Titans Get More Time on Road

The NCAA snubbed three-time College World Series champion Cal State Fullerton in its bid to host one of the eight super-regionals, awarding the best-of-three playoff series to Ohio State on Monday.

Dick Rockwell, chairman of the Division I baseball committee, said Ohio State was selected because of greater revenue potential at its 4,450-seat Davis Stadium. “That was the overriding factor,” he said.

Fullerton was the only one of eight nationally seeded teams not chosen to host.

“I’m extremely disappointed in the NCAA,” Titan Coach George Horton said. “It’s frustrating to me that college athletics has a lopsided playing field based on money.”

Horton telephoned the media news conference Monday after the sites were announced to express his disagreement.

Horton said he thought his team deserved the bid based on its No. 3 national seeding and the fact that Fullerton had played on the road at Notre Dame last week while the Buckeyes were at home.

“We met the minimum [$35,000] bid required by the NCAA, so that means the absolute criterion has to be money,” Horton said.

Rockwell indicated Ohio State’s bid was about twice as large as Fullerton’s but declined to reveal the amounts. He said crowds at the Columbus regional exceeded the committee’s expectations, a factor in the decision.

Attendance at Ohio State’s three tournament games was 4,702, 3,794 and 3,242, an NCAA spokesman said. Horton said the seating capacity at Titan Field would be about 2,500 with the addition of temporary bleachers.

“This underlines the need to enlarge and expand our stadium,” Horton said. “University advancement has initiated a campaign for that purpose.”

Titan Athletic Director John Easterbrook is a member of the NCAA baseball committee, but was not available for comment on Monday.

The other super-regional sites are Miami, Florida State, Rice, Texas A&M;, Baylor, Alabama and Stanford. USC will play at Stanford after winning its regional Sunday against Pepperdine.

Horton decided that the Titans would remain in the Midwest and not return to Fullerton before the playoff after learning of the site selection.

The Titans left South Bend, Ind., Monday by bus for Cleveland, where they will work out today. They are scheduled to arrive in Columbus on Wednesday. The series begins Friday.

“If we had gone back home, we would have had to turn right around and come back again,” Horton said.

The Titans have never hosted an NCAA regional, but won their 10th title Sunday at Notre Dame. Ohio State won its first regional since 1966.