Fullerton Finally Wakes Up, Rolls Past Long Beach State

Cal State Fullerton heard the wake-up call Saturday night.

Jeremy Giambi lashed a two-run single in a three-run third and Mark Kotsay connected for a two-run inside-the-park homer in the fifth to help the Titans break a three-game Big West losing streak with a 7-2 victory over Long Beach State in front of a record crowd of 3,107 at Blair Field.

Sophomore Scott Hild (8-1) held the 49ers to six hits and no walks in eight innings before Kotsay came on to finish it in the ninth.

“I knew this was a big game, and I knew what I had to do,” Hild said. “I knew I had to make sure I threw strikes. I was able to get focused at the start and stayed that way.”

The victory put the No. 1-ranked Titans (39-7) back in a tie with Long Beach (29-19) for first in the conference race, each team with 12-5 records. The deciding game of the series is at 1:05 p.m. today.

UC Santa Barbara and Nevada Las Vegas won Saturday to stay in contention for the regular-season title, each a game back at 11-6. Both are assured of spots, along with the Titans and 49ers, in the Big West postseason tournament, May 10-12 at Fullerton.

Saturday night’s crowd broke the day-old Long Beach State attendance high of 2,285. The crowds also broke the three-game Long Beach series attendance record in two games.

Hild’s performance overshadowed the pitching of Long Beach State’s Rocky Biddle, a sophomore right-hander who is being projected as a first-round draft pick next year. Fullerton had six hits and five runs in seven innings off Biddle, who walked five. The Titans had eight hits for the game with Giambi and Steve Chatham each getting two.

It was the most runs Fullerton has scored in its last seven games and Coach Augie Garrido was pleased.

“We made much better decisions at the plate on balls and strikes tonight,” Garrido said. “We weren’t overreacting the way we were last night. Last night we were swinging at a lot of pitches out of the strike zone. We were overpumped last night, and we adjusted well for that in this game.”

Long Beach State won the series opener, 4-2, behind the pitching of sophomore Marcus Jones.

The three-run third got Fullerton in high gear offensively. Chatham singled with one out and designated hitter Jerome Alviso put down a perfect bunt. Biddle walked Kotsay for the second consecutive time on four pitches, loading the bases.

Giambi, the Big West’s leading hitter, drilled a single to right, scoring Chatham and Alviso for two of his three RBIs. Kotsay scored when C.J. Ankrum grounded out.

Kotsay’s third inside-the-park homer of his career in the fifth, after a walk to Alviso, made it 5-0. His drive to right hit the top of the wall, bounced back into 49er outfielder Mike Stembridge, and rolled into right-center. Kotsay came in standing up for his 16th homer of the season and 41st of his career.

The 49ers got a run off Hild in the fifth, when Jeff Tagliaferri and Keith Cowley singled and the run scored on a groundout. Hild retired the next two batters, one a strikeout, to end the inning. Long Beach’s other run came in the eight when Al Watson doubled and came home on J.J. Newkirk’s single.

Fullerton added two runs in the ninth, scoring one on pinch-hitter Skip Kiil’s run-scoring single and another on a wild pitch.

“They clumped some things together, and we couldn’t get much going offensively,” said 49er Coach Dave Snow, who said he was particularly impressed with Hild’s performance.

“Hild’s performance gave us the stability we needed,” Garrido said. “He overcame a few problems, and didn’t let anything get out of hand.”

Kirk Irvine (10-2) is scheduled to pitch today for the Titans against Long Beach’s Steve Hueston (3-3).