USC Trying to Recover After Poor Start

It was a humbling experience.

USC, the toast of college baseball last season after winning the College World Series, was ranked No. 1 in the nation before this season began. Then the Trojans won only four of their first 15 games.

“Everything was going bad, and everyone was struggling,” outfielder Brad Ticehurst said.

With the Trojans only 7-13 early this month, Coach Mike Gillespie made his point.

“Coach said we were going to eliminate ourselves from the postseason if we didn’t start doing better,” Ticehurst said. “I think we kicked it up after that, and have been playing better.”

Only in the last three weeks have the Trojans (16-16) shown any signs of being the team they were expected to be.

Five regulars returned from the national championship team, including talented junior catcher Eric Munson, outfielder Greg Hanoian of Huntington Beach and Ticehurst, a former Mater Dei player from Los Alamitos. The Trojans lost standout pitcher Seth Etherton, a first-round draft choice of the Angels, but added highly regarded transfers Barry Zito and Justin Lehr.

But, as Gillespie said, “We played horrendously at times.”

USC was swept in a three-game series by Texas, lost two games to Cal State Fullerton and lost two of three to Long Beach State.

Injuries were part of the problem. Ticehurst, who hit four home runs and drove in nine runs in the College World Series, missed nine games, first with a strained groin muscle and then when he was hit with a pitch. Shortstop Seth Davidson and pitcher-utility player Jason Lane also missed games because of injuries.

“We missed those guys when they were out,” Gillespie said. “We’re not deep enough to cover for them. We had to move people around to different positions they weren’t accustomed to, and it affected their confidence.”

Munson, regarded when the season began as a certain first-round draft choice and possible No. 1 pick, isn’t having the kind of year that was expected, and missed the last two games of last weekend’s series against Washington State with a hand injury.

Last season as a sophomore, Munson led the team in batting (.392) and hit 16 home runs in 47 games. He sat out 19 games because of injury. This season he is hitting .304 with 10 homers in 30 games.

“I’ve never been one to assess the emotional part of what a draft year does to a player,” Gillespie said. “All I know is that several of our returning guys need to play at a higher level than they have been playing.”

But Ticehurst, who is batting .318, says the team has come together.

“We’re developing a team chemistry we didn’t have earlier,” Ticehurst said. “The chemistry was really poor early in the season. It’s hard to pinpoint why. We had several guys back, but we also lost some key guys too. It’s been a maturing process.”

Gillespie hopes the Trojans can finish with a good showing in the Pacific 10 Conference. The Trojans won two of three games at Washington State, and are 7-2 in the conference.

“We also have nine nonconference games remaining, but we’re pretty much done with the nonconference teams that could help our power rating,” Gillespie said. “We need to do well in the conference. I think the Pac-10 has a good enough reputation that we should get several teams in the playoffs, but if we were to finish as low as fourth or fifth it could be a stretch.”

The NCAA tournament field has been expanded from 48 to 64 teams this season.

HELP FOR GARRIDO

Sophomore second baseman Tommy Nicholson has provided a boost to Coach Augie Garrido’s resurgent Texas team this season.

Nicholson, who played at Esperanza High, is batting .324 this season and has only one error for a a .993 fielding percentage.

Nicholson is one of six Orange County players on the roster.

Scott Hild, who pitched three seasons for Cal State Fullerton, transferred to Texas after sitting out last year with the Titans because of arm troubles. Hild has been Garrido’s right-handed closer.

Hild (1-1) picked up his first victory of the season after facing only one batter in the ninth against Stanford. The Longhorns rallied for a 4-3 victory in the bottom of the ninth.

Pitchers Phil Seibel (3-1) of Cypress High, Brian Snapp of Esperanza (1-1) and Jim Munroe of Servite (0-0) also are on the roster along with backup first baseman Mike Kolbach of Mater Dei.

The Longhorns ran into trouble last weekend at Nebraska, losing all three games to the Cornhuskers. Texas fell to 22-11, 8-4 in the Big 12. Nebraska is 20-6, 8-1 in the conference.

COSTNER AT SHORTSTOP

When actor-director Kevin Costner accepted Coach George Horton’s invitation to play for Cal State Fullerton in the Titans’ exhibition game against the Angels Sunday, Costner wanted to make certain it wouldn’t be just a ceremonial appearance.

“He’s wanted to be sure of two things: that he could really play, and that he wouldn’t be keeping one of our players from having the opportunity to play,” Horton said. “He was asking questions about our strategy in certain game situations, so he’s ready to play.”

Horton said Costner probably would start at shortstop. “That seems to be his favorite position,” Horton said. Costner, a graduate of Villa Park High and Cal State Fullerton, took batting practice with the Titans at the 1995 College World Series and the 1996 NCAA Regional in Wichita. He has played in Titan scrimmages a few other times.

TOUCHING BASES

Fullerton’s three-game sweep of Nevada over the weekend put the Titans near the pace of the 1995 national championship team that finished 57-9. The Titans are 25-5 compared to the 1995 team’s 26-4 record at the same stage of the season. The 1996 team, with many of the players back, lost only twice in its first 33 games but faded late in the season to finish 45-16.

UCLA Coach Gary Adams picked up his 1,000th coaching victory recently against Arizona. Adams was 188-69-5 at UC Irvine, winning two Division II national championships.

The 38-game hitting streak by Cal State Fullerton’s Brent Mayne in 1988 is a Big West record. It is tied for seventh among the longest in college baseball. The record is Robin Ventura’s 58-game streak in 1987 at Oklahoma State. The Titans’ Spencer Oborn extended his hitting streak to 29 games Sunday against Nevada.

Louisiana State lost two of three games to Arkansas recently. It was the first time the Razorbacks have won a series from the Tigers. LSU is 20-9 after winning two of three from Mississippi last weekend, but is 5-4 in the Southeastern Conference.