College Baseball Roundup : Fullerton Loses Four-Run Lead, Falls in 11

Cal State Fullerton opened a four-run lead after two innings Friday, but Fresno State rallied and finally came away with a 6-5 victory over the Titans in 11 innings in a Big West Conference baseball game at Fresno State.

The Titans (30-25 overall and 10-9 in conference play) remain tied for third with Las Vegas, which lost to Cal State Long Beach Friday night. Third in the conference could carry a possible NCAA playoff berth with it.

Fresno State (39-17, 14-4) rallied for three runs in the fifth and one in both the sixth and seventh to tie it at 5-5.

Fresno had the bases loaded and one out in the ninth when Steve Josey grounded back to reliever Chris Robinson. Robinson threw home to catcher Brent Mayne for one out, and Mayne threw on to first baseman Rex Peters to complete the inning-ending double play.

In the 11th, Tom Goodwin singled, stole second, and scored the winning run on a single by Steve Vondron. Robinson (6-5) took the loss. Bobby Jones (4-4) got the victory.

Fullerton got two unearned runs in the first and scored two in the second on a two-run single by Dave Staton to take a 4-0 lead.

Eddie Zosky hit a three-run home run off Fullerton starter Huck Flener in the fifth as Fresno cut the lead to 4-3.

Mate Borgogno’s RBI single gave Fullerton a 5-3 lead in the sixth. Fresno State’s Chris Falco had an RBI single in the sixth, and Mike Burton had an RBI single to tie it in the seventh.

Fullerton got a runner to second in the ninth with two outs but could not score.

In another Big West Conference game:

UC Irvine 2, Pacific 1--Brian Young scored the game’s winning run in the fourth, coming home on Chris Gallego’s fielder’s choice. UCI (4-15, 18-35-1), playing at Stockton, had taken a 1-0 lead in the first when Ed Luna, who had doubled, scored on Al Rodriguez’s double. Pacific (4-14, 15-39) tied the score at 1-1 on Mark Trounter’s RBI single in the second inning.

Winner Ken Whitworth (6-7) pitched a complete game, giving up 10 hits, walking five and striking out five. Pacific left 10 men on base.