finals of the PONY-Louisville Slugger tournament at Fullerton. Arizona won, 7-6. The Titans also lost at Arizona, 10-6, in February.

The Titans continue to get strong pitching from freshman Brandi Isgar and senior Jennifer Mortensen. Isgar is 11-3 with a 1.44 earned-run average and Mortensen is 9-3 with a 1.20 ERA.

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The process of selecting a men’s basketball coach should move into high gear in the next few days with interim coach Bob Hawking or Utah assistant Donny Daniels expected to be the choice.

Daniels, a former Titan player and assistant, said: “I feel I have a good situation at Utah, but I’m strongly interested in Fullerton because that’s where I went to school.”

Interviews for the finalists might begin this week or early next week.

Riverside College Coach Bob Schermerhorn said he also has applied for the job and is regarded as a possible finalist. Schermerhorn, a former assistant at UC Irvine and Arizona State, was head coach at Southern Utah State for four years. He has been head coach at Riverside the last six years.

Fullerton associate athletic director Maryalyce Jeremiah, who has been in charge of the screening committee for the job, denied published reports that she is an applicant for the women’s basketball coaching job at Long Beach State.

“I haven’t applied for the job, and nobody from there in an official capacity has contacted me about it,” Jeremiah said. Jeremiah coached the Titan women’s team before Bill Shumard hired her for the administrative position. Shumard is now an assistant athletic director at Long Beach State.

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Titan Notes

The Titans will play host for the first Big West Challenge Cup track meet Saturday at the Fullerton track complex. The entries include UC Irvine, Long Beach State and UC Santa Barbara. Field events begin at noon, running events at 1 p.m. “We’ll present a traveling trophy that stays with the winning team for the year,” said Coach John Elders. . . . Fullerton’s Heather Killeen had the top effort by a collegiate runner in the 5,000 meters in the Riverside Track Championships last weekend. Killeen ran 16:58, the best time by a Big West female runner this season. Killeen also has the top conference times in the 1,500 and 3,000. . . . Mark Kotsay this week was selected for USA Baseball’s training camp that begins June 7 in Millington, Tenn. USA Baseball uses the camps to evaluate talent for international competition, including the Olympic Games.