Tigers Pull No Punches in Bout With Fullerton

Cal State Fullerton’s George Horton and LSU’s Skip Bertman saw the game the same way.

It was a game that might have gone either way, but LSU won it, 13-11, with four runs in the eighth inning.

“They got the TKO in the last round,” Horton said. “I don’t know what they charged to get in today, but they should have charged a lot more. It was a great college baseball game, even though it wasn’t perfectly played by either side.”

LSU, the two-time defending national champion, was the team standing after the two teams traded punches for more than 3 1/2 hours Saturday in the NCAA South II Regional.

The wind was blowing out at Alex Box Stadium all day, and Fullerton got home runs from David Bacani, Pete Fukuhara and Steve Chatham to lead in the first inning, 5-0. Then the Titans scored twice in the second on Aaron Rowand’s two-run double and led, 7-0. But LSU started its comeback with three consecutive home runs off Fullerton’s Benny Flores in the bottom of the second.

And on it went, one punch after another.

Fullerton led, 9-7, after Rowand’s two-run homer in the top of the eighth, but LSU rallied one more time in the eighth and went ahead for the first time in the game.

Horton said the key hit in the eighth was Eddy Furniss’ double, which put runners on second and third with none out. Furniss lashed the ball down the first-base line past Kevin Duck.

“The thing we didn’t want to happen was for a ball to go between the first baseman and the line,” Horton said.

“We were set for it and you have to keep that kind of ball in front of you. I don’t like to point a finger at anyone, but D.C. Olsen had that same play in the championship game in 1995 and turned it into a double play.”

Then an error by third baseman Ryan Moore led to a run. The game-winning hit was a two-run double by Cedrick Harris off closer Adam Johnson. Both runs were unearned.

“The more times you put on a uniform against good teams in tournament play, the more important defense becomes,” Horton said.

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Flores was disappointed with his effort. Flores entered the game with a 12-0 record and left that way, but missed a victory he wanted badly.

“I wasn’t satisfied at all,” Flores said. “My first-pitch strike ratio was a little low. I was way out of character from that standpoint, but the offense picked me up big time.”

Flores pitched five innings, giving up 11 hits and seven runs, five of them earned.

“They hit some good pitches against him, but he didn’t jump ahead on them, and you have to be able to do that against a disciplined hitting team like LSU,” Horton said. “He’s a deception pitcher, not an overpowering pitcher, and he needs that advantage to be effective.

“One of the things that disappointed me about our pitchers’ performances is that we seemed to be pitching for a shutout all the time, and didn’t give our offense enough credit.”

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Because of the tournament, Horton will miss the wedding of his oldest daughter, Michele, today at the family’s home in Yorba Linda.

“It’s a situation where the guy she’s marrying is in the Navy and this was the best time for the wedding,” Horton said. “That’s why none of my family is here for the tournament.”

Horton said he has been keeping in touch by telephone.

“I’m sure tomorrow that one of my brain cells will be on that and the others on what’s going on here,” Horton said. “This is the only thing I’d miss that for.”