Oborn Starts Another Streak

It was only a day after his 37-game hitting streak ended one game short of tying the Big West Conference record.

Spencer Oborn went four for five with three runs batted in Saturday, helping eighth-ranked Cal State Fullerton roll to a 12-5 victory over Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in a conference game at Titan Field.

Oborn, a junior left fielder, ripped a two-run home run and a run-scoring triple along with two singles. One of the singles was an infield hit he beat out in the sixth.

“I guess I felt more relaxed today, but my approach was the same as it was yesterday,” Oborn said. “Today, I hit a few balls that found the right places.”

So did several other Titans. David Bacani also had four hits, and Reed Johnson drove in four runs with a three-run home run and a run-scoring double. Fullerton had 17 hits with Chris Beck and Craig Patterson each getting two.

“I think everyone came out of it today,” Johnson said. “I know I had been hitting the ball well, but just wasn’t getting many hits. I came out an hour early and did some extra work on my hitting. I think I carried that into the game.”

The first-place Titans (32-8, 15-2 in conference) needed a good hitting day to be assured of their second victory against the Mustangs (17-20, 6-11). The final game of the series is at 1 p.m. today.

Fullerton starter Jon Smith, who leads the pitching staff with a 1.89 earned-run average, came out of the game after only one inning because of soreness in his shoulder.

Cal Poly scored five runs in the third off Marco Hanlon, four of them on Steve Wood’s grand slam, but Barry Hawkins came on to give up only three hits and no runs in 3 1/3 innings. Hawkins (1-0) picked up the victory, but needed help from Kirk Saarloos after giving up two hits in the sixth.

Saarloos, the top Titan relief pitcher, struck out the final batter in the sixth and retired the side in the seventh. Ruben Jurado took over in the eighth and gave up only two hits and no runs the rest of the way.

Titan Coach George Horton played Saarloos in right field in the eighth and ninth--just in case he needed to bring him back.

“Normally we wouldn’t have brought Kirk in quite that early, but we felt we really needed to get Cal Poly stopped in the sixth,” Horton said. “With Kirk, you know what you’re going to get.”

Smith said he didn’t think the shoulder soreness was cause for concern. “It hurt a little, so we didn’t want to push it,” Smith said. “I could have continued, but we had plenty of pitching available.”

Pitching coach Dave Serrano made the call for the early exit. “He didn’t loosen up well, so it’s something we’re going to have to continue to work through,” Serrano said.