Fullerton Connects to the Host System

Cal State Fullerton, traditionally a road warrior in the college baseball playoffs, will host its first NCAA regional tournament next week.

Fullerton was one of 16 sites selected Monday by the NCAA Division I baseball committee, just months after the seating capacity of its stadium was expanded to about 4,000. The four-team, double-elimination regionals are scheduled May 26-28.

Fullerton Coach George Horton called it “a special day for Titan baseball.”

The Titans (34-17), winners of three national championships, have played in 21 regionals on the road, winning 10. Fullerton won the Notre Dame regional last season, then won a best-of-three super-regional at Ohio State in the first year of an expanded 64-team format to reach the College World Series.

The ballpark’s renovations helped sway the committee.

“One of the toughest decisions we had to make last year was to go to Ohio State [instead of Fullerton] for the super-regional,” said Dick Rockwell, chairman of the Division I baseball committee. “Since then, [Fullerton] has made a great deal of improvement in their ballpark. They’re in first place in their conference. Their RPI [power rating] is extremely good, and their nonconference RPI is exceptional, so we decided to go there.”

The move assured Fullerton a spot in the field as an at-large selection. But the Titans can clinch the Big West Conference’s automatic berth with one victory in a three-game series at Long Beach State beginning Friday, or a loss by second-place Nevada in its series against Pacific. Nevada trails Fullerton by two games, but the Titans have the tiebreaker advantage.

Fullerton joined two other first-time hosts, Louisiana Lafayette and Rutgers. Minnesota will host for the first time since 1977.

Arizona State and Stanford also were selected as sites, giving the West three tournaments. Six of the regional sites--defending national champion Miami, Baylor, Florida State, Houston, Louisiana State and Stanford--are repeat choices from last year. Florida State was chosen for the 16th time in 18 years.

The other regionals went to top-ranked South Carolina, Clemson, Mississippi State, Georgia Tech and Oklahoma, which will host at The Bricktown Ball Park in Oklahoma City. Rutgers will host at Yogi Berra Stadium at Montclair State in Upper Montclair, N.J.

Rockwell said 32 schools turned in bids. Among those rejected were Texas, Texas Tech, Florida, Wichita State and Notre Dame.

Fullerton was chosen over Fresno State as the third site in the West.

Playing host to a regional tournament may bring prestige, but it remains to be seen whether the honor gives the Titans an edge.

“I’m not sure that this will be a competitive advantage for us based on the way this team has played this season,” Horton said. “We haven’t played as well at home as we have on the road. It seems like we’re a better road team.”

The Titans are 17-9 at home and 17-8 on the road. Fullerton lost Big West series at home against Long Beach State and Sacramento State, two games to one.

“It also will be a little more distracting for our players and for us as coaches because we’ll be trying to make sure the tournament runs well,” Horton said. “But, while those are little negatives, it’s a huge positive thing for our program.”

Horton thinks Fullerton might face a tougher field at home than it would have at some of the other sites.

“If [the committee] stays with the idea of keeping teams in their region when possible, that could be the case,” Horton said. “This might be a biased opinion on my part, but I think the quality and depth of the fields have been stronger in the West tournaments.”

The makeup of the field at Fullerton is expected to hinge on whether the Titans are seeded first or second. The assignments and pairings will be announced Monday.

“I don’t know whether we’ll be a No. 1 or not,” Horton said. “Our last four games of the season are going to have an important bearing on that.”

The Titans face Cal State Northridge at home tonight before closing the regular season at Long Beach.

Fullerton Athletic Director John Easterbrook, a member of the Division I baseball committee, said construction of the additional seating areas at the stadium is completed, and about 600 temporary bleachers seats will be added to bring the capacity to about 4,000.

“We’ll eventually add aluminum seating in the next phase,” Easterbrook said. A building that will house offices, meeting rooms and team rooms for baseball and softball is still under construction.

Mel Franks, an athletic department spokesman, said Fullerton has taken deposits for slightly more than 600 tournament passes. Additional tournament passes and single-game admissions can be reserved by phone at (714) 278-2783, Franks said.

“We think this will be a great opportunity for our fans and for college baseball fans in Southern California, and we hope they’ll support it,” Horton said.