Titans Set for LSU Showdown

By LON EUBANKS

May 23, 1998 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

BATON ROUGE, La. —

It’s showdown time in the South II Regional.

Cal State Fullerton stopped Tulane’s 12-game winning streak Friday night and now will have its shot at two-time defending national champion Louisiana State today with both teams unbeaten in the tournament.

The 12th-ranked Titans (46-15) and fifth-ranked Tigers (44-17) play at 9 a.m. with the winner moving to Sunday’s championship round.

The loser will have to play the winner of today’s Harvard-Tulane game in tonight’s third game.

“I can’t wait,” Titan outfielder Aaron Rowand said. “This is a game I’ve been waiting for my entire college career.”

It was Rowand’s three-run home run in the sixth inning that gave Fullerton the breathing room it needed to hold off Tulane, 10-6, in front of 4,473 in Alex Box Stadium.

Tulane (48-14) had battled back from a 7-1 deficit after four innings with a grand slam by designated hitter Chuck Sutter, a son of former major league pitcher Bruce Sutter. Titan starter Erasmo Ramirez came back from that shot in the fifth inning to hold Tulane scoreless on one hit during the next two innings.

Ramirez, picking up his 11th victory in 16 decisions, struck out two of Tulane’s best hitters--Jason Sparks and Jake Burnham--to end the seventh. Ramirez, however, gave up a run in the eighth, and the Titans went to closer Adam Johnson.

Johnson ended the Tulane threat, striking out one of the three consecutive batters he retired in the eighth, and then three of four in the ninth.

“Rowand’s homer got the momentum back for us, but we didn’t feel this game was over at any point,” Titan Coach George Horton said. “It took a good effort by Erasmo and good defense to do it.”

While Fullerton was errorless, Tulane made four that led to seven unearned runs.

“You can’t afford to make that many errors against a team as good as Fullerton,” Tulane Coach Rick Jones said. “Both of their pitchers were real, real good. Their pitching got stronger after we got it back to 7-5.”

Fullerton chased Tulane starter Raul Echeverz with a five-run second inning. Echeverz lost his first game of the season after seven victories.

In the second, Fullerton scored one run on a Tulane infield error, and Ryan Moore and David Bacani delivered RBI singles before Pete Fukuhara, who had a bases-empty homer in the first, drilled a two-run single to give the Titans a 6-1 lead.

A Tulane error led to another Titan run in the third. Steve Chatham opened the inning with a single, and Burnham dropped a high pop fly near the foul line in left. Moore’s sacrifice fly added another run.

With two outs, a hit batter and two infield hits set up Sutter’s grand slam off Ramirez. But an inning later Rowand’s homer after a hit batter and another Tulane error put the Titans back in charge. Rowand had struck out twice in three earlier at-bats.

“They threw me a first-pitch slider and I was waiting for it,” Rowand said.

The victory left Fullerton unbeaten in 10 games in three regionals at LSU, and put the Titans in position to test LSU’s superiority at home this season. LSU is 30-3 at home after a 15-6 victory that eliminated Southwestern Louisiana earlier Friday. Fullerton won regional titles at LSU in 1992 and 1995, but didn’t have to play LSU in 1995. Horton said he will start Benny Flores (12-0) today. “We think he matches up the best with LSU,” Horton said. “He throws a lot of different pitches from a lot of different angles, and mixes them well.”

LSU’s scheduled starting pitcher is junior left-hander Randy Keisler, who is 8-5 with a 3.79 earned-run average.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

South II Regional

Thursday’s results

* Tulane 11, Southwestern Louisiana 5

* Cal State Fullerton 16, Harvard 1

* Louisiana State 18, Nicholls State 4

Friday’s results

* Harvard 6, Nicholls State 5, 10 innings (Nicholls State eliminated)

* LSU 15, Southwestern Louisiana 6 (Southwestern Louisiana eliminated)

* Cal State Fullerton 10, Tulane 6

Today’s games