One Bad Pitch Costs Fullerton’s Ramirez

Cal State Fullerton left-hander Erasmo Ramirez deserved better.

Ramirez gave up six hits, walked one and struck out eight in nine innings, but even that effort wasn’t enough Wednesday night against third-ranked USC.

The Trojans capitalized on one bad pitch by Ramirez that produced a two-run homer in the first inning and a bloop single that brought in the winning run in the seventh for a 3-2 victory in front of 1,521 at Titan Field.

“Ramirez was a star--exactly what we knew he would be,” USC Coach Mike Gillespie said. “He’s been that for the last two years, and tonight he was a warrior, a bulldog. He pitched great.”

Titan Coach George Horton agreed. His disappointment was that his team’s offense didn’t measure up to Ramirez’s pitching. The Titan’s managed only four hits off four USC pitchers.

“Erasmo pitched well enough to win,” Horton said. “ You can’t ask for more than that. But we didn’t take quality at-bats all night.”

Eric Munson blasted a two-out, two-run homer in the first inning, after a single by Robb Gorr. It was the fourth home run of the season for Munson, who hit 13 last season when he was Sporting News freshman player of the year. It was the fifth homer given up by Ramirez in four starts.

“I’m human and I’m going to make some mistakes,” Ramirez said of the pitch to Munson. “But he’s a great hitter.”

The Trojans scored the winning run when Jason Lane, the winning pitcher in relief, singled with one out, advanced to second on a ground out and scored when Jeff DePippo dropped a two-out single into short right field.

“We got two bloop hits, one before Munson [homered] and the bloop hit that won it,” Gillespie said. “Sometimes it helps to be lucky.”

The Trojans (8-2) also received solid pitching from starter Steve Immel, Lane and closer Jack Krawczyk, who retired the Titans in order in the eighth and ninth innings. Lane (1-0) held the Titans hitless in the fifth through the seventh innings.

Immel limited the Titans (6-4) to only two hits in the first three three innings, but he was replaced, as planned, by Mike Wiebling in the fourth.

Kevin Duck greeted Wiebling with a leadoff double, and Steve Chatham, the next batter, singled. Duck, who was holding at third, scored when left fielder Jeremy Freitas mishandled the ball.

Another USC error gave the Titans their second run of the inning. David Bacani’s two-out ground ball to short skipped off Davidson’s glove, scoring Chatham with the tying run.

Ramirez had retired nine consecutive batters before Lane singled sharply up the middle with one out in the seventh to set the stage for DePippo’s hit.

“It was a tribute to their pitching staff that they were able to go that deep into their staff and stop us as well as they did,” Horton said.

Horton was particularly disappointed that all three Titan hitters in the ninth inning struck out. “That’s not a very good effort from your fourth, fifth and sixth hitters in the ninth,” Horton said.