Cal State Fullerton Is Learning That It All Starts With One

Saturday afternoon’s “Day Before Cinco de Mayo Giveaway” at Titan Field included gift certificates for Sunday brunch, gift certificates for a free lunch, a $20 takeout meal delivered to a lucky winner’s seat in the sixth inning, nine runs delivered to the lucky winners from Santa Barbara by the middle of the fourth inning, Cal State Fullerton’s 16-game home winning streak and the Titans’ last chance to win the 1996 Big West baseball championship outright.

All in all, an expensive afternoon for the Titans, who today find themselves in the most peculiar situation:

Ranked third in the nation, tied for fourth in the Big West.

Or tied for second in the Big West, if you’re a half-full glass type.

Either way, Fullerton enters the final day of its conference schedule one game behind Long Beach State and even with UNLV and UC Santa Barbara with seven Big West losses apiece and . . . didn’t this team use to be 38-4?

Barely a month ago, the Titans, defending NCAA champions, were 31-2.

Two weeks after that, they were 38-4.

Now, they are 41-9 overall, 13-7 in the Big West, and 3-5 in their last eight games--a veritable Acapulco cliff dive for a program that, from April 29, 1995, to April 2, 1996, played 51 collegiate baseball games and won 49 of them.

Just how does a team go 49-2?

The Chicago Bulls would like an answer, so here is the route the Titans prescribe:

a) Go 18-0 en route to the 1995 College World Series title.

b) Lose to Stanford, 5-0.

c) Go 15-0.

d) Lose to Pepperdine, 1-0.

e) Go 16-0.

It couldn’t last, of course, as Fullerton rediscovered in jarring, back-to-back one-run losses at New Mexico State early last month.

After that, the Titans only went 7-0.

Then came two defeats at San Jose and two more at Long Beach and one more Saturday against Santa Barbara, a 9-4 blowout that ended Fullerton’s school-record home winning streak at 16.

Five defeats in eight games. In Boston, such news would be greeted in the streets with “Things are starting to look up for the Red Sox.” In Fullerton, Augie Garrido gets questioned about his team’s “slump,” is asked if he’s “concerned” and begins making postgame allusions to Greg Norman.

“People said Norman collapsed,” Garrido said, referring to this year’s great Shark dive at the Masters. “That was not a collapse. Neither is this. It’s a matter of playing at a high level of excellence for so long. Now, we’re at a level of average.”

And after a high level of excellence, a level of average, if not quite grammatically proper, is only “natural,” according to Titan center fielder Mark Kotsay.

“What were we--38-2, 36-2?” Kotsay said. “Obviously, you’re going to hit a rock in the road some time. Better to hit it now than in the regionals.”

How average is the Titans’ current level?

During Fullerton’s first 42 games (38-4), the Titans hit .356 as a team.

Since then (3-5), .255.

During Fullerton’s first 40 games (36-4), the Titans scored 10 or more runs in a game 20 times.

Since then (5-5), zero. Best effort was seven runs last Saturday against Long Beach. In their last 10 games, the Titans are averaging 4.1 runs per game.

“You just can’t do it all the time,” Garrido said wearily. “You try, but it’s such a fine balance . . .

“These things are normal. It’s not if you’re going to [hit a slump]--it’s how long it’s going to last and when are you going to get out of it.

“You can’t think your way out of it. You have to play your way out of it. That takes courage. This is the part of the game that takes courage and mental toughness and inner strength. We won 18 in a row when we got to that point last year. At some point, if you’re going to be successful, you have to react to adversity in a positive way.”

Besides, the Titans have miles to backpedal before their backs locate a wall.

If they win today, the Titans still could tie for the Big West title.

But if they lose today, the Titans have already qualified for next week’s Big West Tournament, which they will host.

And if they lose two games in the Big West Tournament, the Titans should still qualify for the NCAA regionals by virtue of their overall record and national ranking.

Still, Garrido would prefer not to push his luck or this envelope.

“I don’t see us jeopardizing our opportunity in the regional scene,” Garrido said, “but I do see us jeopardizing our standing with the [regional] seeding committee. There’s a tremendous advantage to being a No. 1 seed.”

Yes, there is. Fullerton was a No. 1 seed last year and got to warm up for Omaha by pounding Northeast Louisiana, James Madison and Rice. Long Beach wasn’t so fortunate and got tossed into the same bracket as Pepperdine, Fresno State and USC. Only USC escaped.

So, the time for another Titan winning streak is at hand. And all winning streaks, long or longer, begin at the same place.

At one in a row.