Titans Hang On to Beat Trojans

Because there is not a lot of power in the lineup, Cal State Fullerton will depend on pitching more than usual this season. And if the Titans get more efforts like the one from right-hander Jon Smith Wednesday against USC, it will not be a problem.

Smith, whose previous appearance this season was 1 1/3 innings of relief against Stanford on Feb. 6, baffled the Trojans for 6 1/3 innings, giving up one run and four hits in the Titans’ 6-5 victory over the Trojans in front of 682 at USC.

Smith (1-0) threw 86 pitches, walked none and struck out eight. His performance was a big boost for the 16th-ranked Titans (5-3), who won their fourth straight.

Titan Coach George Horton said Smith was “still strong” when he replaced him in the seventh. But because Smith is coming off an injured shoulder from last year and a groin injury he sustained a month ago, “there was no need to push him. Plus I had faith in [relievers] Marco Hanlon and Kirk Saarloos.”

Hanlon and Saarloos almost wasted all of Smith’s good work, however. Hanlon gave up two runs with two outs in the seventh, and Saarloos gave up a two-run homer to Trojan first baseman Justin Lehr with one out in the ninth. USC got the tying run to second with two outs, but Saarloos retired second baseman Justin Gemoll for the last out to get his second save.

“Right now I’m as healthy as I’ve been in a long time,” said Smith, who will get back his regular spot in the starting rotation. “I was up a bit in the strike zone, but I felt in command of my pitches from the beginning.”

Fullerton backed Smith with 13 hits, 12 of them singles. They scored all six runs off Trojan starter Steve Smyth (1-2), who lasted 4 2/3 innings.

Shortstop Ryan Owens, who came into the game batting .182 with two RBIs, drove in three runs with two singles. Second baseman David Bacani had two hits and scored twice, and left fielder Spencer Oborn had three hits.

The sixth-ranked Trojans (3-6), who thought they had straightened out some early kinks last weekend by winning two of three from Texas Tech, discovered there is still work to do if they want to defend their national championship.

Smith retired the first 11 USC batters before catcher Eric Munson, who tore apart Texas Tech last week with four home runs and 10 RBIs, hit a two-out double to left.

On defense, failure to field two bunts led to Fullerton runs.

USC did not help its cause with some bad baserunning. Dominic Correa, who broke up Smith’s shutout bid in the fifth with an RBI single, was thrown out trying to go to second. And pinch runner Josh Self was picked off by Smith in the sixth.

“Those kinds of mistakes are inexcusable,” Trojan Coach Mike Gillespie said. “And I’m alarmed that we are having those kinds of breakdowns. I liked the way we came back, that we had some fight. But we have to cease being our own worst enemy.”

In the top of the first, Fullerton turned four hits--the key blow being a two-out, two-run single by Owens--and a force play into four runs. But quick starts are nothing new to the Titans, who have scored in the first inning in all eight games this season.