Titans’ Practice Makes Perfect Play

With no midweek game, Cal State Fullerton had some extra time to practice what Coach George Horton called “some of our fun plays.”

One the Titans worked on before their weekend series against New Mexico State was a squeeze bunt on a full count with the bases loaded.

The Titans put it to good use Sunday at Titan Field when the situation emerged against the Aggies. Ryan Owens laid down a bunt perfect for the play, and two runners scored when Owens was safe at first base.

It highlighted an eight-run Fullerton eighth inning, which carried the Titans to a 10-3 victory and a three-game sweep over the Aggies in the opening weekend of Big West Conference play. It was the seventh consecutive victory for Fullerton (17-5, 3-0).

Pitcher Matt Sorensen (4-0) held the Aggies to nine hits over eight innings, striking out seven and walking two.

Chad Olszanski, starting at second base with David Bacani out with a sprained ankle, had a leadoff double in the eighth to get the inning rolling and finished the scoring with a bases-empty homer.

The Aggies (9-14, 0-3) had taken a one-run lead in the top of the eighth on a two-run homer by catcher Chris Barski.

“One of the things I like about this team is the way it responds when there’s a sense of urgency,” Horton said.

Horton said he had that feeling when Olszanski went to bat to start the eighth. “He had some frustrating at-bats earlier, and I thought about pinch-hitting for him because we have some good guys on the bench. But I thought he might come up big, and he did.”

Olszanski said he also was confident. “I guessed fastball on the leadoff hit and got it,” Olszanski said. “On the home run, he just got one in my wheelhouse.”

Spencer Oborn singled in one run in the eighth and Jeff Gates drove in two more with a hit. Each player had two hits, with Oborn stretching his hitting streak to 21 games.

But it was the two runs the Titans scored on the squeeze bunt that seemed to break open the game. Oborn scored from third and Chris Beck scored from second when Owens eluded a tag at first.

“I was thinking the same thing when coach told me to bunt,” Owens said. “It turned out to be a real big play for us.”

Horton said the play wasn’t executed as well as it could have been, but it still worked.

“Neither one of our base runners got as good a jump as they could have,” Horton said. “The good thing about that play is that the batter only has to bunt the ball if it’s a strike. If the pitcher doesn’t throw a strike, it’s still a walk, and a run scores. It was a tribute to Ryan’s mental toughness that he got down a good bunt after popping up one earlier in the game. He didn’t let it carry over into that at-bat.”

The Titans led, 2-0, early, but struggled at times against Aggie starter Nick Alvarez (1-4).

Fullerton scored a run on one hit in the third. Gates led off with a base hit, and took second when Olszanski was safe on a sacrifice bunt. Robert Guzman’s bunt advanced both runners, and Gates scored on an infield out. Fullerton added another run in the fourth when Beck reached on an error, stole second and third and scored on a fielder’s choice.

Horton said he was pleased with Sorensen’s pitching. It was the third consecutive strong performance by a Titan starter. Adam Johnson and Jon Smith had winning efforts in the first two games against the Aggies, and the Titans didn’t use top relief pitcher Kirk Saarloos until the ninth inning Sunday.

“The pitching and defense were good all weekend,” Horton said.

The Titans play Arizona State at home Tuesday night before going to Sacramento State for a three-game series beginning Friday.

* BOX SCORE: D13