NOTEBOOK : USC’s Gillespie Praises Garrido, Titans

It has been 17 years since USC last won an NCAA baseball championship, and mere minutes since Cal State Fullerton won one, so Trojan Coach Mike Gillespie might well have bristled Saturday when asked to assess the program down the freeway.

He could have said: “They’re a royal navy blue pain in my keister.”

He could have said: “I wish Augie and that bleeping scooter of his would head east and just keep driving.”

Instead, this was Gillespie’s evaluation of USC’s main local baseball rival:

“We would be among the first people to recognize the quality of the Fullerton program, not only this year but over a period of 20 years.

“Augie, he’s a ringmaster. He’s had a lot of success there with a lot of different players--and a lot different coaches. That’s one of Augie’s strengths. He finds great assistant coaches and he does a great job of delegating.”

Garrido, listening backstage behind a curtain, later emerged to say he agrees with Gillespie.

“This is a players’ team, not a coaches’ team,” Garrido said. “I get more credit than I deserve. [Associate head coach] George Horton plays as important a role or a more important role than I do . . . The players deserve this. They’re the ones who did it.”

For the record, Fullerton is now 3-3 against USC in postseason play, 22-20-1 overall.

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Commercial break: Fullerton was the home team Saturday, but wore its navy blue road tops in order to help plug an Omaha restaurant that catered a couple of team functions during the past week.

“The name of the place is ‘Booze, Blues and BBQs,’ ” Garrido said. “We didn’t want to go out the night before the [championship] game, so they came over to the hotel and did us up with some ribs. That’s why we decided to go with the blues today.”

However, the Titans did refrain from wearing sandwich boards while they were on the field.

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The glaring lack of a Cal State Fullerton fight song was never more evident than in Saturday’s title game, when the Rosenblatt Stadium organist played “Fight On” after USC home runs but was at a loss whenever a Titan cleared the fence.

“We need a fight song,” Garrido complained afterward. “We had a special song for this tournament, which is, uh, I can’t remember. What is it again, D.C.?”

“ ‘Honky Tonk Woman,’ by the Rolling Stones,” said Titan first baseman D.C. Olsen.

Garrido: “Right. So that’s a real beauty. I say we need to find a Sinatra song, but the guys won’t have it.”

“Honky Tonk Woman” was adopted by the Titans during the regionals in Baton Rouge. A group outing to New Orleans ended with Olsen and several other players on stage at a Bourbon Street blues bar, singing along to the Rolling Stones standard. After that seminal moment, the song just kind of stuck with the team.

Olsen was crooning it again on the field during the championship trophy celebration, but Garrido is holding out for a permanent selection.

How about “Omaha,” by the Counting Crows?

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Rosenblatt Stadium continues to be a field of dreams for Omaha-area baseball fans who packed the stands in record numbers for the Series.

Saturday’s championship game drew a record 22,027, eclipsing the mark of 21,503 set last year during the championship game between Oklahoma and Georgia Tech.

The average attendance per session was a record 18,276 and total attendance for the event was a record 182,759.

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USC pitcher Brian Cooper had faced Fullerton earlier this season, but it didn’t seem to matter much when he pitched to Mark Kotsay.

“My slider didn’t have any bite and my fastball had no jump,” Cooper said. “He took both and deposited them over the fence. He did what he’s supposed to do.”

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USC lost to Miami in its opener, then defeated Oklahoma and Florida State once and Miami twice to reach the championship game. The Trojans set Series records for home runs (14), runs batted in (50), total bases (131) and most hits allowed (73).

The Trojans batted .330 to rank third behind Fullerton and Miami and were next-to-last with a 6.42 earned-run average. The Trojans committed 14 errors and tied Clemson with a Series-worst .938 fielding percentage.

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Walter Dawkins, a former standout at La Quinta High, concluded his career at USC with a one-for-four performance against Fullerton.

Dawkins, a senior outfielder, hit a home run in the third inning against Ted Silva, his ninth of the season.

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Garrido is one of four coaches who have won three national championships. Jerry Kindall of Arizona, Dick Siebert of Minnesota and Bobby Winkles of Arizona State are the others.

Fullerton’s victory over USC gave Garrido 20 Series victories, moving him into a tie for fifth place on the all-time list.

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USC outfielder Geoff Jenkins led the Series in hits (12), home runs (four) and total bases (26). He was third in batting average (.500), RBIs (nine) and slugging percentage (1.083).

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Horton, who a year ago turned down the head coaching job at Washington State, looms as an attractive candidate for a top program seeking a head coach.

Horton, however, says he won’t take a job unless he’s comfortable it will be one he’s willing to commit to long range.

Louisiana State Coach Skip Bertman has been trying to lure Horton to LSU as his associate, but Horton said Saturday that possibility is “pretty remote.”

Times staff writer Lon Eubanks contributed to this story.