Key Mistakes Bedevil Cal State Fullerton : Baseball: Titans squander a lead as Long Beach State wins, 4-2, to take two games of the three-game weekend series.

Cal State Fullerton seemed to be well on its way to a crucial victory over Long Beach State on Sunday at Blair Field.

Dan Ricabal, making his first start for the Titans since late February, was pitching almost flawlessly and outfielder Dante Powell hit a leadoff homer in the sixth inning to give Fullerton a 2-1 lead.

Then, almost from out of nowhere, those devilish baseball demons rose up in the eighth inning to grab Fullerton by the throat. Long Beach State scored three unearned runs in the inning for a 4-2 Big West Conference victory and a 2-1 advantage in the weekend series that matched two of the nation’s top-ranked college baseball teams.

Ricabal had given up only four hits through seven innings before the 49ers’ Tim Falsken opened the eighth with a single and the Titans went to the bullpen for stopper Ted Silva. But the defense went south at the same time. Rolando Avila reached base when Titan first baseman Adam Millan tried to get the lead runner at second on the bunt. His throw, however, was in the dirt and both runners were safe.

The next batter, Eric Martins, laid down a bunt that Silva fielded cleanly, but second baseman Jeff Ferguson was three feet behind the bag when he caught the ball, loading the bases. On the next play, shortstop Jack Jones mishandled Ryan Miller’s ground ball, allowing two runs to score. Long Beach’s final run of the inning came on Ramon Smith’s single.

“On the first bunt, our first baseman made an aggressive play . . . and on the second bunt it was a matter of confusion between the first and second basemen about who was to cover the base,” Titan Coach Augie Garrido said.

Long Beach Coach Dave Snow felt the mental miscue was especially costly. “When they don’t get an out on that bunt, it’s a big play,” Snow said. “Going into the eighth we were just trying to get some people on base and see what would happen.”

The victory lifts Long Beach State to 25-8 for the season and 6-3 in the Big West. The Titans, who went into the series ranked No. 1 in the nation by Collegiate Baseball, fell to 27-8, and 6-3.

Neither coach put more emphasis on the outcome of the series.

“I’m not going to minimize the importance of winning and losing, but the real issue is still out in front of both of us,” Garrido said. “But I’m disappointed that we lost the game. There were a lot of things offensively we could have done that would have helped us.”

Snow said he feels both teams still will be ranked in the top 10 this week.

Fullerton had an early 1-0 lead in the second inning. Millan singled to open the inning and moved to second on D.C. Olsen’s sacrifice bunt. Bret Hemphill grounded out, but Jim Betzsold’s double to right center drove in Millan. Betzsold, however, was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple, ending the inning.

The Titans had a good chance to build on the lead in the fifth but failed to capitalize. Hemphill had a leadoff single and moved to second on the sacrifice. Jason Gill singled to right, but was caught rounding first after the throw to the plate kept Hemphill at third. Long Beach starting pitcher Michael Hernandez was able to get Jones on a bouncer to short that ended the threat.

Given the one-run lead, Ricabal gathered steam after giving up two hits but no runs in the first. He coasted through the second, third and fourth innings with three strikeouts during that stretch.

A two-out error by Gill, the Titan third baseman, put Ricabal in trouble in the fifth. Two walks by Ricabal didn’t help matters, either, before Martins’ RBI single. Powell, however, threw out Falsken, trying to score from second.

The Titans had a chance to do more damage after Powell’s leadoff homer in the sixth, his sixth of the season. Tony Miranda walked and Ferguson reached base on an infield hit, but pinch-hitter Sal Mancuso hit into a double play.

The Titans wound up leaving eight runners on base. Silva took the pitching loss, falling to 3-2; Gonzalez (3-1) logged the victory.