COLLEGE BASEBALL ROUNDUP : ‘Homer’ Hattabaugh Leads the Titans Again

Matt Hattabaugh says his girlfriend “doesn’t know a thing about baseball,” but the Cal State Fullerton catcher gives her credit for his recent offensive surge.

Hattabaugh’s two-run home run in the fourth inning, his second of three hits on the day, helped Fullerton defeat Cal State Long Beach, 3-2, in a Big West Conference game Saturday at Amerige Park.

Hattabaugh hit two home runs Friday, including the game-winner in the bottom of the ninth, to lift the Titans over the 49ers, and he is the primary reason Fullerton is in position to sweep the nation’s third-ranked team in Baseball America’s poll.

The three-game series between second-place Long Beach (35-15, 10-4 in conference) and third-place Fullerton (27-20, 9-5) concludes today with a 1 p.m. game.

“I was really uptight when we got back from Las Vegas (where the Titans lost two of three) last weekend, but my girlfriend (Irene Wright) just told me to relax,” said Hattabaugh, who now has six homers and 33 runs batted in.

“She gave me a ‘So what, what have I got to lose?’ attitude. Instead of thinking, ‘I’m 0-for-2 or 0-for-3,’ I’m not worrying about what happens. I’m seeing the ball well, I’m relaxed and confident.”

Fullerton got another strong starting performance Saturday when right-hander Jack Bailey allowed two runs on seven hits and struck out nine in eight innings.

Chris Robinson, who got the victory in relief Friday, replaced Bailey after Rudy Rodriguez led off the ninth with a single. Robinson retired the next three batters for his seventh save.

Fullerton scored in the first when Steve Sisco led with a double, advanced to third on Chris Powell’s fly ball to right and scored on Phil Nevin’s sacrifice fly.

The Titans made it 3-0 in the fourth when Hattabaugh lined Steve Trachsel’s 3-2 pitch over the left-field fence for a two-run homer. Trachsel, from Troy High School and Fullerton College, is rated among the nation’s top 25 college prospects by Baseball America, pitched a complete game, allowed six hits and struck out six.

Bailey (5-2) escaped trouble in the fifth and sixth, when the 49ers placed runners on first and second, but Long Beach finally scored in the eighth on consecutive singles by Cobi Cradle, Lamarr Rogers and Jason Giambi (RBI) and Ed Christian’s sacrifice fly.

But Bailey got Todd Pridy to fly out and, with Giambi on second after a wild pitch, struck out Brent Cookson, who leads Long Beach in home runs (14), to end the inning.

In another Big West game:

UC Irvine 6, UC Santa Barbara 3--Chris Huber (6-7) struck out 10 in eight innings as host UC Irvine (21-27, 3-11) won its second straight conference game after 11 losses in a row. Mike Goodcase had two hits and scored two runs, Brian Young had two hits and two RBIs and Bryant Winslow had a hit and two RBIs for Irvine.