Fullerton Can Spare a 5-Spot : College baseball: Top-ranked Titans score eight in first, six in second, and roll over Rice, 17-7.

Rice scored five runs in the top of the first inning against Cal State Fullerton Saturday, then paid the price for it.

The Titans scored eight runs of their own in the first, added six more in the second and had five home runs for the day, two by Tony Martinez, in a 17-7 victory in the NCAA South Regional.

Fullerton advanced into today’s championship round as the only unbeaten team. The top-ranked Titans, enjoying their best record in school history at 52-9, won their 13th consecutive game. They need only to win once against Rice in Alex Box Stadium today to earn their second consecutive trip to the College World Series and third in the last four years.

A second game, if the Titans lose the first, would follow. Rice beat Louisiana State, 16-9, later Saturday to eliminate the Tigers.

Despite Fullerton’s rocky start, pitcher Ted Silva went on to win his 16th game of the season, a school record, and his second in the tournament. He has only one loss. He also picked up the victory in ninth-inning relief in the opening regional game.

Silva can thank third baseman Martinez for a big boost Saturday.

Martinez hit a three-run homer in each of Fullerton’s big early innings. Teammates Brian Loyd, Jack Jones and Joe Fraser also had homers among Fullerton’s 11 hits.

“We didn’t think it was out of reach after Rice did that in the first,” Martinez said. “We just knew we would have to stay focused and keep pecking away.”

Martinez did more pounding that pecking. And Silva held Rice scoreless from the second through eighth innings on another warm, humid day. The Owls scored their final two runs in the ninth off John Mitchell.

“We would have liked to have gotten Ted out of there earlier, but we didn’t feel we could do that because of the respect that we have for Rice offensively,” Coach Augie Garrido said. “It was tough to pitch out there today, but Ted’s performance was a big factor.”

Silva said he had to adjust to what he regarded as “a tight strike zone” set by the umpire in the first inning when he gave up two walks. After that, Mark Quinn’s bad-hop infield single scored the first Rice run and Lance Berkman’s single brought in another before Patrick Hallmark’s three-run homer.

Rice starter Adam Herndon also gave up two walks and hit a batter in the Titan first. Loyd’s eighth home run tied the score at 5-5, and Martinez’s first homer of the game brought in three more runs.

The Titans pounded out six more in the second inning, and Martinez’s second consecutive homer, his fifth of the year, turned out to be the wrecking ball for Rice.