April 22, 2008

Box Score

Fullerton, Calif. - No. 15 Cal State Fullerton's Christian Colon drove home Gary Brown with the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Titans upset the No. 6 Arizona State Sun Devils, 10-9, in a non-conference baseball game at Goodwin Field Tuesday night.

Colon's second straight game-winning hit lifts the Titans to their fourth straight victory and an overall record of 24-13. The Sun Devils drop their sixth game in their last 10 and drop to 31-7.

Brown's second hit of the night was laced into the right field corner off Ike Davis with one out in the bottom of the ninth, setting up chances for Josh Fellhauer and Colon to drive in the winner. With the infield in, Fellhauer chopped a grounder to first base, but not soft enough to score Brown from third. Colon, however, got the job done with a sharp single between third and short, easily scoring the speedy Brown with the winning run.

Davis (4-1) picked up the loss, pitching just one inning after playing first base the first eight innings.

Adam Jorgenson pitched the final 2.1 innings and notched a win instead of a save as the Titans lost a 9-6 lead they held into the seventh inning. Jorgenson came on to record the final out of the seventh inning after the Sun Devils cut the deficit to 9-7 off Michael Morrison. Jorgenson then allowed the tying runs to score in the eighth courtesy of an RBI-double by Kiel Roling and an RBI-single by Jason Kipnis. The Titan righthander then set Arizona State down in order, picking up two of his three strikeouts in the top of the ninth.

The Titans had to overcome a great hitting ball club in ASU, as the Sun Devils jumped out to a 5-0 lead off starter Travis Kelly in the first inning. With one out, six consecutive Arizona State batters reached base, with five of them scoring to knock out Kelly after just nine batters. A Davis double, a Matt Newman single, a Raoul Torrez safety squeeze bunt and a two-run Greg Bordes double accounted for the runs in the first.

Fullerton fought back with three runs in the first and three runs in the second to take a 6-5 lead. Corey Jones' RBI-single and Jared Clark's two-run double cut the Sun Devil lead to 5-3 after one. Then Brown's third home run of the year, a two-run shot, knotted the game at five, as he drove a Josh Satow pitch out over the left field wall. After one-out singles by Colon and Erik Komatsu, Jones drove home his second run of the game giving the Titans a one-run lead after two.

Satow lasted five innings and gave up seven runs on eight Titan hits, striking out three and walking five.

The Titans broke a 6-6 tie by plating three runs in the sixth inning off Satow and reliever Dustin Brader. Fellhauer led off the frame with a walk, which was the end for Satow. Colon then sac-bunted Fellhauer to second, setting up Jones' third RBI of the night, as he singled to right driving home Fellhauer with two outs. Clark was hit by a pitch then both he and Jones scored as designated hitter Brian Wilson connected on a Brader offering, to the right field corner that went for a two-run triple. Coming into the game Brader's ERA was 0.56.

Both teams pounded out 12 hits on the evening with Fullerton's Colon and Jones and Arizona State's Kipnis picking up a game-high three hits. Jones led all players with a trio of RBI on the night as well.

A small strike zone by home plate umpire Heath Jones may have contributed to 18 walks on the night, nine by each team. Only ASU's Davis among eight pitchers finished the game without a walk.

Kelly (.2), Jason Dovel (2.2), Morrison (3.1) and Jorgenson (2.1) saw time on the hill for Fullerton, while Satow (5.0), Brader (1.0), Jason Franzblau (1.2) and Davis (1.0) pitched for Arizona State. Franzblau was the only pitcher on the night who did not allow a run.

The two teams will lock horns Wednesday night in the second and final meeting between the teams in the regular season. Game time will be 6 p.m. at Goodwin Field with southpaw Kevin Rath (0-0, 4.15 ERA) scheduled to start for Cal State Fullerton.