Titans Finish Nevada Sweep

Cal State Fullerton Coach George Horton gave Spencer Oborn some advice this week about his hitting streak.

“I just told him to not think about it,” Horton said.

Oborn said that’s what he tried to do Sunday, and it must have worked.

Oborn went three for five with a home run and four runs batted in as the Titans completed a sweep of a three-game series against Nevada with an 11-5 victory at Titan Field. Oborn extended his streak to 29 games, nine behind Brent Mayne’s school record of 38 set in 1988.

The victory also stretched the Titans’ winning streak to 15 games, and left Fullerton (25-5, 9-0 in the Big West Conference) with a two-game lead over second-place Pacific. The school-record winning streak is 19, set in 1978.

Fullerton plays at Pacific, which won two of three games from Long Beach State, in a three-game series beginning Thursday.

“The important thing is for the team to keep winning,” Oborn said. “If I don’t get a hit in a game, I’ll wish I had, but if the team wins, I’ll still feel good.”

Oborn hit deep fly balls in his first two at-bats Sunday, then ripped a two-run double in Fullerton’s seven-run fourth inning. He also had an RBI single in the sixth and a bases-empty homer in the eighth.

“I felt I hit the ball hard all five times,” Oborn said. “I tried not to think about the streak when I was in the batter’s box. I just tried to win on every pitch.”

Oborn’s homer was his third of the season. “Their pitcher had been throwing me a lot of off-speed stuff, and I guessed curveball, and that’s what he threw me,” Oborn said.

Oborn, a junior transfer from Brigham Young, is batting .424 and is second on the team in RBIs with 37.

“He’s having a fabulous year,” Horton said. “What a blessing it is to have him in our program. We all feel good every time he goes to the plate.”

Starter Adam Johnson (5-0) picked up the victory, giving up nine hits and five runs in 7 2/3 innings.

Johnson gave up three home runs, two in the sixth inning. Closer Kirk Saarloos struck out three of the four batters he faced after taking over with two outs in the eighth.

The 11th-ranked Titans had 13 hits, 10 off Nevada’s top pitcher Chad Qualls, who lost his first game in seven decisions.

Aaron Rifkin had two hits in the Titans’ big fourth inning.

Ryan Owens, Jeff Gates, and Chris Beck had RBI singles, but Reed Johnson and Oborn had the big hits in the inning. Johnson singled in two runs, and Oborn drove in two more when he doubled off the wall in left.

The flurry broke open a 1-1 game. Fullerton had scored a run in the first, but the Wolf Pack tied it in the top of the fourth on Don Price’s leadoff home run.

Johnson gave up a two-run double to Lyle Overbay in the fifth and homers to Matt Ortiz and pinch hitter Arona Taele in the sixth that made it 8-5. The Titans, however, came back with two in the sixth when David Bacani scored on a wild pitch and Oborn drove in another run.

“I didn’t pitch well,” Johnson said. “They’re a fastball-hitting team and they were looking for that from me. I threw more fastballs than I should have.”

Pitching coach Dave Serrano said he probably should have called for more breaking balls.

“I didn’t give Nevada as much respect as I should have from that standpoint,” Serrano said. “They’re a good hitting team. But it’s different for Adam pitching during the day than it is at night. They can see his fastball a little better during the day.”

The sweep dropped the 22nd-ranked Wolf Pack (19-10, 5-4) four games behind Fullerton in the conference race.

“That’s a significant sweep for us against a good team,” Horton said.