Titans Lack the Look of Champions

Cal State Fullerton Coach Augie Garrido says he has targeted the problems; now it is a question of finding solutions.

The defending national champions have slipped to No. 5 in the polls and a 40-10 record after playing below .500 baseball the last five weeks of Big West Conference play. They are 7-8 in the last 15 games and stumble into the conference tournament as the fourth-seeded team.

“I think there have been a lot of distractions and outside influences,” Garrido said. “And we haven’t dealt with them very well.”

Players are thinking about the upcoming draft and the possibility of playing for the national team in the Atlanta Olympics, Garrido said. He also said the pressure fans have put on the team to repeat has kept players from focusing on regular-season games.

“I talked with them, but obviously no matter what I did it didn’t work,” Garrido said, “and it is too late to talk now.”

Garrido also said the team is losing because of a lack of desire.

“You look at Long Beach [State], and their kids are trying their hardest, playing their best, and that is exciting to see. But we don’t have that,” he said. “And you can blame me for that. That is my job.”

That the regular-season race means little has not been lost on the Titans. Some say they have grown bored with playing conference games that do little more than decide the seedings for the conference tournament.

Fullerton plays Long Beach on Friday in the first round of the Big West Conference tournament. If the Titans win the title, they are almost assured a No. 1 slot in the regionals. So why worry about games against Nevada and UNLV, when the goal can be reached regardless?

“That might be part of the problem,” Garrido said. “You’re not very hungry after you have just eaten. But if we don’t play better, we are not going to do anything in the tournament. We are not going to make it twice in a row, and perhaps we just proved that by finishing fourth.”

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Long Beach State withdrew its bid to host an NCAA regional, meaning the Southland will again be without a site. The last time a regional was held locally was at USC in 1991, and this season, despite six teams in the most recent Baseball America top 25, the Southland will have its best teams packing come tournament time.

The 49ers had been getting good words from the NCAA after deciding to bid a few weeks ago. Their bid was bolstered by a late run to the Big West regular-season title, and the 8,035 fans the committee saw attend a series against Fullerton to close April.

Also, the memory of “Staplegate” would have aided Long Beach’s chances. Two years ago, Long Beach submitted a bid for a regional but the bid was lost and the regional went elsewhere. When Long Beach asked for an explanation, the committee shamefacedly said Long Beach’s bid had accidentally been stapled to another school’s bid and ignored.

But the NCAA and the 49ers (32-22, 15-6) locked horns Tuesday on scheduling of the regional games and that killed the bid. The NCAA insisted the regional games begin Thursday, May 23, and end by Sunday, May 25. Long Beach preferred a Friday-Monday format it felt would draw more fans.

The committee said it was concerned the later start, if delayed by bad weather, would hold a team in the regional until Tuesday.

Last season, bad weather in the Midwest held teams in the regionals longer then the NCAA desired. Long Beach scoffed at that excuse, and reasonably so. When was the last time someone mistook a spring day in Long Beach for one at Wichita State?

The NCAA will announce the eight regional sites May 12. Fresno State and Stanford are the West Coast schools bidding, with the Cardinal holding a considerable edge because of its ranking (No. 9) and because lights were added to Sunken Diamond this season, as the committee requested.

If the West does not get a regional, look for the Pac-10 schools to try something next season to assure a bid.

“We can have the conference sponsor a regional bid, and say that the Pac-10 winner is going to host,” Stanford Coach Mark Marquess said. “We can solve that problem by being a little creative.”