COLLEGE ROUNDUP : Hattabaugh Helps Titans Hang On to Victory

Cal State Fullerton scored twice in the bottom of the eighth inning and then cut off a UC Santa Barbara rally in the ninth to defeat the Gauchos, 5-4, in a Big West Conference baseball game Friday at Titan Field.

Fullerton catcher Matt Hattabaugh, who hit a bases-empty home run in the second, tied the score with an RBI single in the eighth and scored the winning run on Kevin Farlow’s eighth-inning double, tagged Nick Satriano out at the plate to end the game and Santa Barbara’s 10-game winning streak.

The first-place Titans improved to 28-19 overall, 10-3 in conference, and maintained a half-game lead over Fresno State, which beat Cal State Long Beach Friday night. The Gauchos (36-15, 10-6) fell into third place, 1 1/2 games behind Fullerton.

With Santa Barbara trailing, 5-4, Satriano and Sean Luft singled off reliever Chris Robinson to open the ninth. Both advanced on David Waco’s sacrifice. Pinch-hitter Danny Lane lifted a fly ball to short right-center field, which David Ayala caught.

Satriano tagged, and Ayala relayed a two-hop throw to Hattabaugh, who tagged the diving Satriano on the knee before Satriano’s hand reached the plate.

Two innings earlier, Hattabaugh had tagged Rich Harr out when he attempted to score on Jerrold Rountree’s two-out single to center. Domingo Mota’s throw reached Hattabaugh just as Harr crashed into the catcher’s left arm, but Hattabaugh managed to hang on to the ball for the putout.

Hattabaugh also tagged a few balls offensively, lining his first homer of the season to left in the second and smashing a single to left and later scoring on Mota’s sacrifice fly in the fourth.

But his most important hit was an eighth-inning bloop single that barely reached the outfield, a ball that most likely would have been caught had the Gauchos’ infield been playing at normal depth.

Trailing, 4-3, Frank Charles, who singled in a run in the first and tripled in the fifth, opened the eighth with an infield single and was sacrificed to second by Steve Sisco. Charles advanced to third on Scott Longaker’s wild pitch and scored on Hattabaugh’s two-strike single over a drawn-in infield.

Farlow then lined a double to right-center field. With Hattabaugh lumbering around third, Gaucho second baseman Waco dropped the relay throw from right fielder Satriano.

Coach Larry Cochell, who said he was going to hold Hattabaugh at third until he saw the miscue, waved his catcher around, and Hattabaugh was able to beat Waco’s throw to the plate.

In another Big West Conference baseball game:

San Jose State 7, UC Irvine 1--Brad Mornhinweg had three hits, scored and had two RBIs to lead San Jose State (41-13, 8-8). Chris Gallego had two hits and scored for UC Irvine (29-23, 5-11).

In nonconference baseball:

Chapman 4, U.S. International 2--Doug Yates had two hits, scored and had one RBI and Curt Ledesma had two hits, including a two-run triple in the sixth inning to give host Chapman (30-19) a 3-1 lead.

In National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics District III play:

Southern California College 7, Cal Lutheran 6--Trailing, 6-4, in the sixth inning, host Southern California College (27-19-1, 15-9) scored three runs on five walks and a hit batter in the sixth for the victory.

In Big West Conference softball:

Nevada Las Vegas 1-3, Cal State Fullerton 0-2--Mitch Moreno scored on a single by Tricia Reimcat in the third inning of the first game. Ann Van Dortrecht (27-10) and Shareen Campbell (14-10) took the losses for Fullerton (42-21, 20-13).