Fullerton’s Mayne Man Still Going : His 35-Game Streak Is on Line Today in South Regional

Like any great thing, it was nothing at first.

Brent Mayne’s hitting streak began as all hitting streaks must, with one game. It was nothing to think of.

But it became 5 games, then 10, then 20. It tied, then broke, the Cal State Fullerton record of 23 games. It kept increasing, and it continues still.

It began as an afterthought, became a footnote and is now something much more.

For a time, Mayne was in a groove. Three times, he went 4 for 4.

Later, he struggled. Twice, it has taken a 10th-inning single to preserve the streak.

But here is the streak, still intact, 35 games after it began.

Were the season longer, Mayne, a sophomore, by now might be eyeing the NCAA record of 58 games, set last year by Oklahoma State’s Robin Ventura.

But Fullerton’s season will not last long enough for that.

Having sustained it through the regular season, Mayne will take his streak into the postseason today, when 11th-ranked Fullerton (37-16) plays Missouri (41-20) in the first round of the NCAA South Regional at Starkville, Miss.

Should the Titans win the NCAA title, they will not play 24 more games, the number Mayne would need to break Ventura’s single-season record.

Even so, it is a streak--part joy and part burden--that Mayne will try to maintain.

To understand how long it has been, try to recall what you were doing on Feb. 27: That was the date of the last game in which Mayne went hitless.

For a time, even Mayne did not think much about the streak, content that if he concentrated on his duties as catcher, other things would work themselves out.

The pressure, naturally, has increased, but Mayne remains rather undistracted by his feat.

“It really doesn’t matter, especially not anymore,” Mayne said. “Like I’ve said before, my defense is the main thing.”

He has had a respite from the pressure in the days since the Titans ended their regular season May 11.

Fullerton played three scrimmages against local teams as it waited for the NCAA tournament to begin. In two of those, he got at least one hit. But in one, he went 0 for 5.

“Just my luck,” Mayne said, with more humor than sarcasm.

It was a chance to relax, but just a bit.

“I tried to put the same intensity into it,” he said. “I did relax a little, but I tried not to let everything go.”

It is a difficult thing to comprehend, when speaking of a player with a .408 average who is sitting on a 35-game hitting streak, but Mayne is in a bit of a slump.

Or at least in as much of one as he possibly could be.

There have been far fewer multiple-hit games for him recently, and this has prompted him to take extra batting practice.

“Sometimes you’re not going to hit, and sometimes you are,” he said. “I try to take extra batting practice even when it’s going good, but right now especially.”

The Titan team, like Mayne, had its difficulties toward the end of the regular season. Fullerton was swept in a crucial three-game series against Fresno State, and lost five of its last seven games.

Fullerton will have to turn that slump around quickly to last long in the NCAAs, of course.

Titan Notes

Four of the six teams in the NCAA South Regional played their first games Thursday. Middle Tennessee upset the regional’s top-seeded team, Texas A&M;, 3-1, and Mississippi State beat Western Carolina, 7-4, in 11 innings. Texas A&M; will meet Western Carolina in the first game today, meaning that one will be out of the double-elimination tournament before Fullerton and Missouri play their first game.