Titans Buried by Rice

Cal State Fullerton’s bid for a third consecutive trip to the College World Series came to an end Sunday.

It ended in a 13-10 loss to Rice in the NCAA Midwest Regional. It ended in a game that had all the elements of Fullerton’s season: a promising start, strong hitting by outfielder Mark Kotsay, and then a desperate finish in which almost nothing seemed to work out.

Kotsay hit two home runs, including a three-run shot in the top of the eighth inning that gave Fullerton a 10-7 lead, but Rice came back with a six-run rally in the bottom of the eighth.

It was the fifth time the lead had been reversed in a game stopped twice by rain delays of 50 and 53 minutes.

With both teams’ pitching drained away, it came down to which would out-hit the other, and Rice finished with 19 hits to Fullerton’s 10. And only a half-inning after Rice’s final flurry, Fullerton’s season, which began with 38 victories in 42 games, ended at 45-16.

It was only the second time in five years that Fullerton, which won the national championship last season, hasn’t won a regional title and advanced to Omaha.

Fullerton Coach Augie Garrido paid tribute to the way Rice came back in the eighth inning. “Offense has been their strength, as it has been ours, but they did more of it more often than we did today,” Garrido said.

It became only a matter of time later Sunday night before Rice (43-23) lost to top-seeded host Wichita, 16-6, in the championship game, but just getting that far was a big boost to the Owls.

The victory over Fullerton was special for Rice after the Titans beat the Owls twice last season in the regional tournament at Louisiana State.

“It’s a great feeling to be able to win a game against Fullerton because they have such a great program,” Rice Coach Wayne Graham said. “I think our biggest victory was the one we had against Texas last weekend to win the conference tournament for the first time, but this has to be next.”

Designated hitter Paul Doyle said the players had the same feeling.

“By far, the team we most wanted to beat was Fullerton because they beat us last year and have such a great overall program,” Doyle said.

Kotsay was on the mound when Rice’s big inning began. He gave up a leadoff homer to Jason Richards, a single and a walk before the Titans brought in Scott Hild, the winning pitcher in the first game against Delaware. Hild got one strikeout, but gave up four hits and two walks, and five more runs scored before he could stop the rally. Hild finished 9-4 with the loss. The Titans had gone through four pitchers, including starter Luis Estrella, before they brought in Kotsay from center field to pitch the sixth inning. The Titans had taken a 6-5 lead in the top of the inning on a bases-empty homer by Mike Lamb and a run squeezed home by Steve Chatham’s bunt.

Rice took the lead in the sixth, 7-6, with two runs. Kotsay gave up an RBI triple for one run. And the second run scored on a line drive that skipped off the top of Jack Jones’ glove at short for an error.

The Titans tied it in the eighth when C.J. Ankrum singled, took second on a wild pitch and scored to tie it when catcher Tim McLaughlin’s throw went into center field. Kotsay’s three-run homer followed after a Rice error and a hit batter.

Fullerton led, 4-0, after two innings. Kotsay homered in the first, and the Titans scored three more in the second. Rice got to Estrella for two runs in the third, and Mike Greenlee, Dan White and Steve Cardona gave up four runs among them over two innings.

Garrido said he preferred to praise Rice’s play, rather than focus on any faults in his team in its final game of the season.

“We played our cards the way we discussed it, but we knew Rice was a team capable of getting a lot of hits,” Garrido said. “Rice did a great job of that. They were able to overcome our best effort. I don’t think there has to be any blame involved. Our people all made a very good effort.”

Kotsay, the 1995 college player of the year, finished the season with a .402 batting average. His four RBIs against Rice gave him 91 for the season, one more than last year. He finished with one fewer homer at 20. He played five fewer games this season.