NOTE:
Titan Baseball Team Will Return on TUESDAY via charter flight.
Watch the website for details.
Sights and sounds of a fourth NCAA national championship in baseball for
Cal State Fullerton on a balmy day in Omaha:
The embrace Jason Windsor and his father, David, shared when the Most
Valuable Player of the 2004 College World Series finally got through more
than an hour of on-the-field celebrations and post-game media interviews.
The players walking from the Rosenblatt Stadium parking lot across 13th
Street to the "Titan House," where parents and fans and friends
formed a cordon to the backyard.
Coaches George Horton and Augie Garrido sharing a brief embrace moments
after the final out, George about to join in the revelry and Augie soon
to face a somber dugout and clubhouse.
There's that lucky number again -- Jason Windsor got his 13th victory
of the season to win the championship.
The national championship hats and T-shirts flying out of the cardboard
boxes from the NCAA personnel before the celebratory dogpile had been
untangled.
Pitching Coach Dave Serrano running towards the "TItan Nation"
assembled behind the victorious third-base dugout with the NCAA Championship
Trophy held aloft. And still smiling after midnight as his 40th birthday
rolled around.
NCAA baseball committee member Randy Buhr futilely trying to line up the
Titans to receive their individual championship watches as they form a
mob around Coach George Horton to dump a cooler of water over his head.
The "National Champion" Titan T-shirts available on the streets
minutes after the final out.
The anonymous e-mail to the Titans Sports Information office from Texas
congratulating the Titans on their win but scolding two Fullerton players
for "making the hook 'em horns" hand sign upside down -- which
a young Titan fan called "the Longhorns are going down!"
The local Omaha fan presenting Justin Turner with the ball he hit for
his first -- and only -- collegiate home run last year in Omaha. She put
it in a display box and saved it for him for a year, apparently confident
the Titans would return.
Francie Horton turning away from the action, too nervous at times to watch.
Clark Hardman jumping up and down like a pogo stick while watching the
ball come down to Bobby Andrews in right field for the final out.
NCAA officials trying to keep Titan photographer Matt Brown off the field
for two minutes to allow ESPN an exclusive video window. Brown was on
the Rosenblatt turf in about 10 seconds.
Beaming service club representatives Fred Uhe and Tom Lynam of the Optimist
Club beaming after claiming the big prize in their first year on the job.
The Texas team declining to come out of the clubhouse to accept the runnerup
trophy and not even performing their traditional "Eyes of Texas"
routine at the end of every event.
The championship trophy being passed from player to player ala the Stanley
Cup in the National Hockey League. And fans and parents alike posing with
the trophy at the post-game barbecue at the Titan House.
P. J. Pilittere walking around with his hand-drawn motivational tape banner,
"Think How Good It's Gonna Feel" wrapped around him.
Danny Dorn's diving ninth-inning catch making No. 4 on ESPN's Plays of
the Week.
Former Laker Jamaal Wilkes in the lobby congratulating Coach Horton on
his team's championship.
The group of seven Texas fans who had assembled behind the Titan seating
section, waiting to antagonize the Fullerton faithful if the Longhorns
rallied in the ninth, slinking away after the final out.
The youthful Longhorn fan sitting in the middle of the Titan rooting section,
trying vainly to instigate the Titan faithful.
Most of the team and at least a hundred fans watching a VCR replay of
the title game in the hotel lobby about midnight Omaha time. The biggest
reactions came, in no particular order -- mock sympathy for Texas pitcher
Sam LeCure after he was drilled on the foot by Justin Turner's laser shot,
Brett Pill's pinch-hit triple, Kurt Suzuki's game-winning hit and Jason
Windsor's colorful post-game interview.
What a game of almosts and ifs... -- the Titans failing to complete a
double play in Texas' 2-run first inning... Drew Stubbs' leaping catch
against the wall of a second-inning drive by Felipe Garcia... the lucky
richochet for the Longhorns of Justin Turner's wicked one-hopper off Sam
LeCure's foot... Brett Pill's line drive falling just fair... the ball
bouncing hard off the concrete portion of the wall not once but twice...Ronnie
Prettyman's bluffed steal pulling second baseman Seth Johnston just far
enough out of position for Turner to get an infield hit... Danny Dorn's
diving catch to open the ninth... Ryan Russ of Texas making a catch (or
a trap) of Dorn's line drive in the sixth... Jason Windsor's stab of a
scorching one hopper for the final out of the eighth inning.
The Rosenblatt Stadium scoreboard spelling out a 3-2 Titan win while the
video screen spread the news: Cal State Fullerton, 2004 National Champions!
