CSUN WAITS TO LEARN ITS PLAYOFF ITINERARY.

Byline: Kevin Acee Daily News Staff Writer

The Western Athletic Conference title is theirs. That play-in nonsense is all finished.

The real playoffs are about to begin.

The Cal State Northridge baseball team will gather today at a Mexican restaurant in Northridge to watch ESPN and learn which NCAA Regional it will go to - and who it will play.

The eight six-team regionals begin Thursday and run through Sunday. The winner of each double-elimination regional tournament advances to the College World Series, May 31 to June 8 in Omaha, Neb.

Which regional would be best for the Matadors? Does it really matter?

With history as our guide, it is safe to say there will be plenty of surprises and things to complain about when the 48-team regional field is announced at noon today on ESPN.

What does that mean to Northridge? To USC? To Long Beach State? To UCLA?

``You never know,'' said an observer who has covered college baseball for years. ``It's so much politics and how educated the committee is.''

There are almost three times as many baseball-playing schools in the East as there are in the West. Many of the committee members have never seen West Coast schools play. Though a committee member was reportedly at the Matadors' 2-1 loss at Santa Clara on Friday night, when the Northridge got just three hits.

The Matadors, whose 49 victories lead the nation, earned an automatic berth in the regionals Saturday by beating Santa Clara in a best-of-three play-in series.

The possibilities are endless.

But, despite its claim of having complete flexibility to send teams anywhere in the country, the committee takes money into consideration. That means trying to keep travel costs to a minimum.

There are 18 automatic berths given to conference champions, and six more going to winners of play-ins. The remaining 24 spots are at-large bids.

Host schools Clemson, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana State and Wichita State will almost definitely be No. 1 seeds at their respective sites. Either Texas or Texas Tech could also be a No. 1.

Most who are familiar with past committee decisions say the Matadors are headed to the West Regional in Palo Alto, with Stanford as the host and possible No. 1 seed. Northridge could be the No. 3 seed with Cal State Fullerton as No. 2.

But Fullerton, the defending national champion that slumped its way through the final month of the season, could be shipped out to one of the two Texas regionals or Wichita.

Northridge might be sent to one of those three places as well - as a No. 2 seed, perhaps.

One thing is almost certain: USC, ranked as high as No. 2 in the nation, will not be at Stanford, a fellow Pacific-10 school. The committee can put teams from the same conference in the same regional but tends not to whenever possible. The Trojans will probably be a No. 1 seed in Texas - either the Lubbock regional hosted by Texas Tech or the Austin regional hosted by Texas.

Long Beach State and UCLA, both ranked in the top 25, are considered locks to make the tournament.

Fresno State, Arizona State, UC Santa Barbara and Santa Clara are teams that probably deserve an at-large bid but, because of the strength of the region and the limited number of bids it usually receives, can only hope the committee deems them worthy. Pepperdine, which had impressive victories over USC and Fullerton, is a longshot.