April 29, 2008

Box Score

Fullerton, Calif. - A five run second inning by No. 12 Cal State Fullerton propelled the Titans to a 12-3 blowout of No. 8 San Diego, snapping the Toreros' nation-best 16-game winning streak Tuesday night in a non-conference baseball game at Goodwin Field.

Fullerton improves to 48-7-2 all-time against San Diego and improves to 27-15 on the year. San Diego falls to 35-12 in losing the season series to the Titans one game to two.

Trailing 3-2, Fullerton sent 10 men to the plate in the second inning off losing pitcher Ricardo Pecina (4-3), capitalizing on a pair of lead-off walks that got things going. Following the bases on balls and a Joe Scott bunt single, Josh Fellhauer and Christian Colon each drove home a run with singles of their own. A San Diego error and two sacrifice flies by Jared Clark and Gary Brown gave the Titans the lead for good at 7-3.

The Titans ran four arms out to the mound Tuesday night with Kevin Rath getting his second consecutive start against a Top Ten team. Rath lasted two innings and surrendered the only three runs of the night for the Toreros. Logan Gelbrich blasted his seventh home run of the year in the top of the first, a two-run shot, to give USD the early 2-0 lead. Then an RBI-single by Jose Valerio in the second gave the Toreros a brief 3-2 lead.

Travis Kelly, Ryan Ackland and Michael Morrison tossed the game's final seven innings, without allowing a run. The trio surrendered just four hits while striking out six in the win. Ackland (1-1) finished by hurling a career-high three innings, giving up just one knock, for his first career victory.

Pecina lasted 4.2 innings, surrendering seven runs (five earned) on seven hits before giving way to Darrin Campbell to finish the fifth. With two outs in the sixth, Campbell hit Colon with a pitch and went to 2-1 with Erik Komatsu before the outfielder deposited the ball into the net in right center field for his team-leading sixth homer of the year to give the Titans a 9-3 lead. It was Komatsu's second hit and second and third RBI of the night as he tripled and drove in a run in the first.

Scott DeNault tossed a scoreless inning in the seventh before giving way to the Toreros' fourth pitcher of the night, Luke Roniger, in the eighth. With Colon aboard on a triple with two outs, San Diego elected to intentionally walk Jared Clark (2-for-3, first-inning RBI) to set runners at the corners. The Titans brought in pinch-hitter Khris Davis to face the USD lefty, and he proceeded to make Roniger pay, as he hit the first pitch up and out of Goodwin Field just above the 385 mark in right-center. It was the sophomore's third pinch-hit home run and fourth round-tripper of the year.

Colon and USD's Kevin Hansen led all players with three hits on the night, with Clark and Komatsu in tow with two hits apiece. Komatsu and Davis each drove home three and Clark had two runs batted in the win.

Fullerton ships out for Santa Barbara Thursday afternoon to head north to face the Gauchos of UC Santa Barbara in a three-game Big West Conference set. The Titans rotation of Jeff Kaplan, Daniel Renken and Cory Arbiso is set for the games starting at 2 p.m., 1 p.m. and 1 p.m., Friday through Sunday, respectively.

NOTES: Fullerton is now 8-5 on the year against ranked opponents (2-0 vs. UCLA, 1-2 vs. Arizona, 2-1 against USD, 2-1 against UC Irvine, 1-1 against Arizona State)... Joe Scott made his first start since the Titans' final game of the 2007 College World Series, he finished 1-for-3 with a walk and a run scored...Ryan Ackland lowered his team-leading ERA to 0.96 in 19 appearances... The Titans were hit by a pitch three more times on Tuesday, increasing their Big West Conference lead in the category with their 89 HBP of the year