COLLEGE ROUNDUP : 49ers Get Rare Sweep of Titans

The count was full, the score was tied, a runner was on first and there was one out in Cal State Long Beach’s half of the ninth.

Tim Falsken swung the bat once, pushing at the ball, and fouled it off down the first-base line.

Next pitch, Falsken swung toward the opposite field again. Foul.

A third time, Falsken swung late with the same result. Foul down the first-base line.

The fourth time, he finally got it right. He smacked the ball over first base and into right field, bounding toward the record book and dragging Cal State Fullerton toward what suddenly will be a tense final three weeks of the season.

Thanks to Falsken’s triple, the 49ers edged Fullerton on Sunday, 4-3, and closed the books on their first three-game sweep of the Titans. It was only the fourth time in Titan history that a Big West opponent swept them.

Suddenly, Fullerton (26-12, 14-4), ranked second nationally last week by Collegiate Baseball magazine, is even with No. 29 Long Beach (25-15, 11-4) in the Big West Conference loss column. The Titans have three conference games remaining, when San Jose State comes to town May 7-9. Long Beach has six left, at UC Santa Barbara this weekend and Nevada on May 7-9.

“We still have control of our destiny,” Fullerton Coach Augie Garrido said, referring to the NCAA tournament. “The tiebreaker would go to them, but I feel our overall record will be strong enough, if we continue to play well and develop, to make it work.”

There weren’t many secrets to Long Beach’s success this weekend.

“I don’t think the story is in what we did wrong--it’s in what they did right,” Garrido said. “They have great mental toughness and very fine discipline, both offensively and defensively. They were very opportunistic throughout the weekend, capitalizing on the mistakes we made.”

Mike Parisi, Fullerton’s best starting pitcher, was 7-0 when he took the mound Friday. He lasted only 3 2/3 innings, came in to pitch the eighth and ninth on Sunday and, shortly after Falsken’s triple, he was 7-2.

The Fullerton lineup didn’t fare any better. Third baseman Jeff Ferguson (batting .368 going into the weekend) went one for 13 in the three games, center fielder Dante Powell (.344) was one for 12, left fielder Tony Banks (.282) was one for eight, right fielder Jim Betzsold (.323) was 0 for 9 and first baseman-designated hitter D.C. Olsen (.324) was 0 for 10.

Designated hitter-first baseman Adam Millan was seven for 12 with a homer, three doubles and five runs batted in.

As for Sunday’s hero, Falsken spent Saturday in the stands after being ejected during a bench-clearing brawl Friday.

His average was hovering right around .300 and his determination was higher.

What was he thinking as he fouled off three tension-filled Parisi pitches in the ninth?

“He’s not going to get me out,” said Falsken, a junior from Westlake Village Westlake who also received an automatic ejection Sunday when he tried to run over Fullerton catcher Bret Hemphill in the ninth. “He’s not going to get me out. I had to catch myself a couple of times, step out and take deep breaths. I was getting antsy.”

Now, thanks in part to their third baseman, the 49ers have calmed down a bit. They have turned around a 12-12 start and, by winning their final six conference games, they can win the conference.

In nonconference baseball:

CS Northridge 16, Chapman 6--Host Northridge had 22 hits off three Chapman pitchers to complete the sweep of the three-game series. The Matadors (26-11) outscored Chapman, 47-22, in the three games.

Abijah Alstra went five for five and Brian Green went four for five with two RBIs for the Panthers (18-24), who had 17 hits.

In Big West Conference softball:

CS Fullerton 6-5, San Jose State 0-1--Cheryl Longeway pitched a three-hit shutout in the first game for the Titans, who improved to 22-16, 11-5 with the sweep at San Jose. Tiffany Boyd gave Longeway a 2-0 lead with a two-run home run in the first inning.

In the second game, Boyd pitched 5 2/3 innings of relief, allowing only one hit, to earn the victory.

In the U.S. Intercollegiate golf tournament at Stanford:

UC Irvine 11th--After two of three days of competition, the Anteaters have 599 strokes and trail Washington, the leader, by 22.