Titans Put It All Together to Win : College baseball: Cal State Fullerton takes Big West Conference tournament with 8-4 victory over Long Beach State.

Looking for a formula for successful college baseball? Cal State Fullerton showed it again Sunday: power, pitching and sparkling defense.

It added up to a Big West tournament championship and the conference’s automatic NCAA tournament berth in an 8-4 victory over Long Beach State in front of 1,678 at Blair Field.

But put heavy emphasis on that word “defense.” Coach Augie Garrido did.

“I think our control this week came from the defensive side of it,” he said. “There’s a lot less pressure on the offense when they’re not having to press to score runs every time they come up . . . That’s one of the interesting things about this team. They’ve put their best foot forward defensively and I wasn’t sure they would do that at the beginning of the year.”

The Titans, 49-9 and ranked No. 1 in the nation, turned in four inning-ending double plays. Shortstop Jack Jones ignited three of them and third baseman Tony Martinez one. They included one in the ninth that quickly ended any glimmer of a late comeback rally by the 49ers (34-21-1).

Fullerton stretched its streak of consecutive errorless games to five. “Our whole infield has been sound,” Garrido said.

First baseman D.C. Olsen provided the power with his second grand slam and 13th home run of the season in a five-run seventh inning. Starting pitcher Tim Dixon picked up his 14th victory of the season without a loss, although Long Beach got to him for three runs in the 49ers’ four-run seventh.

Mark Kotsay, known more for his hitting, came on in relief to hold Long Beach scoreless in the final two innings and nailed down Fullerton’s 10th consecutive victory.

As Fullerton dominated the Big West with three consecutive tournament victories after winning the regular-season title, Long Beach Coach Dave Snow remained hopeful his team would be chosen May 22, when the at-large bids are announced.

Snow, however, again came away impressed with Fullerton. “They really complement each other day in and day out,” he said, comparing them favorably with other top Titan teams.

Fullerton got off to a good offensive start in the first with two runs against 49er starting pitcher Steve Hueston (2-1). The Titans were in control the rest of the way.

C.J. Ankrum, who had two hits, and Jeremy Giambi singled. Then catcher Brian Loyd, the tournament’s most valuable player who drove in three runs in the game and nine in the playoff, sent both runners home on his ground ball single over second with two out.

Hueston steadied, and Fullerton didn’t score again until the sixth. Joe Fraser, who also had two hits, doubled and reached third on Olsen’s infield hit. Martinez’s sacrifice fly scored Fraser. The Titans made it 8-0 in the top of the seventh with the big hits a double by Ankrum and a single by Kotsay before Olsen’s drive to deep left-center. The 49ers used two relief pitchers in the inning, but never went to talented closer Gabe Gonzalez, who came on later to get two outs in the ninth. Long Beach kept it from being a runaway later in the inning with four runs, three of them charged to Dixon. A two-run double by Will Skeet and run-scoring singles by pinch hitter David Stevenson and Jeff Liefer were the key hits. Titan relief pitcher Scott Hild gave up two hits and one run in the inning.

The sites for the eight NCAA regionals will be announced today, but assignments won’t be made for another week. Fullerton’s victory should assure the Titans a No. 1 seeding in a regional.