College Roundup : Irvine Blows 8-3 Lead, Falls to Fresno State

Steve Lozano had a two-run double in the ninth inning to give Fresno State a 9-8 victory over UC Irvine Sunday in a Big West Conference baseball game at Irvine.

The Anteaters led, 8-3, after six innings but the Bulldogs scored four runs in the seventh. Mike Burton had a two-run single in the inning.

Fresno’s Eddie Zosky and Steve Vondran had consecutive singles to start the ninth. After a sacrifice bunt by Burton, Steve Hosey was intentionally walked to load the bases.

Lozano then doubled down the left-field line, just out of the reach of left fielder Jon Skaggs.

Zosky had two hits and scored three runs. Burton had two hits and four runs batted in. The Bulldogs’ Tom Gooden had a single to extend his hitting streak to 27 games.

Al Rodriguez had two hits and three RBIs and Freddie Combs had two hits and two RBIs for Irvine.

Fresno is 27-12 overall and 5-1 in conference play. Irvine is 13-20-1 and 1-5.

In another Big West game:

UC Santa Barbara 14, Cal State Fullerton 11--The Titans lost despite 14 hits, including two home runs by David Staton, who tied a school record with 10 consecutive hits during the series at Santa Barbara. He tied Brent Mayne (1988) and Tom Thomas (1984).

Santa Barbara (22-15, 2-4) took the lead for good in the seventh inning with a single run to break an 11-11 tie.

Huck Flener started for Fullerton (23-11, 4-2) but went only three-plus innings. Reliever Rick Faulks took the loss.

In Big West Conference softball:

Cal State Fullerton 2-10, Nevada Las Vegas 1-7--Nikki Lewis had an RBI double in the top of the seventh for Fullerton in the first game. Anjie Bryant (19-3) scattered seven hits for her sixth consecutive victory. In the second game, the Titans (343-8, 18-4) scored six runs in the sixth to take a 9-2 lead. Bryant had a two-run triple and Lewis a two-run double in the inning.