June 14, 2007

CSF's journey to Omaha a hard habit to break

MARK WHICKER

FULLERTON George Horton was in his office Tuesday morning, extolling the Southern California baseball player, a species that overwhelmingly populates his Cal State Fullerton roster, and UC Irvine's, too.

"There's great players from all over," Horton said, "but the kid out here who might not be as highly recruited, he's had great coaching. He's probably been on a traveling team since he was 8, playing the cream of the crop. He's had a chance to play year-round. He knows how to play the game. I think that separates our part of the country from some others."

So why, back in February, were none of these street-wise, sun-hardened young baseball savants playing for Fullerton anymore?

Twenty-minute drills were taking twice as long. Throws were sailing past the right bases and into dugouts. Pitchers couldn't get ahead. Hitters fell behind.

There was more than one day when Horton looked at assistant coaches Rick Vanderhook and Jason Gill and Bill Kernen, and they would look at him, and they all wondered if they had taken a wrong turn somewhere, if the arboretum behind the Goodwin Field fence had suddenly hatched a bunch of mutants who only wore baseball uniforms as a diabolically clever masquerade.

"What we worried about was the aptitude," Horton said. "Maybe we were spoiled. For years we had Red Turner, Blake Davis, Danny Dorn, all those guys who were off-the-charts in that area. Maybe this was just normal. But we weren't used to it.

"Then, some guys were getting involved in off-field things that just weren't Titan-like. They were missing class, too. We finally had one study hall in which we basically baby-sat them. I didn't know what would happen to us."

What happened is what always seems to happen.

The reason Horton was still in his office, planning practice, and the reason L.A. news cameras waited outside, is that Fullerton is going to its summer home.

The Titans know Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha better than any ballpark but their own. Even their fans will chill out at a familiar house across 13th Street.

The difference is that UCI is coming to the College World Series, too, and the fact the Anteaters made it in Year 6 of their re-boot is certainly noteworthy.

But the miracle this time is Fullerton. The Titans made it for only one reason — it's all they know.

Look how the college game has changed.

CSF used to find itself bracketed with Miami, LSU, Texas, Oklahoma State, Florida State, Wichita State, Stanford, Mississippi State. There were mystery guests here and there, but it was pretty much an ensemble.

It still is. With different actors. There's Rice, North Carolina, Oregon State. There's been a revival at Arizona State and Mississippi State. And where did Louisville come from?

But CSF is the link. In 33 years the Titans have made the College World Series 15 times now, and six times in nine years with Horton coaching.

Yes, even with a 10-11 Big West record. The Titans lost their final four series in the Big West.

"I hope this will mean teams like Cal Poly will get more consideration from the committee next year," Horton said.

The Titans have done nothing consistent except fool their coach.

After that sluggish preseason, they won early series against Rice, Stanford, UCLA, Arizona and Long Beach State. Then they lost a weekend to UC Santa Barbara and got swept by conference champ UC Riverside.

Injuries explained part of that. Every starting infielder was hurt at one point. Outfielder Clark Hardman, catcher John Curtis and third baseman Evan McArthur became team leaders, but Horton rarely could hear their voices.

Along the way, the Titan way of doing things began to dredge up new players. Bryan Harris mowed down the final eight batters at Wichita State and became a rock in the bullpen. Corey Jones annexed second base. Freshman Josh Fellhauer began to bang out big hits. Through it all, Wes Roemer and Jeff Kaplan threw strikes.

And, when the tournament pairings came out and Fullerton did indeed make it, the 2007 Titans became the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals — habitual winners who knew they'd fumbled their first chance. They also knew how to handle their second.

"We've had the other kind of pre-tournament talk, when we said, hey, no matter how many good things we've done, it gets tougher now," Horton said. "This time we were able to say, we're 0-0. Nothing that's happened before means anything now. And guys responded."

It made you remember what Horton said when the Titans lost to North Carolina last year, one game short of the championship round.

He said he was losing some great players off a 50-victory team, but that wouldn't stop the Titans from putting it together again.

Despite all their best efforts, they did. And this morning they awake in Omaha.

By now they don't just fly there. They migrate.