Titans Shut Down Waves, 9-1
Fullerton, Calif. – Erik Komatsu and Jared Clark each had 3 hits and drove in a pair of runs Tuesday night to lead Cal State Fullerton to a 9-1 non-conference baseball victory over visiting Pepperdine.
The Titans improved to 30-16 and reached the 30-win mark for the 34th time in their 34-year Div. I history while Pepperdine fell to 28-16. Fullerton‘s win avenged a 13-2 loss in Malibu on March 18 to lefthander Robert Dickmann (3-5), who took the loss Tuesday after allowing 4 runs in 4 innings.
Freshman lefthander Kevin Rath (1-0) picked up his first collegiate victory after allowing only 1 run and 4 hits in 4 innings. Michael Morrison (3 IP), Jason Dovel (1 IP) and Ryan Ackland (1 IP) combined to pitch 5 innings of scoreless relief. The Titans turned three double plays and Rath picked off a pair of runners to thwart the Waves’ offense.
Freshman shortstop Christian Colon was the key man in two of Fullerton‘s four 2-run innings. He singled home the game’s first run with two out in the third and then stole second base before Komatsu ever stepped into the batter’s box. From second he scored on Komatsu’s single to left field. Colon‘s double set up a Clark sacrifice fly and an RBI single by Brian Wilson in the fifth.
Fullerton‘s short game keyed a 2-run fourth. Gary Brown sacrificed runners to second and third for the first out. Clark then scored on a suicide squeeze bunt by Joel Weeks and Wilson came home from third on Dustin Garneau’s second hit of the night.
Komatsu hit his seventh home run of the season in the seventh and the Titans added an unearned run. Clark singled home Joe Scott to complete the scoring in the eighth.
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Dirtbags Edge Fresno State 2-1
LONG BEACH— Eight Long Beach State pitchers combined on a five-hitter as the Dirtbags (28-17) edged visiting Fresno State (28-24), 2-1 on Tuesday evening in a brisk two hours and 36 minutes.
Danny Espinosa drove in the team’s second run on a double, and scored the first on a sacrifice fly, as Bryan Shaw notched his sixth save after giving up FSU’s first run following a one-out hit by pitch by Shane Peterson.
LBSU got on the board in the second with a Brandon Godfrey sacrifice fly off of loser Sean Bonesteele, and then the Dirtbag first baseman threw out a runner at a plate on a squeeze but, before a double play kept the shutout intact in the third.
An RBI double by Espinosa made it 2-0 in the fourth.
Brett Lorin (3-3) went the first three pre-determined scoreless innings, giving up three hits and striking out two. David Roberts followed with 1.1 scoreless innings, striking out two more.
Four more pitchers came through the turnstiles before Fresno State got another hit, in the seventh, before Nick Vincent struck out the next two and got a groundout to keep it scoreless. Vincent struck out four over 2.1 innings in relief, retiring the last seven batters he faced.
Peterson made his first appearance since last year’s NCAA Regional loss against UCLA, hitting his only batter in the ninth, as he scored on a Steve Detwiler RBI single following a balk by Shaw. Shaw then got a flyout followed by a strikeout to record his sixth save.
Fresno State pitchers retired the final 14 LBSU batters of the game.
The Dirtbags return to action on Friday for a three-game series with third place UC Santa Barbara, with Friday’s game at 6:30 p.m., Saturday’s game at 6 p.m. and Sunday’s contest at 1 p.m.
No. 10 UC Irvine Defeats UC Riverside, 10-4
RIVERSIDE–Pitcher Crosby Slaught earned his first collegiate win and UC Irvine got two RBI apiece from Dillon Bell and Aaron Lowenstein as the Anteaters defeated UC Riverside 10-4 Tuesday in a non-conference game at Riverside Sports Complex. The win lifted UCI to 31-12 overall while the Highlanders dropped to 16-26 on the season.
Slaught pitched three innings for his longest outing this season and struck out a personal-high four batters while walking one and yielding an unearned run.
Bell was 2 for 4 with two runs scored while Lowenstein drove in a pair of runs with a single to right. Ollie Linton drove in a run on 2 for 5 hitting and Ben Orloff was 2 for 3 with an RBI and three runs scored.
UC Irvine took the lead in the first, scoring two runs on run-scoring hits from Orloff and Bell. The Anteaters added a run in the second as Linton beat out a slow roller to short for an infield single, plating Eric Deragisch for the 3-0 lead.
The Highlanders responded in the bottom of the second as Tony Nix doubled in a pair of runs. Joey Gonzalez tied the game with a solo shot off starter Tom Calahan in the bottom of the third.
UCI claimed the lead as the Anteaters batted around in the sixth. Bell drove in his second run of the game with a single to center to score Orloff. Lowenstein’s two-out hit scored Bell and Deragisch and a UCR error on a fielder’s choice allowed Josh Tavelli to cross the plate, giving UCI a 7-3 edge.
The Highlanders got a run in the seventh on a failed pickoff attempt that allowed Trevor Hairgrove to score from third. UCR then threatened in the eighth, putting runners on second and third with one out. However, closer Eric Pettis struck out pinch hitter Ryan Goetz and after giving up a walk to Justin Shultz, struck out Ben Price to leave the runners stranded.
The Anteaters added three runs in the ninth, scoring on a bases-loaded wild pitch, a run-scoring single by Tony Asaro and a bases-loaded walk by Tavelli.
Pettis earned his Big West-leading 12th save after striking out four in 1.2 innings and holding the Highlanders to a hit. Relievers Matt Dufour and Chris Lopez combined for two scoreless innings.
UC Riverside’s Ryan Platt dropped to 2-3 after giving up for runs (three earned) on three hits in 2/3 innings.
Rebels Get Vengeance on Home Turf, Drop Matadors 10-3
LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Cal State Northridge (20-25) got on the board first with a pair of runs in the first inning, but UNLV (20-23) put up three in the bottom half of the inning and pulled away from there. When the dust settled, the Rebels had claimed a 10-3.
Billy Ott got the ball for the midweek start and had a hard time finding his rhythm, surrendering three in the bottom of the first and allowing two more runs before being lifted in the fifth. The sophomore right-hander finished without a strikeout and with just one walk.
Eric Billings was the first reliever out of the bullpen, and he was hit right out of the gate, giving up a single to the first man he faced. Billings sat down the next two hitters he saw to get out of the inning. In the seventh, he surrendered a home run to Rebel slugger Xavier Scruggs that extended the UNLV lead to 7-2.
Northridge was not without scoring opportunities. After being set down in order in the second, they put a man in scoring position in the third and again in the fourth. Both such chances, however, came with two down and neither time could the Matadors push a run across.
The Matadors went down 1-2-3 in the fifth and, after a Ryan Pineda leadoff single in the sixth, stranded the runner with a fly out, ground out, and strike out.
Two Matadors worked their way aboard again in the eighth and head coach Steve Rousey went to the bench for Chris Hannick. Hannick, who replaced Alex Espinosa, smashed a line drive back through the box that clipped pitcher Steve Rinaudo and eluded all the infielders for an RBI single.
Pineda was up in the third with two men on and came up empty; the first of just two times on the day the Rebels could retire him.
UNLV added a score in the seventh and two more in the eighth to stretch the final score to 10-3.
Pineda was 3-for-5 on the evening and TS Reed stole two bases. On the defensive side, sloppy play dominated the Matador fielders. They were hit for just two errors but saw countless miscues help the opposition.
Ott was hit with the loss and the bullpen contingent of Billings, Bryce Schoening, Paul Tremlin, and Peter Mendez combined for 3.2 innings, seven hits, and five runs (three earned).
