Titans Complete Their Regional Sweep

Cal State Fullerton won its 10th regional baseball title in 21 attempts and its fifth of the 1990s Sunday at Notre Dame with the kind of performance that became typical for the Titans in the tournament.

They fell behind early, then charged back with clutch hitting, steady defense and solid pitching. It produced a 9-4 victory over No. 4-seeded Michigan.

The Titans (47-11) advanced into one of this week’s eight super-regionals in the expanded 64-team format.

Fullerton will face another Big Ten team, Ohio State (49-12), which won its regional Sunday in Columbus with a 10-7 victory over Mississippi State. The site of the best-of-three playoff beginning Friday will be announced today.

The Titans, seeded No. 3 nationally, warmed up for the Big Ten’s regular-season champion with their second victory in two days against the team that won the Big Ten’s postseason tournament.

“It’s always more difficult to play the favorite’s role,” Titan Coach George Horton said. “But we seemed to get stronger as the tournament went along.

Fullerton needed a rally in the bottom of the ninth to win the first game against Michigan Friday, but pulled ahead to stay this time in the sixth inning on a two-run homer by designated hitter Aaron Rifkin.

The Titans scored three more runs in the seventh and one in the eighth to coast behind superb relief pitching from sophomore closer Kirk Saarloos, who shut out Michigan on two hits in the final three innings. He struck out three and walked one. Saarloos was the winning pitcher Friday, giving up two hits in 2 2/3 innings.

“I felt confident after facing these guys because I knew their tendencies from the last time,” said Saarloos, who earned his seventh save.

Titan starter Marco Hanlon (6-1) picked up the victory despite giving up three runs in the first inning on three walks and three hits, including a two-run single by Mike Cervenak. Hanlon also struggled in the next three innings, but escaped without another run until Rob Bobeda hit a solo homer in the fifth. “I knew I didn’t have my best stuff when I warmed up before the game, and I think I let that bother me,” Hanlon said.

Horton said he was concerned when Hanlon got off to such a rocky start. “But he did a good job of getting it turned around,” Horton said. “If he had been weak mentally, it could have gotten ugly.”

Fullerton came back on a two-run homer by Ryan Owens, his team-leading 20th of the season, in the second, and Rifkin’s homer put the Titans ahead, 5-4. Rifkin, a left-handed hitter, had sat out Saturday’s victory over Notre Dame because the Irish started a left-handed pitcher. Michigan started left-hander Bryan Cranson Sunday, but Horton went with Rifkin anyway.

“I wasn’t sure I was playing until after batting practice, but I was eager to show that I belonged in the lineup no matter who was pitching,” said Rifkin, who batted .556 in the two tournament games he played and drove in five runs.

An error by Michigan shortstop Scott Tousa on a potential double-play ball led to two of Fullerton’s three runs in the seventh. One run scored on a wild pitch by reliever Luke Bonner.

“Those runs helped me relax a lot more,” Saarloos said. “After that, Michigan was taking a lot of first pitches, and I made sure I got in there early in the count. That helped me a lot.”

Michigan (34-30) made four errors in the game; Fullerton had none in its three games in the tournament.

“I’ve been pleased with our defense,” Horton said. “You can’t play teams of this caliber and give them four or five outs in an inning. If you do, you’re going to pay the price. The infield has improved a lot. There were some times early in the season when we were a mess, but they deserve credit for turning that around.”

Wolverine Coach Geoff Zahn said the Titans deserved credit for taking advantage of their scoring opportunities. Fullerton had nine hits to Michigan’s 12.

“We had our opportunities too, but we didn’t take advantage of as many,” Zahn said.