Garrido Fine Tunes Baseball Team at the Midpoint of the Season

It’s not easy to find fault with a college baseball team that is 24-2, averaging almost 10 runs and holding opponents to fewer than three earned runs per game.

That’s where Cal State Fullerton stands as the midpoint in the regular season arrives this week. But Titan Coach Augie Garrido and his assistants continue looking for ways to strengthen the team, and are focusing attention on second base.

Junior Jerome Alviso was the regular there for the first 19 games, but Garrido moved freshman Nakia Hill into the starting lineup for three games. Then sophomore Mike Lamb, a valuable utility player, took over at the position for the last three.

“We’re trying to get that position up to the level of the others on the infield,” Garrido said. “It could still be Alviso stepping up there, or one of the others, but we’d like to be stronger there than we have been. At least for now, there’s still some confusion.”

The move from shortstop has been a big adjustment for Alviso, causing Garrido to consider other possibilities. And neither Alviso nor Hill has shown as much ability on offense as Lamb. Lamb started the season at catcher when Brian Loyd was recovering from a preseason injury, and also has been the designated hitter at times.

Alviso helped his cause Tuesday, going three for four with three RBIs in Fullerton’s 11-5 victory against San Diego. “I felt more back in the groove,” Alviso said. “I’m trying to concentrate on the basics now.”

Alviso has played shortstop the past two games because Jack Jones has been out with a strained hamstring. “He does play with more confidence when he’s at shortstop,” associate head coach George Horton said. “He just needs to take that to the other side of the infield when he’s at second.”

Senior Skip Kiil also has played ahead of sophomore Steve Chatham in left field a few times recently. “Skip is back healthy now, and he was battling for the spot before he was hurt, so we want to give him some opportunity now too,” said Horton. Kiil was out with a strained ligament in his throwing hand.

Even with their success, the Titans aren’t ready to stand pat. The 1996 team is still a work in progress.

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Titan soccer Coach Al Mistri has been receiving glowing reports on his two players--Joe DiGiamarino and Mike Forensich--on the U.S. under-20 team. Mistri believes DiGiamarino has become a strong candidate for the Olympic team.

“Based on everything we know right now, it certainly appears that Joe has a real good chance of being chosen,” Mistri said. “He’s been very impressive in the various training camps from everything we’ve been told.”

Mistri said that few under-20 players normally are considered for the Olympic team.

“Forensich doesn’t have a chance because there are so many talented goalkeepers available, but he’s still regarded highly in the under-20 group.”

Both players are freshmen with three seasons of college eligibility remaining.

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Brian Clawson, a junior who transferred to Fullerton from Victor Valley College, is the Titans’ first qualifier since 1988 for the national collegiate fencing championships.

Clawson, who advanced by finishing third in epee at the Western Regional at UC San Diego, will compete in the NCAA finals March 29-30 at Yale. A total of 24 fencers qualify in each of the three weapons. Clawson had a 32-4 record this season in the Southern California conference of schools with fencing teams.

“We’ve had several qualifiers over the years, but none in the last eight years,” Titan Coach Heizaburo Okawa said.

Titan Notes

The softball team is without one of its top hitters, infielder Chris Zboril, in this week’s PONY Invitational tournament at Fullerton. Zboril is sidelined two weeks with a sprained ankle . . . . Arizona, which is in the PONY tournament, took over the No. 1 ranking nationally Wednesday from UCLA, which dropped to third. Fullerton went from fifth to seventh. . . . Fullerton will give away T-shirts with Big West and Titan emblems to the first 500 fans at the March 30 baseball game against Nevada Las Vegas and to the first 200 at the April 20 softball game against Pacific. . . . Shortstop Jack Jones has been invited to the Team USA tryouts in Millington, Tenn., when the Titan season ends. Outfielder Mark Kotsay and catcher Brian Loyd, who played for Team USA last summer, will return . . . The Titans have three wrestlers in this week’s NCAA championships at Minneapolis: junior Orlando deCastroverde (118 pounds), sophomore Darryl Christian (142) and sophomore Carl Sharamitaro (150).