March 2, 2008

Box Score

Palo Alto, Calif. - Cal State Fullerton's Christian Colon grounded into a double play and drove in the go-ahead run in the top of the eighth, but it wasn't enough as Stanford (6-2) went on to defeat the Titans (3-4), 6-5, with a home run in the eighth, and an RBI-double in the bottom of the ninth to complete the series sweep Sunday afternoon at Sunken Diamond.

Fullerton led 5-4 going into the bottom of the eighth but pinch-hitter Toby Gerhart, launched a homer off reliever Jason Dovel to tie the game at 5-5. Dovel had retired all six batters he had faced to that point, three by strikeout.

Brian Wilson (1-1) came on in relief of Dovel and recorded the final out of the eighth, and the first out of the ninth before a throwing error by Colon allowed Jeff Whitlow to reach base. The next batter Zach Jones, drove home the game winner, belting a Wilson offering off the right field wall, scoring Whitlow all the way from first.

Fullerton drops its 10th game in a row to the Cardinal at Sunken Diamond, a streak dating back to 2002.

Sean Ratliff (1-0) picked up his first win of the year, retiring the last five Titans of the game after coming in from center field as the Cardinal's eighth pitcher of the day.

The Titans' Gary Brown, making his first start in the leadoff spot, drove home three of the Titans runs, one on a fourth-inning double to give Fullerton the 2-1 lead, the other on his first career home run in the seventh.

After Brown's double in the fourth, Stanford tied the game with a Cord Phelps RBI-triple off starter Adam Jorgenson. Jorgenson worked smoothly through five innings allowing just two runs on five hits but was greeted in the top of the sixth with a Ratliff double and a two-run Jason Castro home run to give Stanford the 4-2 lead.

Fullerton battled back in their half of the seventh as they got the first six runners on base, five via a hit. Brown led off with his homer to left, then Erik Komatsu drove home the tying run with a single with runners at the corners.

The Titans went ahead on Colon's groundout in the eighth, but the rest was history.

The Titans' Josh Fellhauer tied Cardinal's Zach Jones with the game-lead with three hits, while Brown's three RBI led all players.

Fullerton flies home to play their first five-game week of the season, playing two with UCLA on Tuesday and Wednesday before hosting Southern Miss over the weekend.