Orange County College Baseball : Stanford Walks Over Fullerton, 11-1 : 9 Bases on Balls Costly to Titans, Who Lose Two of Three

Cal State Fullerton pitchers walked nine Stanford batters, four of whom scored, as the Cardinal defeated the Titans, 11-1, Sunday in a nonconference baseball game on Titan Field.

Keith Kaub’s double gave the Titans a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning, but with one out in the fifth Fullerton starter Larry Casian walked three consecutive hitters. Toi Cook singled to left and the ball got by Greg Mannion, allowing three runs to score.

Gary Buckels replaced Casian later in the inning, but Stanford (4-2) scored six runs, five charged to Casian.

Stanford added five runs in the ninth off Buckles before Paul Johnson relieved to get the final out.

“It was kind of like a valet parking,” Titan Coach Augie Garrido said about the walks. “We put a runner on first, then second and then third. By the time their hits came, they already had runners in scoring position.”

The Titans had chances to score in the seventh and eighth.

In the seventh, Tony Trevino reached on an error but was doubled off when he kept running on a one-out fly ball to Cook, the center fielder.

With one out in the eighth, Mark Baca doubled and Ken Garcia singled him to third. But Stanford pitcher Steve Chitren got Mark Razook and Kaub to pop up to end the inning.

Chitren (2-0) pitched a complete-game eight-hitter. Casian (0-1) took the loss.

Stanford, which won two of the three games in the series, defeated Fullerton, 6-5, Friday night in 11 innnings. The Titans won, 7-4, Saturday night.

Fullerton is 1-3 a week into the season, but Garrido said he isn’t ready start looking for a new lineup. What he would really like is a healthy version of the one he has.

The Titans are without starting second baseman Mike Ross, who hurt his knee before the season. Sophomore Kemer Brett is playing in his place. Kaub, a first baseman, is playing but still recovering from arm surgery.

Razook, a shortstop, has an infection in his throwing arm and had missed two games before Sunday. Catcher Mike Ham has a sprained left thumb but is also playing.

“It was a game both teams wanted to win,” Garrido said. “We wanted to win to get some momentum and show that we’re on the way to being the team we want to be.”

Stanford started the weekend ranked fourth in the nation in the Baseball America poll. The Titans were 16th.

Troy Paulsen, the Times’ Orange County Player of the Year last season for La Quinta, has switched from shortstop to second base at Stanford. In his first start Sunday, he was 2 for 4 and scored two runs.

Paulsen hit a home run Saturday night in his second collegiate at-bat.

Fullerton plays at Pepperdine Tuesday and has a three-game home series against defending national champion Arizona starting Thursday night.

In other nonconference action:

Loyola Marymount 12, UC Irvine 7--The Anteaters led, 7-6, with two out in the bottom of the eighth but lost when the Lions scored six unearned runs.

Loyola Marymount (5-1) got back-to-back singles with two out in the eighth. Then shortstop Chris Gallego bobbled a hard-hit grounder and threw late to first. Jim McAnany doubled in three runs for a 9-7 lead.

Mark Grafitti was 3 for 4 with 2 home runs and 5 RBIs for Loyola Marymount.

John Seaburger and Rudy Valasek hit solo home runs for the Anteaters (3-5), and Seaburger and Mike Sugar had three hits each.

Andrew Peruzzi (1-0) was the winning pitcher. Kevin Kandalaft (0-1) gave up the six unearned runs in the eighth.