Titans Finish Sweep of Long Beach

A three-game sweep of Long Beach State. A 10-game winning streak. And 16 victories in 17 games.

That’s what Cal State Fullerton savored Sunday after a 7-3 victory over the 49ers in front of 1,783 at Long Beach’s Blair Field. It gave the Titans a three-game lead over Long Beach in the Big West Conference’s South Division with six games remaining.

“We’re hitting on all cylinders right now,” Titan outfielder Aaron Rowand said. “To sweep Long Beach with all their tradition is really something special.”

It marked the first time the 16th-ranked Titans (36-12, 20-4) have swept Long Beach (26-19, 17-7) in the regular season since 1991, and their first sweep at Long Beach since 1988.

“Fullerton is on fire,” Long Beach Coach Dave Snow said. “And in every facet of the game. They did all the things you have to do to sweep a series like this. They got good pitching, good hitting and they were really clutch today.”

Fullerton made the most of nine hits, including three by Greg Jacobs, who drove in two runs and scored two. Rowand was two for three with two walks after driving in five runs in the previous two games. “They didn’t give me anything to swing at a couple of times,” Rowand said.

Jacobs also was the starting pitcher, going 6 1/3 innings and giving up seven hits and three runs. After that, Kirk Saarloos, George Carralejo and closer Adam Johnson were strong in relief. Long Beach had nine hits.

Saarloos (3-2) picked up the victory in 1 1/3 innings of work, thanks to a three-run eighth inning, which broke a 3-3 tie.

Jacobs singled to lead off the inning, and Rowand doubled. A hit batter loaded the bases with one out, and an error by second-baseman Sam Monroy on a potential double play ball enabled two runs to score. The third run scored on an infield out.

The Titans added another run in the ninth on consecutive two-out singles by Jacobs, Rowand and Kevin Duck.

Long Beach starter Jeff Leuenberger, a freshman from Canyon High, limited the Titans to one hit and two walks through the first five innings. Fullerton got to him for two runs in the sixth. Reed Johnson singled, David Bacani walked, and both advanced on a double steal. Jacobs doubled off the wall in left-center, scoring both.

Long Beach tied it in the bottom of the sixth on Paul Day’s RBI single, and each team scored a run in the seventh. Steve Chatham’s double was the big Titan hit in the seventh, and the run scored when Reed Johnson grounded into a force at second that could have been a double play, but Johnson’s speed averted another out. Justin Hall homered in the seventh for Long Beach, bringing in Saarloos.

“We were lucky that they didn’t field cleanly a couple of those double-play balls,” Titan Coach George Horton said. “But sweeping Long Beach is quite an accomplishment. That’s a difficult thing to do, especially in their ballpark. I was also pleased that we were able to stay unbeaten on the road in conference play. We’re playing well right now. We need to work to keep it going.”

Two of Fullerton’s four conference losses were to Long Beach in the earlier series at Fullerton.

Fullerton concludes the Big West schedule by hosting Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in a three-game series starting Friday. The Titans are at UC Santa Barbara for games May 8-10.