College Baseball : Titans, Bunch Win Battle With San Jose State

Teammates the last two seasons, Cal State Fullerton’s Paul Bunch and San Jose State’s Bill Bentley stood as opponents with the game on the line Sunday at Fullerton.

Bunch lined a ninth-inning single to right field to drive home Mate Borgogno and lift Fullerton to a 7-6 victory in a fight-marred Big West Conference baseball game in front of about 200 at Titan Field.

Bunch, from Buena Park High School, and Bentley, from Lompoc High, played together at Cypress College the last two seasons.

They faced each other in a game situation for the first time Friday when Bunch popped up to second in his only chance.

Sunday, Bentley came on to get the last out in the seventh, retired the side in order in the eighth but gave up a leadoff double to Borgogno in the ninth with the score tied, 6-6. Pinch-hitter John Paboojian popped up for the first out.

Bentley (2-1) walked Rex Peters intentionally and then walked Rod Klopfer to load the bases and bring up Bunch. After a ball, Bunch lined the ball down the right-field line for the game winner. Bunch was four for four with a walk, had three runs batted in and scored a run for Fullerton (27-17 overall, 7-5 in conference play).

“I told him I was going to hammer him if I got the chance,” Bunch joked about Bentley. “I was looking to go the other way if he got something up. It was a fastball or maybe a slider and I just went with it.”

The victory went to reliever Sam Colarusso (4-3), who retired San Jose State (36-11, 7-5) in order in the ninth. Colarusso also picked up the victory Saturday as Fullerton won, 8-6. San Jose took the series-opener Friday, 7-6.

“We needed to take two out of three this weekend,” Fullerton Coach Larry Cochell. “We swung the bats well and played good defense.”

Fullerton had 14 hits and made one error Sunday. Fullerton made five errors Friday and two Saturday.

The start of the game was almost as action-packed as the finish.

San Jose’s Mike Gonzales, a junior transfer from Rancho Santiago College, singled with one out in the first inning. Gonzales was caught off first base by Fullerton pitcher Huck Flener and as Gonzales came into second, he was tagged out in the helmet by Titan shortstop Borgogno. There was some shoving between the two, both benches quickly emptied and a full-blown fight ensued.

Gonzales and reserve pitcher Greg Borgerson were ejected for San Jose, and Dave Staton, Fullerton’s best hitter, was also ejected. Rod Klopfer replaced Staton at designated hitter and the game continued without another incident. Klopfer had two hits and an RBI.

While Staton sat and watched from the camera stand above the center-field fence, Fullerton rallied to take a 6-3 lead after six innings.

Klopfer, Staton’s replacement, had an RBI single in the first as Fullerton opened a 1-0 lead. Andy Coan had a two-run single and San Jose took a 2-1 lead in the second. Fullerton got two in the second on a sacrifice fly by Bobby Jones and an RBI bunt single by Eddie Lample.

Lample is catching while starter Brent Mayne rests his sore right shoulder. Mayne is expected to play Friday when Fullerton travels to Irvine to start a three-game series.

John Bracken tied the score, 3-3, with a solo home run in the third for San Jose State.

Bunch had a two-run single as Fullerton took a 5-3 lead in the fourth. Ralph Ramirez had an RBI double in the sixth to make it 6-3.

San Jose came back with three runs in the seventh to chase Flener, who is 8-0 this season, but has gone five consecutive starts without a decision.

In another Big West Conference game:

UC Irvine 10, Las Vegas 9 (12 innings)--Host Irvine rallied for two runs in the 12th to break an eight-game conference losing streak. Las Vegas (31-12, 7-5) scored three runs in the ninth to force extra innings. The Rebels scored again in the 12th, but Irvine rallied.

Jim Koehler singled to start the 12th. He moved to second on a ground out. Stacy Parker walked and Ed Luna singled to score Koehler with the tying run. Al Rodriguez then hit a bad-hop single to score Luna with the winning run.

Chris Huber (1-2) got the victory and Jon Sims (2-2) took the loss.