By Mel Franks
Associate Athletics Director
June 16, 2007

The home runs were decisive but it was the little things that determined Saturday's College World Series Game No. 4. And didn't every Titan fan -- every believer in Titan destiny -- honestly believe that Joel Weeks was going to provide a storybook return to the Titans' lineup with his first meaningful at bat since March 14?

Other than familiarity, it's hard to discern what has made Cal State Fullerton one of the fan favorites in Omaha over the years. Riveting, well-played games probably have a lot to do with it as the fans get their money's worth when the Titans take to the Rosenblatt turf.

Just look at their last six games, starting with the 2004 title game. In that one, the Titans rallied from a 2-0 deficit to beat Texas, 3-2, on Kurt Suzuki's single after a clutch pinch-hit triple by Brett Pill set the table. In 2006, all four games went down to the last pitch - 7-5 in 13 innings vs. North Carolina; 7-5 with a 3-run ninth-inning rally over Georgia Tech; 7-6 with a tie-breaking run in the eighth over Clemson; and a 6-5 loss to North Carolina. And now Saturday, the wrong side of 3-2 to Oregon State, the Beavers' first win ever over the Titans in five tries (1-4 overall, 1-2 in Div. I competition).

The little things? The throwing error on Wes Roemer when his pickoff throw sailed into the runner in the second inning. Evan McArthur's bum foot, which prevented him from getting to second base when the Beavers couldn't corral his potential game-ending pop fly, making Jon Wilhite's pinch-hit single dramatic but not game-tying. And the Titans' inability to turn two lead-off walks and a lead-off hit batter into runs in the second, fourth and fifth innings.

Credit both teams with excellent defense which backed up outstanding pitching. Oregon State turned a spectacular double play in the fourth and Jordan Lennerton robbed Matt Wallach of a ninth-inning single. Joe Scott made several good plays for the Titans. But the outfielders couldn't catch Roemer's two mistakes that landed in the stands and for the 14th time in 15 trips to Omaha, the Titans are saddled with a defeat.

Which sets up a Big West Conference elimination game between Fullerton and Irvine, two schools which have played many more memorable men's basketball games than baseball contests. But now it's George Horton and staff against former Titan Dave Serrano and staff, which includes former Titan Sergio Brown. The Omaha-savvy Titans vs. the newcomers, who didn't even have a program for many years. One team will definitely go home while one is left to battle the Pac-10 Sun Devils or Beavers in what appears to be the better bracket.

Watching UC Irvine play Arizona State evoked in me a variety of emotions, the least of which was the fact that my college degree came out of Tempe. Initial instinct is to root for a fellow conference member, but, to be honest, you don't want the upcoming program to get too good, too quick. But then you see television shots of Coach Dave Serrano in the dugout, often with son Kyle, batboy at the ready. And you have to root for Dave, one of the architects of the Titans' program as both a pitcher and long-time assistant coach.

Sadly, UCI became the eighth consecutive "rookie" team in Omaha to lose its first game. You have to go back to Georgia Tech in 1994 to find a team winning its debut game. Of course, the Yellowjackets had some guys named Nomar Garciaparra, Jason Varitek, Brad Rigby and Jay Payton among others and the win came over a Cal State Fullerton team, 2-0, that was exhausted from back-to-back cross-half-country flights after winning a draining Regional in Stillwater.

Interestingly, Horton is again in a mentor-pupil situation, but it's a role reversal from his relationship with Coach Augie Garrido in the Championship Series against Texas in 2004. Now he's the sage.

Random initial thoughts on my 13th trip to the College World Series, belated as was my arrival:

• Credit the Anteaters for following in the Titans' footsteps with an "Eater Nation" hospitality "yard" on 13th Street across from Rosenblatt Stadium. The moneyed "football" schools seem content to entertain back at their hotels. More resources. More infrastructure. Probably less fun.

• No matter how warm the weather appeared on television, it was hotter than that given the humidity of the Midwest. The "dry heat" of the desert is often ridiculed, but 105 on the shore of Lake Mohave is more bearable than 88 degrees and 88 percent humidity along the Missouri River.

• Farmers' markets in downtown Omaha on Saturday morning are really FARMERS markets, with crops and nursery plants and honey and home-made sausage. And home-made pies and home canning. And soy nuts?

• Attendance at the CWS after four games is over 88,000. Yet talk persists of the need for a new stadium or, in sometimes more clandestine terms, even a new venue if the former doesn't occur. Or at least more rehab for Rosenblatt. There are many reasons for a physical upgrade, but "athlete welfare," the NCAA "catch phrase" in recent years, is not a factor. The playing surface is spectacular and everything in play is first class. The atmosphere is beyond approach. It's the fans who must tackle the parking and access problems, the crowded corridors under the stands and the shortage of restrooms. They seem to keep coming back. In droves. In the heat and the humidity. In thousands of new T-shirts! Can't tradition survive purely for tradition's sake just once?