ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

Mike Murray

Baseball

Hanlon picked up two victories in relief last week, giving up only one hit and striking out 10 in a combined nine innings. Hanlon pitched three hitless innings against Loyola Marymount, retiring all nine men he faced, five on ground balls and four on strikeouts. Then, last Saturday against UC Santa Barbara, Hanlon pitched six shutout innings, giving up only one hit, one walk and a hit batter.

THIS WEEK

Baseball: The No. 4-ranked Titans (38-8), who defeated UCLA Tuesday, take an eight-game winning streak and a 19-2 Big West Conference record into their weekend series against Sacramento State. The teams play at 7 p.m. Friday and 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Fullerton, which has won 14 consecutive conference series--five with three-game sweeps--has a 4 1/2-game lead over second-place Nevada and a 6 1/2-game lead over third-place Long Beach State with nine conference games to play. The conference champion earns the automatic berth to the NCAA playoffs.

Softball: The Titans, who lost, 5-0 and 4-0, Wednesday at Fresno State, host Utah State in a doubleheader at 2 p.m. Saturday and in a single game at 2 p.m. Sunday. The Titans lost two of three games last week at Cal State Northridge. Catcher Stephenie Little has a conference-leading 20 home runs. The Titans are one home run shy of the conference’s single-season record of 45, set by the 1996 Fullerton team. Monica Lucatero has five homers, all in the last two weeks.

Track and field: The Titans will compete in the Steve Scott Invitational Sunday at UC Irvine. Field events begin at 8:30 a.m., running events at 10 a.m.