COLLEGE ROUNDUP : San Jose State Defeats Titans in 12 Innings

San Jose State cramped Cal State Fullerton’s Big West Conference championship hopes Saturday by beating the Titans, 4-3, in 12 innings at Amerige Park in Fullerton.

Fullerton (33-22, 14-6 in conference) missed a chance to move into a first-place tie with Fresno State after the Bulldogs lost to UC Santa Barbara, 14-13, Saturday night. Fresno State, which has clinched the conference’s automatic NCAA playoff berth, remains one game ahead of Fullerton with one game remaining.

Matt Wollaston started the 12th inning with a single for San Jose. He was sacrificed to second and scored on a single by Charles Havel. Frank Charles had a two-out single in the 12th for Fullerton, but pinch-hitter David Ayala flew out to end the game. Titan reliever Chris Robinson (3-4) took the loss.

Fullerton rallied for two runs in the ninth to tie the game, 3-3. Charles opened with a double and scored on a single by Craig Fairbrother. Matt Hattabaugh sacrificed, but Chris Powell struck out. Steve Sisco’s game-tying single scored Fairbrother, but Frank Herman flied out to end the inning.

In another Big West Conference game:

UC Irvine 7, Nevada Las Vegas 2--Chris Huber (8-7) pitched eight innings, scattering eight hits, and struck out four for Irvine (24-31, 6-14). UNLV fell to 27-24, 10-10).

In Big West Conference softball:

Cal State Fullerton 0-2, Utah State 1-1 (second game 10 innings)--Melissa Hadfield scored on Jill Matyuch’s sacrifice fly in the 10th inning to give Fullerton a victory in the second game.

In the NCAA softball West Regionals in Portland:

Chapman 2, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo 0--Jackie Blake (27-5) pitched a three-hitter for Chapman (47-12). Laura Papadakis scored both runs for Chapman.