Kotsay Saves the Day--Again--for Fullerton

It was the seventh inning and a Cal State Fullerton sacrifice bunt attempt had just gone sour, with C.J. Ankrum thrown out at second base and the Titans trailing Fresno State by a run. Two bunts in earlier innings also failed, one of them turning into a double play.

But George Horton, the Titans’ associate head coach, apparently wasn’t too dismayed. He saw Bob Fontaine Jr., the Angels’ assistant vice president in charge of scouting and player personnel, watching near the bullpen and said, “Well, our bunting game isn’t going so well. Maybe we need to hit a home run right now, and we’ve got the guy coming to the plate who can do it . . . “ Minutes later, Mark Kotsay hit a knee-high fastball more than 400 feet to right-center for a two-run homer. It gave the Titans a 6-5 nonconference victory over Fresno State Sunday in front of 1,516 at Titan Field and a sweep of the three-game series.

It was the fourth home run in the past four games for Kotsay, college baseball’s player of the year in 1995. It also was his second game-winner during Fullerton’s five-game winning streak after a season-opening loss at Stanford. Kotsay had two home runs Friday against Fresno State and another Wednesday that beat Pepperdine.

“Mark got into one when we needed it,” Titan Coach Augie Garrido said. “But that’s been his pattern. Mark’s a get-the-job-done kind of guy. When this team has gotten behind, it has responded. And that’s more important to me right now than any of the details.”

Kotsay grounded out in his first three at-bats Sunday, twice into double plays, against Fresno starter Jeff Weaver. Weaver had given up only five hits in 15 innings coming in.

“His ball was running down all day, and had a lot of sink to it,” Kotsay said. “He pitched well, but I think the fastball I hit out got away from him.”

Weaver (1-1) gave up 10 hits and six runs in 6 2/3 innings before Mike Powell relieved him in the seventh. Each team had 12 hits in the game.

The Titans scored once in the first on an RBI single by freshman Aaron Rowand, who moved into the lineup at right field a night earlier. Fullerton scored twice in the fourth on Brian Loyd’s leadoff homer, his first of the season, and another run-scoring hit by Rowand with two outs. But Fresno kept pace with single runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth. The Titans went ahead, 4-3, in the sixth on Jerome Alviso’s RBI double. Fresno made it 5-4 with two runs in the top of the seventh on Derek Feramisco’s triple and Craig da Luz’s RBI single.

Titan starter Matt Wise went five innings, giving up five walks and four hits. Scott Hild (1-0) got credit for the victory, although he gave up five hits and three runs in two innings. Luis Estrella picked up his first save, retiring the final two batters in the ninth.

“Wise struggled, but he’s a fine-line guy and when he’s hyped he can get a little out of sync,” said Horton, who handles the pitchers. “The other guys pitched a little fat, but you have to give Fresno State some credit for that. Estrella was able to get it done in the ninth. Considering the whole series, the pitching was good.”