COLLEGE BASEBALL WORLD SERIES : Ricabal, Kotsay Bring Titans Back, 10-3

When reliever Dan Ricabal went to the dugout after retiring Florida State in the first inning Tuesday, the Cal State Fullerton pitcher said to himself: “Get me four runs and we’ll win this game.”

The Titans, who trailed at that point, 3-0, did that and more. And Ricabal can be especially grateful to freshman Mark Kotsay, who drove in seven runs, including four with a grand slam in the eighth, as Fullerton scored a 10-3 victory over Florida State in the College World Series.

Kotsay’s RBI total tied a series record.

Ricabal, who has become a key factor in the Titans’ bid for a national championship, gave up only three hits in the final 8 1/3 innings after taking over for Chad Rolish with two out in the first.

The victory sent Fullerton (47-15) into today’s rematch against Georgia Tech (45-15) at 4:36 p.m. (PDT), with the same starting pitchers as in Friday’s opener, Brad Rigby (14-4) for the Yellow Jackets and Mike Parisi (11-4) for the Titans. Rigby won that game, 2-0. Fullerton must defeat Georgia Tech, unbeaten in the tournament, tonight and Friday to reach the title game against the lower-bracket winner.

“Ricabal was the story of this game,” Florida State Coach Mike Martin said. “What a tremendous job of pitching. . . . We’ve seen him before, but this was clearly one of his better moments.”

Titan Coach Augie Garrido and associate head coach George Horton, who handles the pitchers, didn’t decide on a starter until about two hours before the game, opting for the left-handed Rolish.

“Danny has been our best pitcher,” Horton said. “He was our best in the regional, but we wanted to save some pitches for him if we could. He’s a weapon we want to use over and over.”

Ricabal said he was “a little disappointed but not mad” when he learned he wasn’t starting, and added: “You always want to start in a (big) game, but Coach Horton explained it to me.”

Ricabal (12-1), who struggled early in the season, won two games in the NCAA regional and has been the winning pitcher in nine of Fullerton’s last 17 victories. His college record is 23-4. Not bad for a guy the major leagues didn’t bother to draft last week.

“I was so focused today that I couldn’t compare it to any other game I pitched,” Ricabal said. “I just wanted to go out and throw strikes and keep us in the game, and little by little we seemed to get our momentum back.”

The Titans picked up single runs in the second and fifth innings, the latter on Kotsay’s sacrifice fly, then pulled ahead with three runs in the seventh, the big blow being Kotsay’s two-run double.

With the Titans leading, 5-3, in the eighth, two walks and a fielding error loaded the bases for Kotsay, who hit his fourth home run of the season.

“It just seemed to happen naturally,” Kotsay said of his blast to right field. “I don’t even know what was in my head at the time.”

Catcher Bret Hemphill hit a bases-empty homer in the ninth.

Arizona State 9, Miami 5--Jacob Cruz and Antone Williamson each hit two home runs to lead the Sun Devils, who kept alive their absent coach’s hope for a third College World Series title.

Jim Brock, who is fighting cancer, returned to Phoenix earlier Tuesday on the advice of his family physician and was resting comfortably in a Mesa hospital.

The Sun Devils tied a CWS record with five home runs--Todd Cady also hit one--as they gave Brock his 1,100th victory.

Arizona State (45-17) handed top-seeded Miami (49-14) both of its losses in the tournament, having scored a 4-0 victory in the opening round Saturday.