Horton Favors Bigger Tournament

The NCAA is moving toward expanding its baseball tournament format to 64 teams, and Cal State Fullerton Coach George Horton says the new plan would be good for the college game.

The proposal, recommended by the NCAA baseball committee, calls for 16 regionals with four teams each, rather than the current eight six-team regionals. Under the proposal, the 16 regional winners would advance to eight super-regionals in which two teams would play best-of-three series for berths in the College World Series.

The new format could go into effect for the 1999 season if approved by the NCAA committees that will consider it this year. A final decision probably won’t be made until August.

“I think everyone sees it as an opportunity to make more money in college baseball, and if it does that, it could trickle down to scholarships and budgets for the programs,” Horton said.

Horton has some mixed emotions about moving from the six-team regional. “In the four-team regional, you don’t get as deep into your pitching staff, and we’ve always worked to develop a pitching staff with good depth,” Horton said. “But whoever comes out of a three-game series in the next round probably would be more deserving.”

A move to 16 regionals would improve Fullerton’s chances of hosting one. The Titans have played in 19 regionals in 23 years, but all have been on the road.

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Horton is pleased with his team’s improvement in a sweep of Fresno State last weekend. “It was definitely a step forward,” Horton said.

The big question still is the infield, where the Titans have been inconsistent.

Freshman David Bacani is challenging for a starting spot after going four for 12 with a grand slam against Fresno State. Bacani played shortstop and third base last weekend, but could shift to second base. Ryan Owens, who has been starting at second, is hitting only .212 and has four errors. Third baseman Ryan Moore is batting .281 but has six errors.

Pitching continues to be the team’s strong point. After nine games, opponents are hitting only .219, and the staff ERA is 2.81.

Erasmo Ramirez pitched particularly well in Friday’s 6-3 victory after giving up three home runs in a loss at Stanford. “He pitched out of trouble a couple different times against Fresno,” pitching coach Dave Serrano said. “They had runners on third twice with less than two outs and didn’t score.”

Ramirez is scheduled to be on the mound for tonight’s game against USC (7-2) at Titan Field.

That means Ramirez (1-1, 3.05 ERA) won’t start one of the three games at home this weekend against Nevada Las Vegas. Freshman Jon Smith (2-0, 1.93) is scheduled to pitch Friday night, and Benny Flores (1-0, 1.62) will start Saturday afternoon.

“We were able to make that change because USC, on paper, looks like the toughest of the two teams,” Horton said.

The pitcher for Sunday’s finale hasn’t been decided, but freshman Adam Johnson might get his first start. Johnson held Fresno State hitless in two innings in his first appearance of the season. Johnson has been slowed by back problems.

That would allow Ramirez to come back next Tuesday against UCLA.

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The men’s basketball team, tied for third place in the Big West Western Division with UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, will meet division leader Pacific Thursday night at home. Long Beach State, only one game ahead of those four teams, plays at Titan Gym Saturday night.

Pacific is assured of one of the tournament spots, but the other three in the division are up for grabs. San Luis Obispo isn’t eligible, which means only one of the other teams will be left out.

Fullerton’s second victory over Irvine Saturday gives the Titans the tie-breaker over the Anteaters, and they can get another over Long Beach with a victory Saturday in their final home game.

“We just have to concentrate and play to our ability,” Titan Coach Bob Hawking said.

Senior guard Chris St. Clair came out of his recent shooting slump against Irvine with 12 points. “Chris still didn’t shoot as well as he’s capable, but he played an outstanding floor game with eight rebounds and eight assists,” Hawking said.

The only negative in the victory was Ike Harmon’s foul trouble. He played only nine minutes before fouling out, though he scored 11 points. Harmon leads the team in fouls with 70, and has fouled out of five games.

“One of the things Ike has to focus on is to learn to play aggressively on defense without so many fouls,” Hawking said. “Obviously, he’s a guy we need in the game for more than nine minutes.”

Titan Notes

Gymnast Alexis Lott, troubled by a recurring knee injury, has decided to retire from the sport. Another top gymnast, Katy Maty, retired earlier because of back problems. Despite that, Coach Lynn Rogers says his team is beginning to show some improvement now that other athletes have recovered from injuries. Rogers says Tammy De la Cruz, a former member of the Philippine national team who transferred at the start of the second semester, also is improving. “It was an adjustment for her getting accustomed to our equipment, as well as other things that are different over here, but she’s doing fine now,” Rogers said. . . . The Titan women’s basketball team has been hard-hit by injuries. Nashira Shaw is out for the season because of a broken cheekbone. Justine McMahan is out for at least a week because of an injured knee, and Kris Sigg is playing with a mask to protect her broken nose.

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Coming Attractions

Key events this week for Cal State Fullerton:

* Baseball, against USC at 7 tonight, and against Nevada Las Vegas 7 p.m. Friday and 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, all three games at Titan Field.

* Men’s basketball, against Pacific 7 p.m. Thursday, and against Long Beach State 7 p.m. Saturday, both games in Titan Gym.

* Women’s basketball, against UC Santa Barbara 7 p.m. Wednesday at Titan Gym, at Pacific 7 p.m. Friday, and at Long Beach State 1 p.m. Sunday.

* Softball, at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo noon Saturday, and at UC Santa Barbara 1 p.m. Sunday.

* Women’s tennis, against UC Irvine 2 p.m. Thursday, Titan tennis courts.

* Women’s gymnastics, at UCLA Bruin Classic 2 p.m. Sunday.