Fullerton Silences LSU, 11-0

An overflow crowd of 5,972--the largest in Louisiana State baseball history--squeezed into Alex Box Field Saturday night, hungry for victory and bent on intimidating the visitors from Cal State Fullerton.

Fans greeted the Titans with chants of “Tiger Meat! Tiger Meat!” and booed lustily when Fullerton took the field for an NCAA South I Region third-round game.

Into this arena stepped Fullerton freshman right-hander Mike Parisi. Into left-center field went Parisi’s first pitch, deposited there by LSU’s Russ Johnson for a double. And into a frenzy went LSU fans.

But that was about as loud as it got, as Parisi escaped that jam and pitched five scoreless innings to lead the Titans to an 11-0 victory.

Paco Chavez held the Tigers hitless over the last four innings.

Fullerton had 11 hits and took advantage of six LSU errors.

The Titans (41-15) eliminated the third-ranked and top-seeded Tigers and will face Ohio State, which lost to Fullerton Thursday in the first round, today at 11 a.m. for the region championship.

A Fullerton victory would give the Titans their seventh College World Series berth. An Ohio State victory would force a second game for the title.

LSU (50-16) defeated Tulane, 7-3, earlier Saturday but managed only four hits in that game and four against the Titans.

Fullerton’s Jeremy Carr had three hits and scored three runs, Chris Powell scored three runs and knocked in another, Jason Moler had two hits and two RBIs, and Dante Powell had two hits and scored twice.

The Titans held a 4-0 lead after four innings and broke the game open with four runs in the sixth off LSU relief ace Rick Greene, who was forced into early service when starter Matt Chamberlain faltered.

Three Fullerton runs scored on consecutive RBI singles by Carr, Powell and Phil Nevin. Moler capped the rally with a sacrifice fly to make it 8-0.

Because an earlier game ran long, the game started 45 minutes late, but the Titans showed no ill effects from the delay, scoring a run in the second, two in the third and one in the fourth.