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Titan Tradition In the Beginning 1964 thru 1974 Titan baseball began in the most modest of fashions as a club team in 1964. The founding father was University physical plant employee Beryl Kempton, who carved a diamond out of an orange grove, literally establishing the foundation for what has become arguably the most successful facet of a University now in its fifth decade and educating more than 27,000 students each semester. Home plate of the first diamond was located near an old orchard residence, the John Hetebrink House built in 1886, which has served a variety of functions for the campus and will soon house new athletic department offices. The first-base line ran north and the third-base line went to the west paralleling what is now called Gymnasium Drive. The first coach was Warren Beck, a physical education faculty member who gave way to Bill Fulton when the team assumed intercollegiate status in 1965. The Titans played at the College Division as members of the California Collegiate Athletic Association along with Cal Poly SLO, UC Riverside, Cal State Northridge and Cal Poly Pomona. The Titans had limited resources and were competitive at best until the arrival for the 1973 season of Coach Augie Garrido from Cal Poly SLO. A new backstop and batter’s eye and such “luxuries” as electricity for the pitching machines provided Garrido the most basic of tools. His first season’s record was 19-33-1 and it would be the Titans’ last losing season. The Titans won the CCAA championship with a 39-11-1 season in 1974 and the stage was set for Division I play. New Bully in the Neighborhood 1975 thru 1984 Garrido’s Titans made an instant splash in 1975 as a little fish in the biggest pond. They captured the Pacific Coast Athletic Association championship and then served notice by snapping USC’s string of five consecutive national titles by winning their first NCAA regional tournament at Dedeaux Field. They earned their first trip to the College World Series where they were quickly eliminated by losses to Arizona State and Oklahoma. Pitcher Dan Boone, catcher Andy Pasillas and first baseman George Horton were key players that year and initiated a pipeline into the fertile California junior college ranks. The Titans were dominant in the regular season for nine more years, running their string of conference championships to 11 in a row. They won the PCAA in 1976 and won every Southern California Baseball Association pennant through its 1977 to 1984 run. And in the post-season they proved their mettle against regional and national competition despite always playing on the road. In 1976 they took Washington State to a final game in Pullman and in 1977 they lost to the Cougars again in Tempe. USC and Arizona were their nemesis in 1978 in Los Angeles but the Titans struck paydirt in 1979 in Fresno. After an opening loss to UCLA, they came back to beat Portland and Fresno State before sweeping a Sunday doubleheader with the Bruins to earn a return trip to Omaha. There they repeated the championship formula, falling immediately into the losers’ bracket with a loss to Mississippi State before rolling through Connecticut, Arizona, Arkansas, Pepperdine and Arkansas again to win the first NCAA Div. I men’s championship in school history. First baseman Tim Wallach was the College Player of the Year, pitcher Tony Hudson was the MVP of the CWS and Dave Weatherman hurled a complete-game 2-1 victory in the championship game on no day’s rest. The Titans would return to Omaha twice more in the next five years and it would have been more but for the strength of the western region in that era. In 1980 they went to the Tucson regional and Arizona went on to win the national title. In 1981 they went to Tempe and were ousted by the Sun Devils, the eventual national champs. Behind the play of Mike Rubel, Mark Pirruccello and freshman John Fishel, the Titans went through powerful Arizona State in Packard Stadium in 1982 to get back to the World Series, which was now being televised nationwide on the new ESPN network. Unfortunately, the Titans left their game in Tempe and became the first CWS team to go scoreless in losses to Wichita State and Maine. In 1983 the Titans were sent to Tempe for the third consecutive year and they were eliminated by Fresno State. But the Bulldogs had to sit and watch the next year as Fullerton won the 1984 regional over Mark McGwire’s USC team and Chris Gwynn’s San Diego State squad in well over 100-degree weather in Fresno. John Bryant’s single in the 11th inning of the finale scored Bob Caffrey and the 8-7 win over the Aztecs sent Fullerton to Omaha for the fourth time in its 10 years of Div. I competition. Bryant was a hero again in Omaha. After beating Michigan, Miami, Arizona State and Oklahoma State, the Titans used Bryant’s triple for a 2-run rally that was the difference in a memorable 3-1 victory over Texas and gave the Titans their second NCAA championship. The Titans won 37 of their last 42 games. Fishel was the series MVP but 5-foot-7, 133-pound lefthander Eddie Delzer captured the headlines in Sports Illustrated with his courageous 7-inning mound effort to get the win that was preserved by Scott Wright with his NCAA record 22nd save. Caffrey would go on to become the first Titan Olympian and join Wallach as a first-round draft choice, also by Montreal. A Couple of Blips on the Radar 1985 thru 1987 The Titans returned a solid nucleus for 1985 and ended up with a roster that featured seven players who would eventually play in the major leagues. But they failed to win the conference championship and the string of consecutive NCAA playoff appearances was snapped at 10 when they lost a PCAA playoff series at Fresno State and did not get an at-large berth with a 36-32-1 record. The 1986 team wasn’t much better, posting a 36-21 record that again left Fullerton out of the top spot in the standings and out of the NCAA Tourney. The 1987 team restored order with a 42-15 regular season record and an 18-3 PCAA championship mark. But the Titans stumbled in the post-season when sent out of the West for the first time. In New Orleans, they lost an improbable opening game to Southern and converted reliever Allan Ratliff in a 1-0 game in which the defensively-suspect Southern infielders had no chances. Mike Harkey and Larry Casian tossed shutouts to give Longo Garcia another start, vs. LSU. But the unlucky Garcia lost again, this time victimized by his fielder’s mitt coming apart on what should have been a routine come-backer. When Garrido left to accept a lucrative offer from University of Illinois Athletic Director Neale Stoner, who had hired him at Fullerton 15 years earlier, it appeared the Titans’ national prominence was waning. Cochell Does Even Better 1988 thru 1990 Well-traveled Larry Cochell replaced Garrido and a different style and approach still produced success similar to what Garrido had manufactured. The Titans won a pair of regional tournaments in unlikely spots - Mississippi State and Texas - to earn Fullerton its fifth and sixth trips to Omaha in Cochell’s 3-year term. The 1988 team looked like it might be a team of destiny. After a 5-6 start, Garrido’s players adapted to the Cochell style. Despite a late-season slump after a 30-5 run, they ventured to Starkville for the NCAA playoffs. With reliever Paul Johnson turning in a clutch performance, the Titans twice beat the host Bulldogs and then posted a 5-run ninth inning capped by a two-out, three-run home run by Mike Ross to beat top-seeded Texas A&M. In Omaha, they took control of the revamped format with wins over Miami and Stanford behind Garcia and Mark Beck. But the Cardinal came back to beat both Titan aces on their way to the NCAA title. Despite the presence of a pair of All-Americans in Brent Mayne and David Staton, the 1989 Titans struggled all year and finished at 30-27 for their worst Div. I record ever. They finished in the second division of the standings at 10-11. The 1990 team was picked to finish fifth in the renamed Big West Conference. When they began the year 9-9 there were stories printed that the Titan dynasty was over. It was still only a 18-16 team until back-to-back sweeps of Fresno State and UNLV sparked a 14-5 finish and a 13-5 record good enough to win the Big West and an NCAA berth. Behind two solid starts by righthander James Popoff, the Titans went 4-0 at the Austin regional, beating Texas twice. In Omaha, the Titans were stunned twice. They lost to Oklahoma State in a game that saw outfielder Rich Gonzales carried off the field after crashing into the steel wall in left field. And they lost in extra innings to The Citadel when a catcher took the mound and shut down a Titan rally. If You Build It, He Will Come Back 1988 thru 1990 Cochell accepted a lucrative financial offer to go to Oklahoma and, with constuction of a new field underway, Garrido returned from Illinois to launch the Titans’ most successful decade yet. Baseball America would rank the program No. 3 for the decade behind only LSU and Miami. It started in bitter disappointment. The 1991 team won 10 of its last 12 games to post a 34-22 record that the Titans thought was sufficient to earn an at-large NCAA berth considering the circumstances of Garrido’s late return, the strength of schedule, playing at Amerige Park downtown and the strong finish. The team would have gotten the Big West’s automatic bid as a Big West tri-champion, but Long Beach State lost its season finale to Pacific, leaving a 2-way tie with Fresno State that worked to the Bulldogs’ advantage. An at-large berth was not forthcoming (the third-place 49ers got one) and Fullerton was left to focus its frustration on the 1992 oppositon. Led by juniors Phil Nevin and Jason Moler, the Titans christened their long-awaited new stadium with a return to the national championship game. An overpowering performance at Baton Rouge – they outscored the opposition 35-3 – earned the Titans their seventh trip to Omaha. They beat Florida State twice and Miami two out of three times, the last time in a heavy rain shower, to get a shot at unbeaten and well-rested Pepperdine. Two schools located about 50 miles apart put on a classic show almost 2,000 miles away for a national CBS televison audience with the Waves winning, 3-2, thanks to the pitching of Patrick Ahearne, a home run by light-hitting shortstop Eric Ekdahl and a brilliant eighth-inning play by second baseman Steve Rodriguez. Nevin nevertheless earned MVP honors after being selected college Player of the Year. His also was the first name selected in the pro draft a week earlier. Both he and Moler were selected to the U.S. Olympic team and Nevin joined Wallach as a Golden Spikes Award winner. The 1993 team couldn’t overcome the losses to graduation and the pro draft. The Titans placed second in the Big West and twice lost to USC, whom they had beaten twice in the regular season, to be eliminated from the NCAA Regional in Austin and finish 35-19. It would turn out to be the only year Fullerton High School product D. C. Olsen would miss a trip to Omaha in four years in a Titan uniform. In 1994, Fullerton staged an early season Anaheim Hilton & Towers Classic and it would be a preview of that season’s College World Series. The Titans beat San Diego, Oklahoma and Georgia Tech in February and all but USD would be reunited in Omaha. Fullerton earned its eighth trip with a dramatic regional victory at Oklahoma State. The Titans had to beat Memphis in oppressive afternoon heat and humidity and then come back at night and beat a rested Cowboy team on its home field. A ninth-inning, 2-out pinch-hit single by Brian King tied the game and Robert Matos was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to win it in the tenth. Georgia Tech, with a quartet of future major leaguers – Brad Rigby, Nomar Garciaparra, Jason Varitek and Jay Payton – beat the weary Titans and Mike Parisi in the CWS opener, 2-0. Fullerton then pounded LSU for 11 runs in the first inning of a 20-6 victory and freshman Mark Kotsay drove in seven runs in a 10-3 win that eliminated Florida State and set up a rematch with the Yellowjackets. This one went extra innings with Garciaparra’s home run the difference when the Titans couldn’t score Dante Powell from third base with no outs in the bottom of the 12th and had to settle for third place. A year later, the Titans were not denied as they compiled perhaps the best college season of all time. With Olympians Kotsay and Brian Loyd and future Kansas City Royal Jeremy Giambi pacing the offense and Ted Silva and Kotsay anchoring the pitching staff, Fullerton went virtually wire to wire as the No. 1 team in the nation. They won everything in their reach - the Hilton Classic with Olsen the MVP; the Big West regular season; the Big West Tournament with Loyd the MVP; the regional at LSU with Jack Jones the MVP and the CWS behind MVP Kotsay. They won their final 18 games to finish 57-9 and become the first No. 1 seed at Omaha to win the title. Kotsay won Fullerton’s third Golden Spikes Award. The momentum continued into 1996. The Titans opened the year with a 38-4 record before hitting an inexplicable slump where they lost 12 of their final 19 games. Fullerton tumbled to fourth place in the Big West and was eliminated from the BWC tourney at home by UNLV, but still got an NCAA berth at Wichita State. Kotsay tied an NCAA record with nine RBI in a rout of Delaware and a victory over Rice set up a showdown with the host Shockers. Wichita State got a great pitching performance from tourney MVP Brandon Baird and Rice ended the Titans’ season and Kotsay and Loyd’s collegiate careers with a come-from-behind 13-10 decision. As part of its millenium edition, Baseball America selected Kotsay the college player of the decade. And the Beat Goes On 1997 thru 2001 Garrido left again for greener pastures, this time the historical program at Texas. His former first baseman and associate head coach for six years, George Horton, took over. Again, the program marched forward. In four years, Horton has won three conference titles, gone to the NCAA Regionals four times and taken the Titans back to Omaha for a tenth visit. The 1997 team won 11 of its last 13 regular season games and then bounced back from an opening game loss to win the Big West Tournament, sweeping Long Beach State at Blair Field for an automatic NCAA bid. Good pitching and an aborted ninth-inning rally knocked the Titans out of the regional at Stanford. The 1998 squad reversed the pattern, winning the Big West regular season title but losing the tournament at home to Long Beach. They got sent to Baton Rouge for the third time in the decade and won two games before taking a big lead over the host Tigers behind pitching ace Benito Flores. But LSU flexed its muscles and came back to beat Fullerton twice. The most productive Titan offense ever - .338 batting average and 9.2 runs per game - carried Cal State Fullerton back to Omaha in 1999. Again, the Titans advanced via the road, winning the regional at Notre Dame and capturing the Super Regional at Ohio State. But the bats went quiet in Fullerton’s tenth trip to Omaha, where they were honored to share in the 50th Anniversary celebration. The Titans sandwiched a win over Texas A&M between losses to Stanford and Florida State en route to a fifth-place finish. The Titans’ 38 wins in 2000 marked their fewest since the 1993 campaign, but they still captured a share of the Big West Conference championship. The season also marked the start of a $3 million renovation to the Titans’ facility, which saw its official name changed to Goodwin Field. With the complex’s increased seating capacity, Fullerton finally was named to host an NCAA Regional after 22 on the road, but the second-seeded Titans couldn’t get by red-hot USC, which later advanced to the College World Series. The Titans’ Adam Johnson was named BWC Pitcher of the Year after leading the nation in strikeouts and he was selected second overall in the MLB Draft. The exploits of four All-American pitchers helped the Titans make their second trip to Omaha under Horton in 2001, despite early season "struggles." Fullerton started out just 8-8, but turned things around in a big way in late March, when the Titans became the first team ever to sweep eventual national champion Miami on its home turf at Mark Light Stadium. The sweep was the highlight in a seven-week stretch that saw the Titans go 24-1 and temporarily claim the No. 1 spot in the nation in one poll. Fullerton, seeded first in the nation for postseason play, won a regional and super regional at Goodwin Field to clinch a CWS berth in front of a home crowd for the first time. After beating sentimental favorite Nebraska in the CWS opener, Fullerton ran into Stanford, which beat the Titans twice, though Fullerton was able to sandwich in a win over Tulane. Senior righty Kirk Saarloos was in the national spotlight the entire season. He won his last 15 decisions after starting out 0-2, pitched the second nine-inning no-hitter in Titan history and was named to every All-American team.
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