Fullerton Pitcher Casian Named PCAA Player of Year

Larry Casian of Cal State Fullerton was named Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. baseball player of the year Wednesday in a vote of conference coaches.

Casian, a 6-foot, 160-pound senior from Lakewood, is 10-1 with a 2.75 earned-run average. He was 7-0 with a 1.70 ERA in PCAA games.

Augie Garrido of Fullerton and Mike Gerakos of UC Irvine were selected conference coaches of the year.

The Titans (18-3, 41-15) won the PCAA championship. They are ranked third in the nation. The Anteaters (13-8, 27-26-1) finished second in the PCAA.

Mike Harkey of Fullerton (8-2, 3.01 ERA), Craig Brink of Irvine (9-4, 3.19 ERA), and Anthony Telfort of San Jose State (10-7, 2.57 ERA) also were first-team pitchers.

Fullerton second baseman Mike Ross (.267), third baseman Tony Trevino (.312), outfielder Mark Baca (.376) and designated hitter Andy Mota (.396) were also named to the first team.

Doug Kline of UC Irvine, who hit .373, was named to the first team as a utility player.

Other selections were catcher Joe Ortiz of Pacific; first baseman Kevin Lofthus of Nevada Las Vegas; shortstop Erik Johnson of UC Santa Barbara, and outfielders Steve Bates of Fresno State, Quinn Mack of UC Santa Barbara and Reed Peters of UNLV.