Saarloos Saves Game, Title for Titans, 4-2

Cal State Fullerton Coach George Horton didn’t want to wait. After all, Horton and his Titan baseball team hadn’t had much luck this season against Long Beach State.

So the last thing Horton wanted was to enter the final game of the regular season with the Big West Conference championship on the line against the 49ers on their home turf.

But Horton can rest easy. Reliever Kirk Saarloos got out of a bases-loaded jam in the ninth as the Titans clinched a share of the conference title with a 4-2 victory Saturday over Long Beach State before 1,680 fans at Blair Field.

“I’m relieved because of all the expectations,” said Horton, whose club was the preseason favorite to win the conference. “Our level of play has been up and down. I didn’t want it coming down to us winning [the final game].”

Chris Stringfellow’s single in the third scored Mike Martinez, and that turned out to be the difference for the Titans (36-18, 21-8), who lead second-place Nevada by one game with one to play and have clinched the conference’s automatic NCAA tournament bid.

But Fullerton, which had dropped three of four to the 49ers before Saturday’s victory, had to withstand a final Long Beach threat to prevail.

Saarloos walked Jeremy Reed leading off in the ninth, then struck out Kevin Randel and Bobby Crosby. However, consecutive singles by Chuck Lopez and Chris Wright loaded the bases for the 49ers (30-25, 17-12) with two outs.

But Saarloos, who earned his seventh save, got Jeff Jones to ground into a force play at second as the Titans earned their third consecutive conference title.

Ronnie Corona (4-3) got the victory, giving up five hits in six innings before Saarloos came on to pitch the final three innings.