COLLEGE WORLD SERIES NOTEBOOK / LON EUBANKS : COLLEGE WORLD SERIES : Garrido Haunted by 1994 Semifinal

Cal State Fullerton Coach Augie Garrido believes in percentage baseball, but he hasn’t forgotten last year’s College World Series semifinal game against Georgia Tech.

He says he’s still surprised the Titans didn’t at least tie the score in the 12th inning with Dante Powell on third base with no outs.

Nomar Garciaparra’s home run in the top of the 12th had given Georgia Tech a 3-2 lead, but the Titans couldn’t get Powell in with the tying run. “You’d think we’d score him from there, but we didn’t,” Garrido said Friday as he awaited today’s championship game in Rosenblatt Stadium.

Powell singled, and went to third on an error on the play by the Tech right fielder. Bret Hemphill walked, but Sal Mancuso struck out and D.C. Olsen popped up. Jim Betzsold walked to load the bases, but Brian King lined to center to end the game.

Garrido’s point is simple: It’s difficult to predict what might happen in a Series game, and the percentages don’t always hold true to form, especially in Omaha.

“What happened to us was totally unexpected, but that’s the kind of thing that decides championships,” Garrido said. “History would tell you that we’d score in that situation. But unexpected things always seem to happen here.”

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USC’s victory over Miami Friday night moved the Trojans into today’s championship game against the Titans; it will be the third game between the teams this year.

Fullerton won, 10-9, in February at home when Mark Kotsay had four runs batted in and picked up the save. USC won the second game on its home field, 7-4, with five runs off starter Tom Dillon in the sixth inning.

“They deserve to be in the championship game the way they’re playing,” Garrido said Friday night. “I expect it to be a very competitive game.”

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Fullerton has the best team batting average and the best earned run average so far in the Series.

The Titans are hitting .385 and have a 2.00 ERA.

Kotsay is second in hitting with a .583 average. Florida State’s J.D. Drew, who had four home runs in three tournament games, has the top average at .636.

Kotsay’s chief competition for player of the year honors this season, Tennessee’s Todd Helton, hit .313 in the Series.

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The Titans will face five of the seven other teams that reached the Series again next year.

The Titans will play Miami, Stanford and USC in the regular season and have Florida State and Oklahoma in the Anaheim Hilton & Towers tournament field.

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All three of Fullerton’s previous appearances in the Series championship game have been pitchers’ duels.

The Titans beat Arkansas, 2-1, to win the 1979 title and defeated Texas, 3-1, to win in 1984 title. Pepperdine won, 3-2, in 1992.

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Titan Notes

Cal State Fullerton will be the home team in today’s championship game by virtue of being the only unbeaten team. . . . Almost a fourth of all runs in the tournament this year have been scored in the first inning and more than half of the runs have come in the first three innings. . . . Attendance at the Series remains at good pace although the crowd for the Fullerton-Tennessee game Thursday of 14,242 was the smallest so far. It was held down by 58-degree temperatures on an overcast day. . . . The Titans are scheduled to return to Orange County’s John Wayne Airport Sunday on American flight 1973, connecting in Dallas from Omaha, Fullerton sports information director Mel Franks said. The flight is scheduled to arrive in Orange County at 12:11 p.m. Franks said a reception for the team is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Sunday at Titan Field.