Stanford Home Run Deflates Titans

College baseball’s new aluminum bats may not have as much power as the old ones, but a timely home run can still turn a game around.

That was obvious in Sunday’s finale of a three-game series between seventh-ranked Stanford and 15th-ranked Cal State Fullerton at Titan Field.

Stanford had 15 hits, including seven in a seven-run second inning, but it was a three-run homer in the sixth inning by catcher Damien Alvarado that lifted the Cardinal in its 13-7 victory in front of 1,408.

Stanford (3-3) won the series, two games to one.

Fullerton (1-2) was trailing ,8-6, and seemed to be working its way back into contention after that terrible second inning, before Alvardo’s shot cleared the wall in right-center.

“Getting a home run like that with two strikes and two outs was really big for us,” Stanford Coach Mark Marquess said.

The Titans had intentionally walked Joe Borchard, and had brought in left-hander George Carralejo to face Alvarado, who bats left-handed. The homer was Alvarado’s fourth consecutive hit and gave him five runs batted in for the day.

“That put the momentum back on their side,” Titan Coach George Horton said.

The Titans had 13 hits, but didn’t take advantage of their opportunities as well as Stanford did. “We’d set the table and then shoot ourselves in the foot,” Horton said.

Fullerton hit into inning-ending double plays in the fourth and fifth innings.

Both teams were hurt by errors, several on bad throws. Stanford had six--the most for the Cardinal in one game since 1993--and Fullerton had five. The Titans had two in the troubled second inning.

Junior Michael Garner, the Titan starter, gave up three consecutive hits that loaded the bases, then walked in the first run. It steadily deteriorated after that. Three more runs came in on two ground balls that went through holes in the infield for hits.

“They got a lot of key hits by just putting the ball in play,” Garner said. “But I wasn’t getting outs, and that’s what it takes. I was disappointed because I felt good going in.”

Garner (0-1) was charged with seven runs, six earned, on six hits. Matt Sorensen, a transfer from Cerritos College, came on in relief with one out in the second and pitched 4 1/3 innings, giving up three runs on four hits. Kirk Saarloos pitched the final two innings, holding Stanford scoreless on two hits.

“Stanford’s hitters are solid, but we’re a lot better than what we showed,” Sorensen said. “But I think we can learn a lot from a first series like this one about what it’s going to take to play against some of the best teams in the country.”

There were some bright spots offensively for the Titans.

First baseman Chris Beck had four hits in five at-bats and USC transfer Rod Perry Jr. was three for four with two RBIs. Perry nearly made a spectacular catch in right field in the eighth inning. He ran down Edmund Muth’s deep fly ball on the warning track, but lost control when he banged into the wall.

“I caught it in the top of the web,” Perry said, “but when I hit the wall with my shoulder it fell out.”

Horton said he was encouraged despite losing two of three games. “I like this team,” Horton said. “If we had won all three games, we’d still be in the same position of knowing we had to get better this coming week, and that’s what we have to do.”