Titans Calm Down, Show Past Form to Beat Stanford

Saturday against Stanford, Cal State Fullerton looked much more like the team that won the College World Series last season.

The Titans, who managed only one hit off Kyle Peterson Friday night in a season-opening loss, came back in the second game of the series to win, 7-0, behind the seven-hit pitching of newcomer Brent Billingsley.

Fullerton showed the kind of efficient offense that has marked Coach Augie Garrido’s most successful teams, capitalizing on six hits, five of them singles, and 10 walks given up by six Stanford pitchers.

“That was better,” Garrido said. “That was a game without any first-game jitters.”

Fullerton’s victory evened the series between the teams, which are ranked among the top three nationally in preseason polls. Fullerton is No. 1 in one, third in another, Stanford is second in both.

The third game of the series is scheduled for 1 p.m. today, although rain again is forecast. Saturday’s game was delayed three hours because of rain, and the game wouldn’t have been played if Stanford hadn’t installed lights this season.

Matt Wise, a transfer from Pepperdine, is scheduled to pitch today for Fullerton against Mario Uglesias, who was 3-2 with a 4.25 earned-run average last season as a junior.

Billingsley, a transfer from East Carolina, quickly made an impact in his first Titan performance, giving up two walks and striking out five. “He was very good,” said Fullerton associate head coach George Horton. “He pitched like we hoped he would. He had four pitches working, and the defense played very well behind him.”

Billingsley agreed. “The defense kept coming through for me,” Billingsley said. “ I couldn’t have done it without that. I had some jitters early, but then I got in a groove and then they did too.”

Billingsley said he wanted to go for the complete-game shutout, but Horton said no. “He’d already thrown 107 pitches and there was no reason to keep him in this early in the season,” Horton said. Mark Chavez took over in the ninth and gave up one hit.

Billingsley seemed to grew stronger as he went along.

Stanford threatened in the second after two outs. Brian Dallimore and Jody Gerut had consecutive singles through the middle, and Eric Sees lined a shot off C.J. Ankrum’s leg at first, but second baseman Jerome Alviso fielded it quickly and threw out Dallimore at third when he slipped on the wet turf rounding base and couldn’t get back in time.

The Cardinal had runners on first and second in the third, when Joe Kilburg walked and Cale Carter singled. Billingsley then struck out All-American catcher A.J. Hinch with a well-timed changeup, then picked off Kilburg with a good move to second.

Garrido said the key defensive play of the game came in the fourth when third baseman Tony Martinez made a backhand stab of Dallimore’s one-hop liner inside the bag and turned it into a double play.

“In that same inning, Mike Lamb, who hasn’t caught a lot, kept two balls in the dirt in front of him,” Garrido said. “I thought that, and Tony’s play, changed the momentum of the game right there.”

The Titans, who scored a run in the third when Alviso doubled and scored on a groundout, broke the game open with four runs in the fifth. Three walks in the inning ended the day for Stanford starter Jason Middlebrook.

Jeremy Giambi’s two-out single with the bases loaded against new pitcher Brendan Sullivan scored two runs. Then Sullivan’s balk scored Jack Jones and Giambi came home on the first of Mark Kotsay’s two hits.

Fullerton added another run in the sixth. Brian Loyd, in the designated hitter spot because his throwing arm isn’t back to full strength after an injury, walked and later scored on a groundout. Another run came across in the eighth on Jones’ sacrifice fly, which was caught on the warning track in right.