COLLEGE ROUNDUP : Irvine Slows Fullerton’s Bid for Postseason Play

Cal State Fullerton’s road to the baseball College World Series took a bad turn in Friday’s 8-6 loss to UC Irvine in a Big West Conference baseball game at Titan Stadium Friday night.

With the tying run at the plate and one out in the bottom of the ninth, Titan pinch hitter Craig Fairbrother hit a long drive down the right-field line, but it hooked foul before leaving the park.

Then Irvine’s John Van Zandt, who pitched a complete game, struck out Fairbrother looking. After he walked the next hitter, Chris Powell, Van Zandt struck out Phil Nevin, who leads Fullerton with 66 runs batted in, to end the game.

“I didn’t want to face Phil, and he hit some of the hardest foul balls I’ve seen,” Van Zandt said. “He must have been looking for the breaking ball on the last pitch.

As Nevin watched Van Zandt’s fastball catch the outside corner, Fullerton (33-14, 13-6 in conference) also watched an opportunity to gain ground on first-place Fresno State (14-5 in conference), which lost to Nevada Las Vegas, 10-7, Friday night in Las Vegas.

Irvine (21-23, 9-10) trailed, 4-0, after the first inning when the Titans rallied while hitting only two balls out of the infield.

Fullerton never deciphered Van Zandt, managing seven hits that included three bunt singles, an infield single and two ground ball singles.

Van Zandt walked three and struck out four, finishing strong by striking out the side in the ninth.

“John was the one who got us to the ninth protecting an 8-6 lead, so I was going to stick with him,” Irvine Coach Mike Gerakos said.

Van Zandt entered the ninth having thrown only 118 pitches.

“I knew he had something left,” Gerakos said, “I just didn’t know how much.”

Fullerton’s offense wasn’t much, but the Titans took a 5-2 lead in the third on Steve Sisco’s sacrifice fly to score catcher Jason Moler.

Irvine drew even, 5-5, in the top of the fifth on Joe Furukawa’s first home run of the season before taking charge in the top of the seventh.

The Anteaters capitalized on two Titan errors in the inning, one by Nevin and a throwing error by Moler.

Bill Bardens scored from third on Moler’s errant pickoff throw; two batters later, Furukawa hit a bloop single to score Dave Dieter.

Furukawa scored on Corey Parker’s double to left center to give Irvine an 8-5 lead.

According to Fullerton baseball media relations director Tim Murphy, Titan pitcher Bill Fitzgerald was not at Friday’s game because he was called to active duty with the National Guard, which has been mobilized in Los Angeles during the riots.

In the NAIA District 3 softball playoffs:

SCC Splits--Southern California College defeated Cal Baptist, 6-4, in the first-round game but lost to Azusa Pacific, 11-8, in the Vanguards’ second game at Azusa. SCC (25-13) and Azusa (30-18) will play at 11 a.m. today at Azusa. SCC must win to force force a second game to decide the district champion.

In SCC’s first game, Renee Hernandez had three hits and two RBIs, Stacey Mounce had two hits and two RBIs and Carrie Nelson had four hits. Mounce had three RBIs in the second game, and Hernandez had two hits and two RBIs.