Fullerton’s Loyd Back in the Swing

FULLERTON —  Last weekend against UC Santa Barbara, Cal State Fullerton catcher Brian Loyd had four hits, including three home runs, and drove in seven runs. That wasn’t for the three-game series. That was in one game.

Which means it must be getting close to tournament time.

A year ago, Loyd hit .360 during the regular season. In the postseason, however, he moved his performance up another level.

In the Big West playoffs, Loyd was seven for 13, drove in nine runs in three games and was named most valuable player. He also played a key role in helping Fullerton win the NCAA South Regional at Baton Rouge, La.

In the College World Series in Omaha, Loyd had seven hits in 17 at-bats (.412), drove in six runs and homered twice--one a grand slam against Tennessee. He finished NCAA tournament play with a .419 batting average, and Fullerton finished as the champion.

For Loyd and the Titans, it begins anew Friday night against Long Beach State in the opening game of the Big West tournament. Loyd, eager and optimistic, appears to be playing his best baseball of the season.

“This is a great time for the team, more than anything,” Loyd said. “This is the time for us to get back to playing the way we did earlier in the season, and I feel we can do it. I think we’re all ready to rise to the occasion now. As far as I’m concerned, our slump is over.”

Loyd is one of six regulars back from the 1995 team that had one of college baseball’s finest seasons, going through the postseason unbeaten and finishing 57-9 with an 18-game winning streak.

There were times early this season when the Titans looked equally impressive, but Fullerton (41-10) has lost six of its last nine games.

Loyd struggled with his hitting early in the year, but he has lifted his average to .322 and his run production to 51 RBIs, tied for second behind team leader Mark Kotsay (73).

Loyd started slowly, when the elbow on his throwing arm was hyperextended on the second day of practice in January. “That was definitely a setback for me because January is when I really get ready for the season,” he said.

It forced him to start the season as designated hitter, and he didn’t return to catching until more than two weeks into the season.

“I didn’t have pain when I came back, but not getting back into the rhythm of the game had an impact,” he said. “Once I had the injury, I didn’t hit for more than three weeks. And I’d never DH’d before. I was always into the game. Having an at-bat, then sitting in the dugout thinking about it for a couple of innings was something I just wasn’t used to.

“I might have come back a little too soon, but I was pain-free and I really wanted to play, to help the team win.”

Loyd said he didn’t feel he was close to his old self as a hitter until about midseason. It also took time for his arm to return to its strength of a year ago, when he threw out 29 of 64 runners attempting to steal. He is 14 of 26 this season.

“He was more tentative early because of his arm problems,” said associate head coach George Horton. “He had a phenomenal percentage last year, and he’s back on track now.”

Loyd, who played at El Dorado High, has been regarded as one of college baseball’s top catchers. Loyd and Stanford’s A.J. Hinch caught for Team USA last summer, and are expected to be the top contenders for spots on the Olympic team.

“We think Brian’s definitely the best in the country defensively,” Horton said. “We’ve had some very good defensive catchers in the program in the last several years with [Matt] Hattabaugh, [Jason] Moeller and [Brent] Hemphill, but Brian is at the head of the class.” Horton calls Loyd “the quarterback” of the defense.

Horton, the pitching coach, also is giving him more opportunity to call games this season.

“I’ve learned a lot working with Coach Horton this year,” Loyd said. “He’s given me a lot more leeway. We also talk a lot between innings because I can see some things behind the plate that he might not see from the dugout. I can look in a hitter’s eyes sometimes and tell whether he’s seeing a certain pitch.”

Loyd can shake off Horton’s signs, the same as the pitchers can, though Horton still has the final word on what pitch is thrown.

“It takes awhile to develop the kind of trust I have with Brian,” Horton said. “I let him call a couple of innings last year in the national championship game. I thought USC was picking up some of my calls for a while, so I told him to call it for a couple innings.”

The Titan pitchers are high in their praise of Loyd.

“He’s awesome,” said starter Scott Hild. “He blocks balls in the dirt time after time, and he’s so consistent. He’ll get you a few strikes that you might not deserve just by framing the ball so well, and he has a good relationship with umpires. You can tell he knows pitching. He can see little things and tells you about them. That really helps.”

Loyd hopes last Sunday’s big day against Santa Barbara is really an indication that he’s at his best again offensively. He’s hitting .407 in the last five games.

“I have been working hard on my swing in practice, and I’ve been seeing the ball well lately, but you can’t expect something like Sunday,” he said. “I’m not trying to be a home run hitter. I want to do whatever the team needs. If we need a ball hit to the right side, that’s what I want to do.”

Loyd can’t recall getting three homers in one game before. “The first homer was on exactly the same pitch I hit into a double play in the first,” he said. “I just didn’t get my hands around on it. On the second homer, the pitcher just hung a changeup. And, with two outs in the ninth, I was sitting fastball and got one.”

Coach Augie Garrido says he has seen definite improvement in Loyd’s hitting in the last few weeks.

“I think Brian realized he needed to get back to the basics, and back to the fundamentals sooner than some of our other players did,” Garrido said. “That’s why he’s doing so well. He’s worked really hard, and he’s back on top of his game.”