Instead of Taking It, He’s Dishing It Out : Titans: Steve Sisco spent first part of season looking at third strikes, but lately he’s been on a hitting tear.

FULLERTON —  It was a good-natured jab, but to Cal State Fullerton second baseman Steve Sisco, it hit home like a Mike Tyson hook.

Sisco was in the Titan baseball office about a month ago when associate head coach George Horton, twiddling a pencil in his fingers, reminded Sisco of the rash of called third strikes being thrown by him.

“You might as well hit with this,” Horton joked, holding up the No. 2 lead.

Sisco wasn’t laughing.

“Criticism like that makes you want to change things,” the junior said. “Something snapped inside, and I thought there was no reason I had to be doing this. I had to start hitting the ball.”

So hit he did.

Sisco, a Thousand Oaks High School graduate who attended Moorpark College for one season, has been on a tear for the past 15 games, batting .500 (36 for 72) with 22 runs, 17 runs batted in, seven doubles, two triples and two home runs.

A 19-game hitting streak was stopped Sunday against University of the Pacific, but it wasn’t the kind of streak that was kept alive by a bunt single here, a bloop single there.

In the 15-game span, Sisco had three four-hit games and five other three-hit games. He takes a team-leading .385 (57 for 148) average into an important Big West Conference series at first-place Fresno State beginning tonight. The Titans (21-15, 5-1) are in second place in the conference.

“There haven’t been any cheap (hits),” Horton said.

This is in stark contrast to the first month of the season, when Sisco would have taken any bargain-basement hit he could get his bat on. Sisco struggled and his average even dipped below .300--low for him--in early March.

Sisco hit bottom in a March 1 game at Jacksonville. While most of his teammates were enjoying multiple-hit days in a 25-5 rout, Sisco was a measly one for six and struck out looking twice.

“I sulked the whole weekend,” Sisco said. “We won big, but I didn’t feel I was a part of it.”

Horton wasn’t sure whether Sisco, who played first base last season, would continue being part of the starting lineup.

“He was almost to the point where he wouldn’t swing the bat,” Horton said. “He was taking a lot of pitches, fat ones, and had some rough at-bats in the clutch. To me, he could have gone one way or another at that point--he could have had an awful year or turned it around.”

Thanks to some adjustments in his batting stance and mental approach, Sisco turned it around--and then some.

Sisco had prepared to hit with his knees and feet turned slightly inward, his hands close to his body and his weight on his back leg, a stance similar to Oakland Athletics outfielder Rickey Henderson’s, but not as exaggerated.

Fullerton Coach Augie Garrido, believing the stance caused too much of an uppercut, squared Sisco’s feet and moved his hands away from his body. The result was a more balanced stance and a more level swing.

But there was more to be done--Sisco’s above-the-neck stance needed work, too. Sisco’s problem was that he wore his emotions on his sleeve and let frustrations at the plate carry over to the field.

“Augie took me aside after a few games and told me to keep my emotions inside, and that helped a lot,” Sisco said. “He also told me to pick someone in the stands that you want to play your best for every day. I picked my father and my former junior college coach, and that has helped, too.”

The hot streak coincided with Sisco’s move to the leadoff spot 15 games ago, but Sisco, who was hitting in the sixth and second spots, isn’t sure what role the switch played in his offensive surge.

“When I moved to leadoff, I felt I had to get on base,” said Sisco, who batted .294 with 30 runs and 32 RBIs last season. “My walks went up and my hitting improved. But a lot of factors played a part, not just moving to leadoff.”

The move from first base to second--sort of a re-learning process--has also gone well for Sisco, 5 feet 10 and 180 pounds, who played shortstop in high school.

“I got into some bad habits at first base,” Sisco said. “That big ol’ glove made me lazy, and I didn’t have to move much. This year, I’ve got a smaller glove and have to move my feet more.”

Sisco has made only six errors in 198 chances and has been a part of 29 double plays, including a highlight film-maker at the University of San Diego Tuesday.

After backhanding a grounder up the middle, Sisco, his body fully extended, flipped the ball using only his glove hand to shortstop Phil Nevin, who turned the double play.

“He thrives on stuff like that--making the spectacular play--but he makes the routine play well, too,” Horton said. “His range is better and he turns the double play well. He’s progressed beyond what we thought he could be defensively.”

Offensively, too. Players often have big days, but Sisco has been able to sustain a hot bat for a month.

“Even the day the streak was broken, he hit the ball hard,” Horton said.

His last at-bat Sunday, a fly-ball out, was the only time Sisco said he felt pressured by the streak. He had been through this before--he had a 20-game hitting streak at Moorpark in 1989--and knew how to handle it.

“At Moorpark, I read all the articles, listened to what everyone said and put a lot of pressure on myself,” Sisco said. “I didn’t want that to happen again. I didn’t listen to what anyone was saying, I didn’t put pressure on myself, and I didn’t go up there thinking I had to get a hit or the season was over.

“I’m here for the team. I want to get back to the regionals and to Omaha for the College World Series. There’s no reason to be upset the streak is over.”