Orange County College Baseball : Titans Sacrifice Faulks to UCLA and Lose, 8-5

The four pitchers who have been the foundation of Cal State Fullerton’s early-season success--the ones who have made a habit of finishing what they start--were unavailable Wednesday. Freshman Rich Faulks was left to be thrown to the Bruins.

With Longo Garcia, Mike Harkey and Larry Casian being saved for a weekend series against Cal State Long Beach and Mark Beck resting after Tuesday’s appearence against Loyola Marymount, Titan Coach Augie Garrido had no choice but to hand the ball to the little-used Faulks and ask him to try to overlook the fact that UCLA had hit 66 home runs in 35 games.

Make that 67 in 36 games. Tony Scruggs’ two-run homer started a six-run third inning that led UCLA to an 8-5 nonconference victory Wednesday at Titan Field. UCLA sent 10 batters to the plate in the inning, giving Faulks some rough treatment in what would be the first decision--and first loss--of his collegiate career.

Before this start, Faulks’ college-baseball experience consisted of 5 innings and a no-decision Feb. 18 against Cal Poly Pomona and three innings against Chapman College March 11. Garrido would have loved to send a more experienced pitcher to face UCLA, which entered the game with a .306 batting average and a tendency to hit balls over fences. But his pitching calendar wouldn’t permit it.

“Wednesday is too late to start one of the (other) starters,” Garrido said. “Our starters throw a lot of pitches. The normal three to four days’ rest isn’t quite enough for them.”

So in came Faulks to face a team that one national poll ranked fifth in the nation this week. The left-hander from El Toro High School allowed seven runs and nine hits before seeking the shelter of the dugout after six innings. Paul Johnson finished up for the Titans (22-12), who had won three straight and 11 of their last 14 before the Bruins brought their productive bats to Fullerton.

UCLA (25-10-1) had three hits from former La Quinta High standout Jeff Osborn and two from Charlie Fiacco, Torey Lovullo and Eric Karros. But the Bruins got all the runs they needed in one inning.

After Bobby Holley led off the third with a walk, Scruggs sent a Faulks pitch well over the fence in left-center. After retiring Fiacco on a ground ball, Faulks gave up a single to Lovullo, a double to Karros, then hit Bob Hamelin with an 0-2 pitch to load the bases. Steve Hisey walked to force one run home, and Osborn followed with a two-run double off the fence in left-center. Bill Haselman, who was deprived of a wind-blown home run on Fullerton center fielder Mark Baca’s leaping catch against the wall in the second inning, added a run-scoring sacrifice fly to give UCLA a 6-2 lead.

Fullerton scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth, two on Mike Ross’ fifth home run of the season. But that rally, according to Garrido, came far too late. Fullerton went without scoring a run in the third through eighth innings.

In other games:

Chapman 8, Cal Poly Pomona 5--Darren Nelson hit a home run for the sixth straight game, leading the Panthers (2-3, 13-16) to a California Collegiate Athletic Assn. victory over league-leading Cal Poly Pomona (5-2, 19-17) in Pomona. Nelson, a senior outfielder from Orange, hit a solo homer in the sixth and also had an RBI double in the first.

San Diego State 4, UC Irvine 1--Bill Fields, making his first start of the season, allowed three earned runs over 3 innings, taking the nonconference loss. San Diego State took at 2-0 lead in the first inning on three hits. UCI falls to 15-15-1; San Diego State is 18-13-1.

Southern California College 3, Biola 1--Losing pitcher Jeff Worrell gave up four hits in a complete-game effort, but mishandled a throw while covering first that allowed Carlos Salazar and winning pitcher Mike Lomeli to score in the second inning of the nonconference game at SCC. Another Worrell error allowed the other Vanguard run to score in the fifth. Mike Lomeli (7-4) allowed five hits, striking out 10 and walking five, to earn a complete-game victory for SCC (6-5, 10-19).