Big West Will End Up as Usual

Cal State Northridge was a surprise winner of the league two years ago. UC Riverside and UC Irvine have become contending teams in that time.

But the Big West Conference in baseball is still about Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach State. One or the other has won the league title in 16 of the last 18 seasons and nothing has changed in 2004.

The two traditional powers will decide the conference championship next weekend at Blair Field. Fullerton is in the driver’s seat after it defeated 21st-ranked Irvine, 7-3, Sunday in front of a season-high 1,610 at Anteater Ballpark to sweep a crucial three-game series.

The unranked Titans (33-20, 16-2) lead Long Beach by two games with three remaining after getting some help from Riverside (32-22, 10-8), which scored five runs in the bottom of the seventh -- three on a momentum-swinging homer by Matt Cunningham -- to pull out a 5-4 win over the 49ers.

“It makes it a little easier,” Fullerton Coach George Horton said. “It’s not over. Certainly [Long Beach] is capable of sweeping us and the biggest mistake we could make is to assume it’s over.”

Fullerton was 15-16 at one point but has won 18 of 22 since then behind two of the hottest players in the nation in junior catcher Kurt Suzuki and senior pitcher Jason Windsor.

“It was real rough in the beginning,” second baseman Justin Turner said. “Nothing really surprises us now. We’ve been through our ups and downs.

“We’re going to bring our all next week. If Long Beach ends up winning, they end up winning, but right now we’re a tough team to beat.”

It is different at Irvine where the Anteaters (31-17-1, 8-10) dropped below UC Santa Barbara (31-19, 9-9) into fifth place.

Despite being in the national rankings most of the season, Irvine’s postseason hopes may hinge on a home series next weekend against Riverside before ending the regular season with three games at No. 15 Washington.

“What it means is we have to get it done next week,” Irvine Coach John Savage said. “It’s not a lost cause. Our overall record is still very strong, our RPI is very strong. It’s a matter of finishing strong in league.”

Riverside Coach Jack Smitheran also believes the series is key but said the NCAA Division I baseball committee should select four Big West teams for the regionals when it convenes in two weeks to choose the teams that will participate in the tournament.

“I would hope they would look at four teams,” Smitheran said. “Historically, we’ve been able to get our three, but I would hope they would look at our strength of schedule and our performance against that.”

Eighth-ranked Long Beach (36-13, 14-4) figures to be one of the 16 teams to play host to a regional but its chances at being one of the eight seeded teams in the nation may rest on winning the conference title.

“We’re going to put in a bid and we’re in a good position to host,” Long Beach Coach Mike Weathers said. “We’ve got to do our job and at least finish in the first couple spots in league. I think both us and Fullerton should host.

“A lot of things can happen next week.”