Stanford Pitching Dominates as Fullerton Is Beaten Again, 3-1

Not much separated the top-ranked teams in college baseball again Saturday.

Stanford and Cal State Fullerton each had six hits in the second game of the three-game series, but Stanford made more of its opportunities in a 3-1 victory in front of 1,106 on a rainy day at Sunken Diamond.

The victory gave the top-ranked Cardinal a 4-0 start. No. 2 Fullerton, which had lost by one run Friday night when Stanford scored in the bottom of the ninth, dropped to 0-2. The third game of the series is scheduled for 1 p.m. today.

“They’re doing the things good teams do, and they deserved to win both games,” Fullerton Coach George Horton said. “We’re not getting hits with runners in scoring position, but you have to give their pitchers credit for that too.”

Right-hander Justin Wayne (2-0) won his 18th game with only one loss over three seasons. Wayne struck out seven and walked one in seven innings, and freshman Tim Cunningham held Fullerton hitless in the final two innings.

Left-hander Jon Smith (0-1) pitched well for the Titans through five innings, but was hurt by two errors. Matt Sorensen gave up one walk and no hits in the final three innings.

A pop fly that first baseman Aaron Rifkin dropped near the mound for a two-base error led to a Stanford run in the third. Craig Thompson went to third on a balk by Smith and scored on Eric Bruntlett’s sacrifice fly.

“I should have caught the ball, and I had it in my glove, but I just missed it,” Rifkin said. “It cost us a big run.”

The Cardinal scored two more runs in the fifth, and Smith’s bad pickoff throw was a factor. Craig Thompson doubled, took third on Smith’s high throw to second and scored when Bruntlett singled to short left. Joe Borchard’s two-out triple to the fence in right brought in the third run.

“Jon deserved better, but when he made the bad throw on the pickoff, we had to play the infield in,” Horton said. “If we had been playing back, we probably could have caught the next hit. Everything we gave them they capitalized on.”

Fullerton scored its only run off Wayne in the sixth with two out when Shawn Norris doubled and scored on Jeff Gates’ single up the middle.

Fullerton wasted a good opportunity in the third. The Titans loaded the bases with one out when Mike Martinez doubled down the left-field line, Chris Stringfellow had an infield hit and David Bacani walked. Martinez was forced at the plate on Robert Guzman’s ground ball to first, and Chris Beck struck out.

Beck, the Titans’ top hitter last season, left the game after that at-bat because of a sprained left wrist, and was replaced by Steve Woodward in right field.

“He hurt his hand Wednesday in practice,” Horton said. “It bothered him [Friday], but he played. But today it got real sore when he tried to swing through the ball.”

The Titans had two baserunners with one out in the fourth on hits by Shawn Norris and Jeff Gates, but Matt Belfanti grounded out and Martinez popped out.

“Stanford had more quality at-bats than we did, and they played well on defense,” Horton said. “I was disappointed in our sloppiness--and not just the dropped pop fly and the bad pickoff throw. Our discipline at the plate wasn’t as good as it should have been.”

Stanford Coach Mark Marquess said he has been impressed by both teams’ pitching in the first two games. “I think they’ve all been pretty sharp,” he said. “The pitching seems to be ahead of the hitting right now.”