Transfer Didion Apparently Won’t Play Baseball for Titans

FULLERTON —  Promising sophomore second baseman Kris Didion, who transferred to Cal State Fullerton from Tulane this fall, has not reported for preseason practice and apparently will not play for the Titans this season.

“It doesn’t look like he’s going to be a part of the team,” Fullerton associate head coach George Horton said Friday. “We haven’t seen him or heard from him, so that’s about all we know for sure right now.”

The Titans, defending College World Series champions, resumed practice Wednesday.

“He had quit the team at one point earlier, but then decided he wanted to come back,” Horton said. “We had several meetings, and we talked about the things he needed to do. We set up the criteria he would need to meet, but we’ve never gotten to that point.”

Horton said Didion, who played at Riverside Poly High School, was planning to visit his mother in Oregon during the holidays but apparently has not returned to campus.

Didion was chosen as a freshman All-American last season when he hit .337 with six home runs and 45 runs batted in at Tulane.

Didion had been in competition for a starting position with junior Jerome Alviso, a transfer from Canada College, during fall workouts.

Alviso was one of three Titan players invited to tryouts for the Olympic team in the fall, joining outfielder Mark Kotsay and catcher Brian Loyd in that group.

The Titans, ranked No. 1 by Collegiate Baseball and third by Baseball America in preseason polls, open the season Feb. 2 at Stanford, which is ranked No. 2 in both polls.