NCAA Baseball South Regional : Garcia Does It His Way in Titans’ 5-1 Win : A Different Pitch Helps Fullerton Take Control of Mississippi State

Longo Garcia has his little ways of doing things.

There is that odd sprint to the mound, the strange little hop over the foul line, and the way he wipes his face precisely four times before every inning.

“You might have noticed,” he says. “I’m very superstitious.”

So convinced is Garcia that he pitches best in Cal State Fullerton’s white home jersey that he begged for the Titans to wear white in his start against Mississippi State Saturday in the NCAA South Regional. It meant a quick washing--the uniforms had been worn in Fullerton’s game Friday--but it was done.

What Garcia did in Saturday’s 5-1 victory over Mississippi State came as something of a surprise, since he is so ruled by compulsions and superstitions: He tried something new.

Realizing early in the game in front of 6,620 hometown fans at Dudy Nole Field that the Bulldog batters were not having as much trouble as he would like, Garcia went to a new pitch--a cut fastball that he hadn’t used all year.

Fullerton Coach Larry Cochell, standing in the dugout, was baffled.

“What’s that pitch?” he asked, again and again.

So might have the Bulldogs. Garcia, staying ahead of batters most of the day, scattered 7 hits and struck out 13, tying a career-high.

He improved his record to 9-5 and put Fullerton into a fine spot in the NCAA South Regional after two games. The Titans (39-16) are the only team still undefeated here and have ensured that they will play on Monday, the final day.

Fullerton’s next game is at 5:30 PDT today, again against Mississippi State.

Danny DeVille, a junior righthander with the best record (7-1) on the Fullerton staff, will be the starter.

The Titans got 15 hits off four Mississippi State pitchers Saturday, putting on an impressive offensive show for the second day in a row.

With that, and with two complete-game victories from its pitchers, Fullerton is becoming the most talked-about team at this regional.

Cochell isn’t ready to assume the favorite’s role yet, however.

“I don’t think we’re in control of the regional,” he said. “We have to take it one game at a time. I’ve been around too long to get too confident. I don’t even look ahead at the brackets to see who we would play.”

In Saturday’s game, Fullerton fell behind, 1-0, in the third when Mississippi State’s Jody Hurst drove in John Cohen, who had doubled.

But the Titans scored three runs in the fourth on four singles, a walk and a sacrifice fly by Greg Mannion, who finished 3 for 4 with 2 runs batted in.

Brent Mayne, the Fullerton catcher who has mounted a school- and Pacific Coast Athletic Assn.-record hitting streak, allowed a bit of suspense this time, flying out in the second and grounding out in the fourth before singling in the sixth inning to extend his streak to 37 games. He finished the day 2 for 4.

But despite Fullerton’s success at the plate, this game was largely Garcia’s.

“I thought the key was Garcia,” Ron Polk, Mississippi State coach, said. “I thought he was very effective. He threw the breaking pitch for strikes, ahead of the count or behind the count. He got ahead of us all afternoon.”

Garcia allowed one run on four hits in the first three innings, then allowed only three hits the rest of the way.

“The first couple of innings they hit some balls pretty hard at our outfielders,” Garcia said. “I came up with a new pitch today, the cut fastball. It gave them something new to look for.”

It wasn’t exactly a brand-new pitch, just one Garcia hadn’t used since last year, when it tended to hurt his arm.

“I tried it one time (Saturday), and it worked,” he said. “I kept going back to it. Six of the strikeouts, I think, came on that.”