Fullerton to Open Against Stanford : Baseball: Garrido is happy Titans will play Saturday, the second day of the tournament. But he would prefer another opponent.

Cal State Fullerton is the top-seeded team in the College World Series in Omaha, and will begin its bid for a third national championship Saturday against eighth-seeded Stanford.

The game is scheduled to be nationally televised by CBS.

Coach Augie Garrido is happy the Titans won’t be playing until the second day of the tournament, but he would have preferred opening against a team that Fullerton hadn’t already beaten twice.

The Titans, 53-9 and returning to Omaha for the second consecutive year, knocked the Cardinal from its preseason No. 1 ranking in February in a three-game regular-season series at Fullerton.

The Titans won the opener, 11-9, lost the second game, 10-11, then won the finale, 5-3, behind the pitching of Ted Silva.

“Winning that series may make it easier for our players to think they have an advantage now, and that concerns me,” Garrido said. “But I can tell you that Stanford is going to really be tough. They have good players, and they have the type of team that could win it all.”

A similar situation happened to the Titans last season.

They defeated Georgia Tech and Oklahoma in the Anaheim Hilton & Towers tournament at Fullerton in February last year, but lost twice to Georgia Tech in the Series and was eliminated by Yellow Jackets in the semifinals. Oklahoma won the national championship over Georgia Tech.

The pairings for first-round play this year weren’t settled until Tuesday after Stanford rallied for a 5-4 victory over Texas Tech in the rain-delayed Midwest I Regional in Wichita.

Stanford (39-23) became the third California team to reach Omaha, joining Fullerton and USC in the eight-team field.

The NCAA tournament committee had plans ready for either outcome, according to chairman Ron Maestri, athletic director at New Orleans.

If Texas Tech had won, Fullerton would have faced Oklahoma (42-14) in the first game on Friday. However, Oklahoma moved up a notch to No. 7 when Stanford won, and now faces second-seeded Florida State (52-14) in the upper bracket. Third-seeded Miami (46-15) and sixth-seeded USC (45-19) meet in the other upper-bracket game Friday.

Fourth-seeded Clemson (54-12) and fifth-seeded Tennessee (52-15) play in the second upper-bracket game on Saturday.

The teams that survive double-elimination play in each bracket will meet for the national championship June 10.

Garrido is glad the Titans won’t be putting their 14-game winning streak on the line until Saturday.

“The players are involved in a lot of things on Thursday, with an autograph session with the fans and the other pre-tournament things, and they can have an effect on a team’s readiness to play,” Garrido said. “It will be good to get all that behind us, then have a full day to practice and get ready for Saturday. I really like that.”

Garrido says the key for his team will be to play more relaxed. He said the Titans didn’t do that as well he likes in the NCAA South Regional at Louisiana State.

“This is a whole new season now,” Garrido said. “Our players just have to avoid expectations and what other people think. We want to get back to more efficient and consistent play, the kind we had during the conference tournament. I hope we’ll use the regional to further develop as a team.”

Garrido’s rival coaches in the NCAA South Regional were impressed with the Titans.

Rice Coach Wayne Graham saw his team lose to Fullerton twice, first, 17-7, then 8-7 in the championship round.

“They’ve got one of the soundest teams you’d ever want to see,” Graham said. “I don’t think even in pro ball you see that many teams as sound fundamentally as they are.”

The expected championship battle between Louisiana State and Fullerton never materialized, and the teams never met, but Coach Skip Bertman saw all four Fullerton games and was impressed.

“They do what it takes to win, and they make you really work for every run,” said Bertman, who guided teams to the national championship in 1991 and 1993. Bertman’s team that advanced to the Series last year was beaten by Fullerton, 20-6.

“They were clearly the best team in our regional, and I thought Rice had a strong team. This team isn’t as experienced as last year’s, but they have a bona fide superstar in Mark Kotsay and a lot of really good role-players.”

Bertman’s only question about the Titans is whether the pitching will be strong enough to win the Series, although he regards Silva as “an excellent pitcher.”

But, Bertman said, “I really like their chances in Omaha.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

College World Series First-Round Pairings

FRIDAY

Game 1--Florida State (52-14) vs. Oklahoma (42-14), 12:35 p.m.

Game 2--Miami (46-15) vs. USC (45-19), 4:35 p.m.

SATURDAY

Game 3--Cal State Fullerton (53-9) vs. Stanford (39-23), 11:40 a.m.

Game 4--Clemson (54-12) vs. Tennessee (52-14), 5:35 p.m.

All Times Pacific

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Postseason Titans

Road Warriors

In Cal State Fullerton’s 21 years as an NCAA Division I baseball program, no other school has come close to the Titans in their ability to win regionals on the road. Cal State Fullerton has won nine regional tournament hosted by other schools during that period; Arkansas and Wichita State are tied for second with four apiece.

The Titans’ regional championships:

1975 at USC 1979 at Fresno State 1982 at Arizona State 1984 at Fresno State 1988 at Mississippi State 1990 at Texas 1992 at LSU 1994 at Oklahoma State 1995 at LSU

LSU has played host to seven regionals since 1975, winning five. Cal State Fullerton won the other two. Arizona State has played host to 12 regionals in that period and lost only twice. One of those was to the Titans.

Cal State Fullerton’s nine regional titles during that period is bettered only by Miami (13), Arizona State (11) and Texas (11). Of those 35 titles, only four were won on the road.

At the World Series

Cal State Fullerton’s record at the College World Series:

1975 Eliminated in two games, losing to Arizona State and Oklahoma. 1979 Won first national championship. After losing their opener to Mississippi State, 6-1, the Titans came back through the losers’ bracket to win five games in a row, including a 2-1 victory over Arkansas in the championship game. 1982 Eliminated in two games, losing to Wichita State and Maine. 1984 Won second national championship. A 6-4 loss to Texas in their second game dropped the Titans into the losers’ bracket, where they outscored three teams by a combined margin of 29-8 before avenging their loss to Texas with a 3-1 victory in the title game. 1988 One victory away from the championship game, the Titans lost two games to Stanford, 4-1 and 9-5. 1990 Eliminated in two games, losing to Oklahoma State and The Citadel. 1992 Lost in the championship game to Pepperdine, 3-2, after gaining the final with two victories in a row over Miami, 7-5 and 8-1. 1994 After losing their opener to Georgia Tech, the Titans came back through the losers’ bracket with two victories, before being eliminated by Georgia Tech, 3-2, in 12 innings.