Titans Face Similar Opponent

Cal State Fullerton and South Carolina have never met on the baseball diamond, but it’s already known that they share common ground.

Each has an outstanding catcher.

Which is best -- South Carolina’s Landon Powell or Fullerton’s Kurt Suzuki -- is something a large crowd and a national TV audience can determine for themselves when the teams meet Saturday in the opening round of the College World Series in Rosenblatt Stadium at Omaha.

The tournament begins Friday with Arizona facing Georgia and Texas playing Arkansas; Saturday’s other first-round game features Louisiana State against Miami.

Among college catchers, it seems that Powell and Suzuki are clear-cut choices as the best in the nation. What’s not as clear is when the choice is between them.

Two All-American teams have been announced so far. In one, Powell, who is batting .332 with 19 home runs and 65 runs batted in, is first team and Suzuki is second team. On the other, Suzuki, who leads Fullerton with a .437 batting average, 16 home runs and 86 RBIs, got the first-team nod and Powell was second team.

And then there’s this: The Oakland Athletics selected Powell in the first round of last week’s amateur draft -- and took Suzuki in the second round.

Fullerton and South Carolina share other similarities. Neither, for example, is a stranger to Omaha.

South Carolina (50-15) this season advanced to an NCAA super regional for the fifth consecutive season and is in the College World Series for the third consecutive year. Fullerton (42-21) is making its 13th appearance in Omaha. The Titans have won 27 of 32 games since a 15-16 start and are the hottest hitting team among the eight in the Series, having scored 68 runs in seven postseason games.

Fullerton first baseman P.J. Pilittere said the memory of being eliminated in extra innings last season by Stanford has served as motivation for veteran members of the team to make a return trip to Omaha.

“Every person’s mind-set is going to be different because the guys who have not been there before are going to take everything in,” Pilittere said Sunday after Fullerton beat Tulane, 10-7. “But for the guys sitting here at this table, we are going there to win.”