Fullerton’s Bid Must Be Better on Field

If Cal State Fullerton’s baseball team needed extra motivation in its drive to a College World Series appearance, the Titans received it Monday when the NCAA tournament selection committee announced sites for super regionals.

Fullerton, seeded third nationally and winner of a regional at South Bend, Ind., was passed over as a host site and will be sent to Columbus, Ohio to play Ohio State in a best-of-three series starting Friday.

As expected, defending national champion USC, which won a regional at Dedeaux Field, will travel to Stanford to play its Pacific 10 rival.

Winners of the super regionals advance to the College World Series June 11-19 in Omaha.

With the tournament expanded from 48 to 64 teams this year, the selection committee for the first time seeded eight teams at the start of regional play. Those teams were expected to be protected from unfavorable matchups and travel on their road to Omaha.

Fullerton is the only seeded team that was not awarded a home site for a super regional. The three-time national champion Titans have made 21 regional appearances and have never hosted a postseason game.

Fullerton Coach George Horton was so upset with the committee’s decision, he made a surprise call and comment during the committee’s media conference call.

The Titans left South Bend by bus Monday, are scheduled to have a workout in Cleveland today, and will arrive in Columbus Wednesday.

Dick Rockwell, chairman of the committee, said revenue potential and attendance potential were the reasons Ohio State was chosen.

Ohio State, with a stadium that seats about 5,000, hosted a regional for the first time last weekend and drew more than 12,000 for its games during the three-day event. Fullerton, with a stadium capacity of 2,500, did not bid to host a regional because of a conflict with graduation ceremonies.

Fullerton did bid for a super regional. The minimum bid for a super regional was $35,000. Rockwell said Ohio State’s bid was, “two-to-one over Fullerton.”

Said Horton: “It’s frustrating to me that college athletics has a lopsided playing field based on money.”

Rockwell called the decision to make sixth-seeded Stanford the host team against USC, “a no-brainer.”

Other super-regional matchups: Wake Forest vs. top-seeded Miami at Coral Gables, Fla.; Auburn vs. No. 2 Florida State at Tallahassee, Fla.; Oklahoma State vs. No. 4 Baylor at Waco, Texas; Louisiana State vs. No. 5 Alabama at Tuscaloosa, Ala.; Clemson vs. No. 7 Texas A&M; at College Station, Texas; and Southwestern Louisiana vs. No. 8 Rice at the Astrodome.

Staff writer Lon Eubanks contributed to this story.