The Colleges : Baseball Roundup : Aggressive Fullerton Gets Stanford on Run

Cal State Fullerton’s baseball team stepped slightly out of character Saturday with a 5-2 victory over Stanford in a nonconference game in front of about 800 at Titan Field.

Fullerton came in with one stolen base in its first three games but stole two against Stanford, both leading to runs. The Titans also had a runner picked off and two more thrown out trying to steal.

“We were trying to be a little more aggressive than normally,” Fullerton Coach Larry Cochell said. “We wanted to put the pressure on the defense by trying to make things happen.”

The Titans’ final bit of aggressiveness resulted in their last run in the sixth inning.

With one out, Rod Klopfer singled and moved to second on a balk. He stole third and continued home when Stanford third baseman Roger Burnett had the throw from the catcher go off his glove for an error.

Klopfer’s run gave Fullerton a 5-1 lead. Fullerton had scored a pair of runs in the second to lead, 2-1, and two more in the third for a 4-1 lead.

For seven innings, the lead was well protected by starter Huck Flenner, a sophomore left-hander, who allowed only one run.

But in the eighth, Flenner tired. After his second walk of the inning, he was replaced by Sam Colarusso, a junior right-hander from Orange Coast College.

Colarusso walked Tim Griffin to load the bases with two outs, then threw a wild pitch to allow a run. He fell behind David Holbrook, three balls and a strike before getting him to fly to Trevor Neighbors in right field to end the inning.

Colarusso got a pair of strikeouts in the ninth as he retired Stanford for his first save. Flenner (1-0) allowed four hits and four walks and had seven strikeouts for Fullerton (3-1).

The first sign of Fullerton’s willingness to run came in the second when Ralph Ramirez stole second on a broken hit-and-run play. It was the first steal for Ramirez at Fullerton. Ramirez, a senior from Orange Coast College, did not steal a base in 42 games last season.

Ramirez scored from second when Mate Borgogno lined a bad-hop double to center.

Bobby Jones time an off-speed pitch from Stanford starter and loser Ben Keyser and hit it well over the left-field fence for his first home run of the season to open the third inning.

Neighbors followed with a single and later scored on a groundout by Ramirez to give Fullerton a 4-1 lead. Rich Gonzales had three hits for Fullerton, which had nine. Stanford (4-5) had four hits.

The Titans will try to complete a sweep of Stanford in the three-game series at 5 p.m. today at Fullerton.