Fullerton Has Luck o’ the Irish

It was a pleasant surprise for Cal State Fullerton.

The Titans were seeded No. 3 nationally when the expanded 64-team NCAA baseball tournament field was announced Monday. Fullerton will be the top-seeded team in the Notre Dame regional when play begins Friday. Michigan and Creighton are also in South Bend, Ind.

As one of those eight top-seeded teams, Fullerton (44-11) will be assured of not having to play one of the other seven before the College World Series, if the Titans advance.

“I would have been disappointed if we hadn’t been among the top eight, but being as high as third is a bit of a surprise,” Titan Coach George Horton said.

Horton also was pleased the Big West champion Titans were assigned to Notre Dame, which is not ranked among the nation’s top 25 teams. It will be the 13th different regional site for Fullerton in 21 appearances, all on the road.

Notre Dame (42-16) won the Big East regular-season title, but lost to Seton Hall and Providence in last week’s conference tournament. Michigan defeated Minnesota in the finals of the Big Ten tournament, and Creighton lost to Wichita State in the Missouri Valley playoffs.

The Titans will face No. 4 Michigan (32-28) at 1 p.m. (PDT) Friday in the opening game of the double-elimination tournament. No. 2-seeded Notre Dame will play third-seeded Creighton (38-23) in the other game.

Only No. 1-seeded Miami (41-13) and second-seeded Florida State (48-12) were ranked ahead of the Titans by the NCAA Division I baseball committee. Baylor (46-12) was seeded fourth nationally, followed by Alabama (46-14), Stanford (43-13), Texas A&M; (46-14) and Rice (52-11). All will host regionals except Rice and Fullerton. Rice is top-seeded at Texas Tech.

The Big 12 and the Southeastern Conference earned six berths each, with the Pacific 10 getting four spots and the Big West three. Long Beach State (33-23) was seeded second at Texas A&M;, and Nevada (36-18) is No. 2 at Stanford.

USC (33-23) was seeded second at home with the No. 1 spot going to Pepperdine (43-14). That despite the fact Pepperdine lost two of three games to Loyola Marymount last weekend for the West Coast Conference automatic berth. Harvard (28-18) and Virginia Commonwealth (40-18) were sent to USC, with Loyola (33-26) going to Stanford.

“I was concerned we might get more than one local team, so I’m glad that didn’t happen,” USC Coach Mike Gillespie said. “But we know Pepperdine has had a great year, and is a very good team.”

USC, the defending national champion, has won 18 of its last 25 games, but its seeding was hurt by a 4-11 start. Arizona (33-21) and UCLA (30-29) were the other Pacific 10 teams to gain at-large berths. UCLA edged Arizona State (39-21) for a spot because of its higher finish in the conference.

Horton had said he hoped the Titans would be sent to either Notre Dame or Wake Forest.

“We haven’t played a team that is in that (Notre Dame) regional in a long time, so that’s probably good,” Horton said. “It’s good to be playing teams that aren’t so familiar with us. But if any of those teams are playing well at the right time, they’ll be tough.”

Fullerton has 1-0 records against the other three teams at South Bend. The Titans beat Michigan in the College World Series in 1984 and Creighton in the 1990 NCAA regional at Texas. Their only meeting with Notre Dame was in 1995.

Fullerton decided not to bid for a regional tournament this season because of a conflict with graduation on the campus Saturday. It will require all available parking in the Titan Field area.

Horton, however, is hopeful the Titans will host the super-regional if they advance. “Being seeded No. 3 should help us from that standpoint if we win,” he said.

The Titans apparently will have four healthy starting pitchers for the regional.

Pitching coach Dave Serrano said Jon Smith pitched four innings in an intrasquad game Saturday and had no problems. Smith (6-0) has been troubled by chronic arm and shoulder problems.

“He threw 54 pitches, and he had good command of everything,” Serrano said. “I was encouraged.”

Smith struggled in his only appearance in the last three weeks, failing to get an out in relief in the regular-season finale against Long Beach State. The Titans’ other probable starters are Adam Johnson (9-3), Matt Sorensen (11-0) and Marco Hanlon (5-1).