Chatham Has Special Day for Titans

It was quite a day for Cal State Fullerton’s old guys, especially Steve Chatham.

The Titans stretched their winning streak to 14, reached the 40-victory plateau and clinched the No. 1 seeding for the Big West tournament--all on Senior Day at Titan Field Sunday.

Coach George Horton made room for five seniors in the lineup for the final home game of the regular season, but none enjoyed the day more than Chatham.

He had three hits, four runs scored, three stolen bases and a two-run homer as Fullerton completed a three-game Big West Conference sweep of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a 9-2 victory.

Fullerton (40-12, 23-4) is three games ahead of Long Beach State in the Southern Division with three games to play. “Today was really exciting,” Chatham said. “All the seniors were really pumped up, and I guess I took all that emotion into the game. And the other guys didn’t want to let us down.”

It was the 20th start in 52 games for Chatham, who has shared time this season with other outfielders after two years as a regular.

Sophomore shortstop Ryan Owens was four for four with four RBIs, but he said the game belonged to Chatham. “He was awesome,” Owens said.

Horton agreed.

“What a tremendous job he did,” Horton said. “It looks like Steve is back to his old self. We’ve used him mostly against left-handers this season, but he’s pushing us to get him in the game more against right-handers now too. I guess what we need are four outfield spots.”

Greg Jacobs, batting .391 as the designated hitter, gave up that spot Sunday to Pete Fukuhara, but Jacobs carried his share of the load on the mound. Jacobs (4-2) gave up six hits and two runs in six innings.

Jacobs, who struck out six, gave up a two-run homer to Mike Bland in the second inning. But Chatham led the Titans to a 4-2 lead after three innings.

Chatham singled in the second, stole second, took third when the throw got away, then scored on Owens’ single. Chatham homered to left-center in the third after Aaron Rowand had driven in a run with a triple.

The Titans scored two more runs in the fifth. David Bacani, who walked, later scored on a wild pitch. Chatham singled, advanced on a walk and came home on Owens’ double. Fullerton added three more in the seventh with Owens’ two-run double the big hit.

Chatham stole second and third after a walk and scored on Owens’ fourth consecutive hit.

Kirk Saarloos replaced Jacobs in the seventh and held the Mustangs to one hit in two innings, striking out five. Adam Johnson pitched a hitless ninth.

“Since Saarloos had that bad outing against Long Beach in March, he’s been phenomenal,” pitching coach Dave Serrano said. “I feel real good about our relief pitching right now.”

Saarloos has given up three earned runs in his last 13 relief outings spanning 21 2/3 innings. Johnson has seven consecutive scoreless appearances.

The only downside for the Titans was a couple of dropped fly balls because of the sun and an attempted double steal that turned into a double play when Reed Johnson hesitated between first and second when Gaby Halcovich was caught in a rundown between second and third.

Bacani was saved in the third by the infield fly rule when he lost a popup in the sun, and a double play took the Titans out of the fifth after Rowand let one fall at his feet in right field.

“Neither one had sunglasses on,” Horton said. “Bacani says they bother him fielding ground balls, but Rowand just didn’t have them on that inning.”