Titans Eke Out Another, 5-4 : College baseball: Fullerton scores twice in the ninth to beat Long Beach State.

Cal State Fullerton may be ranked No. 1 in the nation in college baseball, but just staying on top in the Big West Conference is going to be a battle with Long Beach State around.

The Titans, trailing by a run in the ninth, scrambled for another come-from-behind victory, 5-4, and took the rubber game of a three-game series with the 49ers Sunday in front of 1,738 at Titan Field.

Outfielder Robert Matos again was a hero. Matos’ line drive to deep center with two out drove in the winning run and left Fullerton (32-6, 7-2 in the Big West) alone in first place. Long Beach is 19-15-1, 6-3 in the conference.

Matos homered in the ninth Saturday night to tie the score before the Titans went on to win, 6-5, in 12 innings.

“He’s that kind of performer,” Fullerton Coach Augie Garrido said. “He finds a way to win. He’s the kind of guy you like in there when a game is on the line.”

Brian Loyd opened the ninth with a double, advanced on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a single by D.C. Olsen, who drove in the winning run Saturday. A 49er infield error moved Olsen to second, setting the stage for Matos’ clutch hit.

“Fullerton’s real competitive and they did a lot of clutch things,” Long Beach Coach Dave Snow said. “You have to give them a lot of credit for that. It was a great series.”

Titan starter Ted Silva went 8 2/3 innings, giving up 10 hits, but relief pitcher Mark Chavez (2-1) got the victory after taking over in the ninth after Silva gave up the go-ahead run on Tim Falsken’s RBI single.

Both teams missed some good scoring chances. “We talk about being opportunistic quite a bit, but we weren’t this time, although we did well at the end,” Garrido said.

The Titans took a 1-0 lead in the second when Joe Fraser singled, advanced on a bunt, and took third an on error. Jack Jones singled to left, scoring Fraser. Long Beach tied it in the third, scoring one run on one hit, Jeff Tagliaferri’s single. Two Fullerton errors helped.

In the third, the Titans had a runner on third with one out. Mark Kotsay, who was three for four, bunted for a hit to lead off the inning. Kotsay stole second and third, but was out when catcher Kirk Pierce chased down Loyd’s bunt and made the tag at the plate.

The 49ers had runners on second and third in the fifth with one out after a single by Jason Minici and a double by Jason Knupfer. Silva, however, got a strikeout and Loyd, the Titan catcher, picked off the runner at third.

Long Beach starter Kyle Wilson gave up singles to Fraser and Olsen with one out in the sixth, but the Titans again failed to score.

Fullerton missed another good opportunity in the seventh. C.J. Ankrum and Kotsay singled with one out, and Jeremy Giambi’s high fly ball in the sun fell between two outfielders. Ankrum, tagging up at second, was thrown out at the plate trying to score. Wilson hit the next batter, loading the bases, but got out of the inning with a strikeout.

The Titans bounced back for two runs in the eighth to tie the score at 3-3. Pinch hitter Tony Miranda bunted for a hit and scored on Jones’ triple off the center-field wall. Ankrum’s single scored Jones.