College Baseball Roundup : This Time, Fullerton Comes Back to Defeat Stanford

The last time the Cal State Fullerton baseball team played Stanford was in the Titans’ final game of the College World Series last June.

Stanford eliminated Fullerton, and Stanford won the title.

So as young as this season is, when Stanford came to Titan Field Friday, Fullerton had something to prove.

The Titans got a small measure of revenge, taking a 3-2 victory when Trevor Neighbors’ single in the seventh inning took a bad hop and stuck in the dew-dampened infield near second base, allowing Eddie Lample to score from third. Fullerton (2-1) had come back to tie the score in the inning after trailing, 2-0.

Fullerton second baseman Mate Borgogno and shortstop Randy Graves both singled to lead off the inning. Next up was Lample, playing for catcher Brent Mayne, who missed a second game in a row because of the flu.

Lample bunted, intending to sacrifice, but pitcher Stan Spencer fielded the bunt and threw to third, too late to get Borgogno. Third baseman Tim Griffin then threw to first, but the throw was wild, and the error allowed two runs to score.

Lample stopped at third. Scott Weiss relieved Spencer, and hit Jones with a pitch, putting runners at first and third. Neighbors then singled, with Lample scoring. Weiss retired the next three batters to get out of the inning.

Fullerton starter Danny DeVille had a two-hit shutout going through the first six innings, but ended without a decision.

With one out in the seventh, David Holbrook reached on a throwing error by third baseman Ralph Ramirez. DeVille struck out Eric Cox for the second out, but Brian Johnson beat out a grounder to short to put runners on first and second. Stanford loaded the bases when DeVille walked Eric DeGraw.

That brought up Frank Carey, the leadoff hitter. Carey, who is batting .414, lined a 3-1 pitch into center field, too shallow for Bobby Jones to attempt a catch.

Jack Hollis, running for Holbrook, scored easily, and Johnson beat Jones’ throw, which was shallow and off to the right.

The runners went to second and third on the throw, and Roger Burnett walked to load the bases.

But Chris Robinson came on and got Troy Paulsen to ground out, ending the inning.

Robinson, who allowed one hit in 2 1/3 innings, striking out four, earned his second victory without a loss this season.

Spencer (0-1) took the loss, allowing one earned run on seven hits.

Stanford loaded the bases with two out in the eighth, but Robinson struck out DeGraw, holding off the Cardinal (4-4).

In other nonconference games:

UC Riverside 8, UC Irvine 3--Riverside (2-4) scored four runs in the first inning and two in the fourth at Irvine. Brian Young had two hits and two RBIs for Irvine (1-3-1).

Cal State Long Beach 17, Chapman 1--Todd Guggiana had three hits and two RBIs to lead the 49ers (6-0) at Long Beach. Jason Rolish had an RBI for Chapman (3-5).

Southern California 14, Occidental 0--Denny Berni had two hits and four RBIs to lead host SCC (2-1).