COLLEGE BASEBALL REGIONALS : Titans Take Step Closer With Pounding of Rice

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

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

It advanced Fullerton 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 only need to win once against Rice at 11 a.m. (PDT) in Alex Box Stadium to earn their second consecutive trip to the College World Series and third in the last four years.

If the Titans lose the first, a second game would follow.

Despite the rocky start, pitcher Ted Silva earned his 16th victory 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 king-sized boost Saturday.

Martinez cracked a three-run homer in each of Fullerton’s big early innings. Brian Loyd, Jack Jones and Joe Fraser also had homers among Fullerton’s 11 hits. Three Rice pitchers gave up a total of six walks.

“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 than pecking. And Silva held Rice scoreless into the eighth inning on another warm 86-degree day with 72% humidity. The Owls scored their final two runs in the ninth off relief pitcher 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,” Fullerton Coach Augie Garrido said. “It was tough to pitch out there today, but Ted’s performance was a big factor.”

Silva said he was confident his teammates would get him back in the game after the early setback.

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

Rice starter Adam Herndon walked two and hit a batter in the first. Herndon walked C.J. Ankrum with the bases loaded for Fullerton’s first run, and Robert Matos, who started ahead of the injured Jeremy Giambi in right, scored on a wild pitch. That set the stage for the Loyd’s eighth home run, tying the score, 5-5.

Martinez’s first homer of the game brought in three more runs.

Rice’s bats cooled in the second inning, but the Titans scored six more runs, and Martinez’s second consecutive homer, his fifth of the year, turned out to be the wrecking ball for Rice. Fullerton loaded the bases with two walks and D.C. Olsen’s bunt hit. Another walk forced in Ankrum and Loyd scored on Jones’ squeeze bunt before Martinez’s shot cleared the fence.

Fullerton added a run in the seventh on a hit batter, an error and Mark Kotsay’s sacrifice fly to make it 15-5, then picked up two more in the eighth on consecutive bases-empty homers by Fraser and Jones.

Garrido said he’s taking nothing for granted going into today’s finals.

Garrido thought back to 1984 and the regional at Fresno State. “We were in the same position going into the final day there against San Diego State,” Garrido said. The Titans lost the first game of the title round, 9-5, then had to scramble to win the second game, 8-7. The Titans went on to win the College World Series that season, the second of two national championships under Garrido.

Garrido is uncertain about today’s starting pitcher. “We don’t have a fourth starter the way we did a year ago,” he said. He mentioned Tim Dixon (12-0) and John Ward (9-3) as possibilities. They started in earlier victories over Northeast Louisiana and James Madison.

Garrido is only one victory from moving ahead of Virginia Tech’s Chuck Hartman as the fourth winningest active coach in Division I college baseball. If he gets No. 1,102 today, it will be an especially sweet one.