June 16, 2007

Notebook Fullerton has tales to tell about Series

NORM MAVES JR.

OMAHA, Neb. -- Cal State Fullerton's voluble coach, George Horton, is about as good a storyteller as there is in a field full of them in Omaha.

Horton told a story at a news conference Tuesday that not only brought laughs but also explained a lot about Titans baseball. It involved his 16-year-old daughter, Rebecca, and a decision about whether to go to camp or go to Omaha with her dad's baseball team.

Said Horton: "She said, 'Dad, I can only go to camp for two more years. I can go to Omaha anytime.' My children are spoiled in many different ways."

It wasn't a bad assessment of Fullerton baseball, which began 43 years ago. The Titans have been to Omaha 15 times, won 34 games and have four championships.

They've sent 43 players to the major leagues (not counting alumnus Kevin Costner, who made it briefly as Crash Davis in "Bull Durham" and threw a no-hitter as Billy Chapel in "For the Love of the Game").

The Titans have won two national championships in the 11-year Horton era, which began in 1997 and has had only one year (2002) in which Fullerton didn't have a postseason.

This year's team almost made it two. The Titans finished an uncharacteristic 10-11 in the Big West Conference and "only" 38-23 for the regular season. Horton described worrying all Sunday night before the Monday selection show on ESPN, but the Titans made it.

Then they caught fire, and nobody has been able to snuff them out. Fullerton beat Minnesota then Fresno State, twice, in the San Diego regional; they got the super regional win, beating UCLA twice, 12-2 and 2-1, to reach their opening game at 4 p.m. today against Oregon State.

The Titans will send their best pitcher, Wes Roemer, against the Beavers. The junior right-hander, who was the 50th player taken in the first-year player draft last week (Arizona), has carried the Titans for three years with a 31-11 record, but 2007 has been an "off" year for him.

After going 20-5 as a freshman and sophomore, Roemer went 11-6 this year, with a career-worst 3.24 ERA. But he's durable and has pitched six complete games this season.

In the postseason, Clark Hardman has done the most offensive damage with a .471 average, three home runs and eight RBIs.

Third baseman Evan McArthur isn't far behind. Of course, that's the same Evan McArthur who hit .370 as a senior at North Medford High School in 2002. McArthur hit .253 for the season, but in the Titans' last eight games, he has hit .433.

Beaver Nation: In the first two games of the College World Series on Friday, there was a sprinkling of orange in a crowd dominated by red and black (Louisville), navy blue (Rice), light blue (North Carolina) and maroon (Mississippi State).

Some of those orange shirts were on Cal State Fullerton fans (orange and blue), but there seemed to be as many for Oregon State -- and the Beavers aren't scheduled to play until today.

"Omaha really enjoyed them," said Phil Tablazon, a series regular from Hastings, Neb., who was wearing a black OSU hat. "They must have talked about Oregon State for two or three weeks after last year. . . . The city liked how the team played, and how the fans were -- everybody was polite, and people in the city really liked them."