Baseball Tournament on Hold

FULLERTON —  The regular-season college baseball tournament at Cal State Fullerton sponsored the last three years by the Orange County Sports Assn. and the Anaheim Hilton & Towers will not take place this coming season, but the OCSA expects to revive it in 1998.

Jerry McGee, OCSA executive director, said scheduling problems forced the cancellation of the event that traditionally has attracted some of the nation’s top teams.

The Anaheim Hilton & Towers did not renew its contract as a title sponsor of the event, but McGee said that was not a problem and other sponsorship had tentatively been arranged.

Miami withdrew because of confusion about the dates, and Texas dropped out after Fullerton canceled plans for a three-game series later in the season against the Longhorns in Austin, McGee said.

Augie Garrido had tentatively scheduled Texas for the tournament as well as a three-game series in Austin before he resigned at Fullerton to become Texas coach. “Augie decided that he needed to use the weekend originally planned for the tournament for home playing dates at Texas after Fullerton changed,” McGee said. “We didn’t think we could get the caliber of teams like that on short notice for 1997.”

Fullerton withdrew from the Texas series to increase home games and reduce trips next season.

The Titans will play Pepperdine in a three-game series Feb. 21-23, when the tournament originally was planned. Fullerton will open its season Jan. 28 at Cal State Northridge, then host Stanford in a three-game series beginning Jan. 31.