CAL STATE FULLERTON NOTEBOOK / LON EUBANKS : Baseball, Softball in Spotlight

The college sports year is winding down and Cal State Fullerton hopes to end it with a flourish.

Don’t be surprised if two Titan teams are playing in national championship events only a week apart.

The baseball team is ranked No. 1 in the nation, and the softball team is regarded as one of the nation’s best. Both will be in NCAA regionals in the next two weeks, and both have a good chance to advance to their respective World Series.

Sites for the eight NCAA baseball regionals were announced Monday, and assignments and pairings will be announced next Monday. But Coach Augie Garrido knows what to expect, regardless of where the Titans play May 25.

“It’s not that much different for us, regardless of where it is,” Garrido said. “One’s not that much different than the others. They all require the same thing. You just really have to be focused.”

The Titans have won more regional championships on the road than any other college baseball team in the last 20 years. Fullerton has won eight, compared to four for Arkansas and Wichita State, the next closest.

With eight sites picked, indications are Fullerton most likely will go to Fresno State, Louisiana State or Tennessee, where the host schools may not be seeded No. 1.

Fullerton appears assured of being one of the eight seeded teams.

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Garrido thinks Fresno is a good possibility, but a lot may depend on the selection committee’s feelings about what to do with Auburn if the Tigers win the Southeast Conference’s automatic berth this weekend.

The SEC plays Eastern and Western Division tournaments with the automatic berth going to the team with the best won-lost record in all conference games, including the tournament. If Auburn and Tennessee win the two divisions, as expected, Auburn is assured of the bid based on head-to-head competition.

In that scenario, Auburn also be one of the seeded teams, and the committee might be reluctant to put Auburn at Tennessee or LSU, sites hosted by other conference teams. If that theory holds, Auburn might go to Fresno, and Fullerton and third-ranked USC could become the top-seeded teams at either Tennessee or LSU.

Fullerton going to Tennessee would mean a matchup between two of the top candidates for player of the year honors, the Titans’ Mark Kotsay and the Vols’ Todd Helton.

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Coach Judi Garman’s team begins NCAA softball play Friday at Cal State Northridge, where Missouri and Illinois State join the Titans and Northridge.

A controversy is still simmering about that site.

Fullerton and Northridge battled for the title in this regional a year ago. The Matadors won the decisive third game and went on to finish second in the Softball World Series in Oklahoma City.

The teams met three times this year, and Fullerton won two of three games, although they were early in the season.

Why then is Northridge seeded first, not second, and why is Fullerton not hosting the tournament?

The two teams may be as even as their records indicate. Fullerton is 42-15 and Northridge 41-15. It apparently became a judgment call.

Northridge senior associate athletic director Judy Brame, who is on the selection committee, said several factors were at work.

UCLA also wanted to host the regional at its refurbished facility. But Brame said Fullerton and Northridge would have both needed to play there under NCAA guidelines on proximity, making it too strong a regional to suit the committee.

Because UCLA was one of four teams that had to be top seeded, and both Fullerton and Northridge were not, the committee could send the Bruins outside the region. And that’s what happened.

But why would Northridge play host to the regional again ahead of Fullerton?

“The guidelines are that if more than one school bids, and both the facilities meet the standards, the bid generally goes to higher ranked team,” Brame said.

Garman was disappointed by the decision, primarily because the players had been looking forward to playing at home, and it would be easier for Titan fans to attend the games. “Since we have lights, we could have played the Friday game at night, and more of our fans could have been there,” she said.