Titans Seeded No. 1 in Nation

Cal State Fullerton will go into the NCAA regional baseball playoffs this week seeded No. 1 nationally, and Titan Coach George Horton was “a little surprised” by that selection when tournament pairings were announced Monday.

“I thought we might be third or fourth,” Horton said. “But I don’t think there’s a clear-cut No. 1 team this season based on what we’ve seen.”

Fullerton (41-15) will begin its bid for an 11th College World Series appearance when it hosts its second consecutive regional starting Friday.

Arizona State (36-18-1) was seeded second and Texas Tech (40-18-1) third at Fullerton. The Titans will play fourth-seeded Temple (27-29) in the first round of the double-elimination tournament at Goodwin Field.

USC (39-17), seeded third nationally behind Fullerton and Miami (44-12), will have second-seeded Pepperdine (41-16), Fresno State (39-23) and Oral Roberts (48-11) in its regional at Dedeaux Field.

Two other Big West Conference teams, UC Santa Barbara (39-15) and Long Beach State (35-21), joined the 64-team field as No. 2-seeded teams. Santa Barbara will play in the Notre Dame regional. Long Beach will play at Stanford and face third-seeded Texas in the first round. That game will match former Titan coach Augie Garrido against Dave Snow, one of his former assistants at Fullerton.

Santa Barbara Coach Bob Brontsema is not complaining about leaving a state that has three of the top four national seeds.

“I think that gives us an edge,” Brontsema said. “You go back to a place that doesn’t know anything about you.”

Cal State Northridge (34-22) placed fourth in the Big West--which was ranked among the top five conferences--but the Matadors did not receive an at-large berth.

Stanford (42-14) was seeded No. 4 nationally, giving the West Coast three of the top four teams.

A record eight teams from the Southeastern Conference were selected. Five teams from the Big 12 and four from the Pac-10 and Atlantic Coast conferences also were chosen.

Fullerton’s RPI (Ratings Percentage Index), which is based on a team’s record and strength of schedule, apparently pushed the Titans into the No. 1 spot.

According to NCAA spokesman Jim Wright, Fullerton played the nation’s toughest nonconference schedule, based on the winning percentage of its opponents. Fullerton was 27-11 in nonconference games. The Titans finished 14-4 in the Big West, winning the conference title by two games over Santa Barbara.

Being among the eight seeded teams assured Fullerton of not having to meet any of the other seven before the College World Series. It also provides “consideration” for hosting a super-regional series but doesn’t assure it, Wright said.

The winner at Fullerton will be matched against the winner at Ohio State in a best-of-three playoff series June 1-3. Mississippi State (36-22), which won the Southeastern Conference tournament title, is top-seeded at Ohio State with the Buckeyes (43-16) ranked No. 2.

Winning two of three games against Long Beach last weekend was “a big plus” for Fullerton’s seeding, said Texas A&M; Athletic Director Wally Groff, chairman of the selection committee. Fullerton rallied for nine runs in the eighth inning Sunday to win the deciding game of the series, 10-5.

Horton said he also thinks Fullerton’s three-game sweep of Miami on the Hurricanes’ home field was important to the committee. However, Miami was ranked No. 1 in the Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball polls this week with USC second. Fullerton was ranked fourth in one poll and fifth in the other.

An improved conference RPI also probably helped the Titans gain respect with with the NCAA committee. “Santa Barbara and Long Beach had good years, and the bottom of the conference was better this year,” Horton said. The Big West’s RPI ranked “in the top five,” according to Groff.

Horton said he expects the Titans to face a difficult challenge in their own regional. “Arizona State has a tradition of getting to Omaha and winning national championships, and Texas Tech has been in the national limelight for a long time, “ Horton said.

Fullerton and Arizona State split in two games this season. The Sun Devils won, 5-3, in February when they scored four unearned runs and Fullerton made a season-high five errors. The Titans came back to win the next meeting, 13-6, in a midweek game in April when both teams used second-line pitching.

“It will be exciting,” Titan second baseman David Bacani said. “I was sort of surprised when they announced us as the No. 1 seed. But that’s all up to [the committee] and you can’t put any extra pressure on yourself because of that. I think they probably felt they had to go with us ahead of Miami since we swept them.”

Fullerton was seeded No. 3 nationally at the start of the playoffs in 1999. The Titans advanced to the College World Series by winning a regional at Notre Dame and a best-of-three series against Ohio State.

In 1995, when the Titans won the last of their three national championships, the Titans were seeded No. 1 by the selection committee heading into the College World Series. The NCAA has seeded teams nationally before the regionals for only three seasons.

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Staff writer Gary Klein contributed to this story.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

NCAA Baseball Tournament

Friday’s opening regional games for Southern California schools.

All times PDT:

At Cal State Fullerton

Temple (27-29) vs. Cal State Fullerton (41-15), 7 p.m.

At USC

Oral Roberts (48-11) vs. USC (39-17), 3 p.m. or 7 p.m.

Pepperdine (41-16) vs. Fresno State (39-23), 3 p.m. or 7 p.m.

At Stanford

Long Beach State (35-21) vs. Texas (34-24), TBA

At Notre Dame

UC Santa Barbara (39-15) vs. Florida International (40-18), 5:30 p.m.

After the opening games . . .

The format for the 16 four-team regionals is double elimination, with other games on Saturday and Sunday. Super Regionals (eight sites, best-of-three format) are June 1-3. College World Series (eight teams, double elimination) is June 8-16 at Omaha, Neb.

COMPLETE PAIRINGS D9