COLLEGE ROUNDUP : Bats Fall Silent, Errors Prove Costly in Titans’ 10-6 Loss to Long Beach

LONG BEACH — A share of first place in the Big West Conference baseball standings was there for the taking Sunday, but Cal State Fullerton couldn’t reach out and grab it.

A Titan error opened the door for Cal State Long Beach to score four runs in the first inning, and another error cost Fullerton two runs in the fifth as the 49ers won, 10-6, in front of about 500 on their home field.

Fullerton (32-13, 13-5 in conference) began the day trailing first-place Fresno State by a game, and Titan players and fans got charged up when it was announced before the fifth inning that New Mexico State had beaten Fresno State, dropping the Bulldogs to 14-4 in conference.

Fullerton responded by scoring a run in the inning to trim the deficit to 4-2, but Long Beach (26-16-1, 13-5) bounced back with three runs in the fifth and three in the sixth to avoid a three-game sweep and move into a second-place tie with the Titans.

“It was kind of a pivotal game for us,” Long Beach Coach Dave Snow said. “If we lost, we would have been fading out of the picture. A win puts us right back in the picture.”

For the Titans, Sunday’s game looked like a photographic negative of Saturday’s game. Fullerton had 22 hits Saturday and played solid defense in a 22-9 victory. Sunday, they had only five hits and made two very costly errors.

Long Beach, which committed nine errors in the first two games, played flawless defense Sunday and made two outstanding plays in the ninth. One was third baseman Jason Giambi’s diving stop of a grounder, after which he threw out Chris Powell, and the other was center fielder Cobi Cradle’s leaping, over-the-shoulder grab of Steve Sisco’s drive to the wall.

“They played uncharacteristically bad defense the first two games,” Fullerton Coach Augie Garrido said. “Today, the shoe was on the other foot.”

That shoe was more like a boot. With runners on first and second and one out in the first inning, 49er designated hitter Todd Pridy grounded to first baseman Jim Betzsold, who fired to shortstop Nate Rodriquez for one out.

Rodriquez’s throw got to first in time to catch Pridy, but Titan pitcher Dan Naulty didn’t. Naulty lunged and missed Rodriquez’s throw, which sailed into foul territory, allowing Lamarr Rogers to score and Pridy to take second.

Alan Burke walked, and Eddie Christian followed with a two-run double to the wall in left-center field. Mike Case singled in a run, Brian Whatley walked, and Naulty, who had been suffering from flu-like symptoms, was pulled in favor of Mike Parisi. Parisi walked Chris Gomez to load the bases but struck out Rogers to end the inning.

Jason Moler’s bases-empty homer in the second and Rodriquez’s RBI single in the fifth brought Fullerton within 4-2, but the Titan defense broke down again in the bottom of the fifth.

Sisco couldn’t handle what appeared to be a sure double-play grounder by Pridy, and Burke followed with a three-run homer to make it 7-2. Cradle’s RBI single and Pridy’s two-run homer in the sixth put the 49ers ahead, 10-2.

The Titans mounted a comeback off Long Beach reliever Jon Graves in the seventh, scoring four runs with the help of five walks. Moler’s two-run single cut the lead to 10-6.

But freshman left-hander Michael Hernandez struck out Frank Herman on a change-up with the bases loaded to end the inning and then retired the Titans in order in the eighth and ninth.

In another Big West Conference baseball game:

UC Irvine 4, San Jose State 3--Steve Ott’s bases-empty home run in the ninth won it for the Anteaters and gave them a sweep of the three-game series at Irvine. Ott was three for four, scored two runs and drove in another. David Bladow (8-5) went the distance, allowing five hits, walking one a striking out two for the Anteaters (20-22, 8-10). San Jose is 27-19, 11-10.

In a Big West Conference softball game:

Cal State Fullerton 3-4, UC Santa Barbara 2-3--Tiffany Boyd got credit for her 19th and 20th consecutive victories in the doubleheader sweep at Santa Barbara. She struck out 12 in the first game, which lasted nine innings, and pitched 6 1/3 innings of relief in the second game, which the Titans (38-17, 20-10) won in 12 innings.