Titans Get to Stay Home

All eight teams seeded nationally for the NCAA baseball playoffs were selected Monday to host super-regionals this week, including Cal State Fullerton.

Titan Coach George Horton said that was only fitting.

“It’s the right precedent for the NCAA to be setting,” Horton said. “College athletics shouldn’t be about buying things. It should be about earning things.”

Fullerton (44-16), the nation’s No. 1-seeded team, will host Mississippi State (39-22) in a best-of-three series beginning Friday night at 7 at Goodwin Field. The game Saturday also is scheduled for 7. A third game, if needed, will be played at 1 p.m. Sunday.

The winner of the series will advance to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb., June 8-16.

“There’s no question in my mind that Mississippi State’s bid was higher [financially], since ours was the minimum,” Horton said.

The bids ranged from the required minimum of $35,000 to a high of about $180,000. The NCAA doesn’t reveal bids by individual schools.

Fullerton was snubbed in 1999 and had to travel to Ohio State for a super-regional after winning a regional at Notre Dame. The Titans were seeded third nationally that year, but Ohio State got the super-regional because of its larger stadium and greater revenue potential.

“I still think that decision was wrong, but I know the committee always tries to do what it thinks is in the best interest of college baseball,” Horton said.

The Titans won that series against Ohio State to reach the College World Series for the 10th time.

Since then, Fullerton has hosted two regionals after expanding and refurbishing its stadium.

Texas A&M; Athletic Director Wally Groff, chairman of the selection committee, said the bids weren’t a factor in selecting the super-regional sites this time.

“There is a possibility that certain things could have come up that [would mean] a national seed wouldn’t host, like quality of the field, security problems at the regionals or something as simple as school sites not being able to secure hotels and things like that,” Groff said. “But we gave the national seeds the consideration.”

USC (42-17), seeded third nationally, will host its super-regional against Florida International (43-19), and fourth-seeded Stanford (46-15) will be at home against South Carolina (48-18).

This is the first time Fullerton and USC will host super-regionals since the NCAA adopted the format in 1999.

USC lost a super-regional at Stanford in 1999 and reached the World Series last year by beating Georgia Tech at Atlanta.

The other series will match No. 2-seeded Miami (47-12) against Clemson (41-20), No. 5 Tulane (53-10) against LSU (43-20-1), No. 6 Georgia (45-19) against Florida State (46-17), No. 7 East Carolina (47-11) against Tennessee (44-18) and No. 8 Nebraska (48-14) against Rice (48-17).

Fullerton, which hosted its second consecutive regional last weekend, advanced Sunday with a 9-2 victory over Texas Tech after losing the first game to the Red Raiders. The Titans beat Temple and Arizona State earlier in the regional.

“We’re really grateful to all those people who have helped us do such a good job of hosting the last two regionals, and who helped improve our field and stadium,” Horton said. “We’re excited to be hosting a super-regional.”

Mississippi State was unbeaten in the regional at Ohio State, defeating Kent State in the title game, 14-4.

“From what we know about them, they’re a lot like us,” Horton said. “They pitch well, and they’re opportunistic on offense.”

The Bulldogs won the Southeastern Conference tournament, then won their third regional in Pat McMahon’s four years as coach.

Florida International (43-19), USC’s opponent, won a rain-delayed regional Monday by defeating Notre Dame, 5-4, after losing to the Fighting Irish, 5-2, earlier in the day.

“We don’t know much about them yet, but the program has always been a winner,” USC Coach Mike Gillespie said. “They’re not a household name like some programs but you have to be pretty good to do what they did at Notre Dame.”

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Staff writer Gary Klein contributed to this story.

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Schedule

Best-of-three series (winners advance to College World Series)

Cal State Fullerton (44-16)

vs. Mississippi State (39-22)

at Goodwin Field

* Game 1--Friday, 7 p.m

* Game 2--Saturday, 7 p.m.

* Game 3--Sunday, 1 p.m.*

*if necessary

USC (42-17) vs. Florida

International (43-19) at

Dedeaux Field

* Game 1--Friday, 6 p.m

* Game 2--Saturday, 1 p.m.

* Game 3--Sunday, 1 p.m.*

*if necessary

College baseball super-regional schedule, D9