Fullerton Finds Itself in Classy Company at World Series : College baseball: Titans trying to become the first top-seeded team to win the title.

“They’re going to have to rip these jerseys off us this season,” Cal State Fullerton Coach Augie Garrido said at the start of postseason tournament play.

No team has done it yet, and the College World Series begins today in Rosenblatt Stadium with the Titans ranked No. 1 in the nation and top-seeded in the tournament. But Fullerton, with a 53-9 record that is the school’s best, will face what is regarded a particularly strong, experienced field.

Second-seeded Florida State (52-14) and Miami (46-15) reached the series a year ago and Oklahoma (42-14) is back as the defending national champion. All three are in the upper-bracket along with a dangerous USC team that is returning to Omaha for the first time since it last won a national title in 1978.

In today’s games, Florida State plays Oklahoma at 12:36 (PDT) with Miami plays USC in the second game.

Fullerton, also back for its second year in a row and the third time in the last four years, will begin its bid for a third national title under Garrido on Saturday against eighth-seeded Stanford (39-23). The game will be nationally televised by CBS beginning at 11:40 (PDT). The second game Saturday matches Clemson (54-12) against Tennessee (52-14).

Fullerton goes into the tournament trying to do what no team has done since the NCAA began seeding teams for the series in 1988. A top-seeded team never has won the title during that time.

“If anybody can do it, Augie probably can,” said Florida State Coach Mike Martin, who has brought a team to Omaha for the eighth time in 16 years as coach there. “Look at what he’s had to overcome already, just by winning those seven regionals all on the road.”

Martin said being the favorite is certainly no advantage. “I came in here with a really good team that was top-seeded in 1991, and it was 0 and 2 and barbecue,” he said. “That’s how quickly we were out of it.”

Garrido, who ranks fourth among active Division I college coaches in victories, relishes the opportunity to change all that.

“It’s not easy to come in No. 1 and stay there with a field as strong as this one is,” Garrido said. “It gives your opponents all that extra incentive all the time. That’s why I really respect what Jim Harrick did at UCLA in basketball. It’s a tougher road. Being No. 1 makes it that much more difficult.”

Stanford Coach Mark Marquess said he thinks Fullerton’s No. 1 ranking is deserved.

“They’re still the toughest team we played all season,” Marquess said. “They’ve played a really tough schedule, and they’ve handled it well. On that alone, they deserve to be No. 1.”

Oklahoma Coach Larry Cochell, who coached at Fullerton during the three years Garrido was at Illinois, said the seedings may not be that important, except for the pressure it might put on the top team. “Any one of these teams can win this tournament,” Cochell said.

No matter what happens the rest of the way, however, Garrido said he has had “probably my most enjoyable season in coaching.”

The Titans come into the series with the top batting average of the eight teams at .334. Fullerton also has 77 home runs, 24 more than a year ago and one more than the 1992 team that lost the championship game to Pepperdine.

Titan center fielder Mark Kotsay and Tennessee’s Todd Helton, the top candidates for college baseball player of the year, each share the top batting average coming into the tournament at .413, and they would come face-to-face Monday if their teams win Saturday. Helton has 89 runs batted in, Kotsay 80.

Florida State has the most highly regarded pitching staff. Two Seminole pitchers, Jonathan Johnson (11-3) and David Yocum (12-2) were first-round picks in the major league amateur draft Thursday. Yocum has a 2.38 earned-run average and Johnson is at 2.95. The staff has a 2.52 ERA.

The Florida State-Oklahoma game promises to be a sparkling pitching duel. Oklahoma will counter Johnson with Mark Redman, who Cochell says has been “outstanding in the postseason.” Redman is 15-2 for the year with a 2.16 ERA. Johnson was the seventh player picked in the draft and Redman the 13th.

Fullerton’s Ted Silva, who will pitch the opener for Fullerton, has the most pitching victories with a 16-1 record.