Fullerton Gets Off Ropes and Beats Matadors

One swing of the bat made the difference this time, with Aaron Rifkin’s ninth-inning solo home run lifting Cal State Fullerton to a 4-3 Big West Conference victory over Cal State Northridge on Saturday at Northridge.

First-place Fullerton (29-11, 7-1 in the Big West), smarting from a 15-1 loss to Northridge on Friday, rallied from a 3-1 deficit with a two-run single in the seventh by Mike Rouse off reliever Merrill Dunn (3-3).

Rifkin sent Dunn to the showers with a leadoff homer to right-center in the ninth, his 10th of the season.

It was a measure of revenge for the Titans, ranked No. 6 by Collegiate Baseball, whose 14-game winning streak was snapped Friday. The loss was the Titans’ most lopsided in 10 seasons.

“We haven’t been beaten that thoroughly in a long time in our program,” Fullerton Coach George Horton said. “We just basically got our butts kicked.”

Northridge (25-17, 3-5), its chances of winning a conference title fading, finds itself on the canvas.

The Matadors have dropped two of three games in conference series against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and UC Santa Barbara, and are expected to face ace Kirk Saarloos (9-2) in today’s series’ rubber match.

“You only get 18 league games,” Northridge Coach Mike Batesole said. “You better get it done early.”

J.T. Stotts of Northridge hit a three-run home run in the fifth off starter Darric Merrell.

But Northridge, which had 13 hits--including seven home runs--on Friday, managed only seven against Merrell and reliever Chad Cordero (2-2). Stotts’ homer was Northridge’s only extra-base hit.

“We really feel like we let one get away, [leading], 3-1, in the seventh,” Stotts said. “We feel we played well enough to beat them. I felt we stayed together and did some good things. Sometimes, it’s not enough. We’re just going to have to battle.”

Sophomore right-hander Kameron Loe, improving as a starter, held Fullerton hitless until a two-out double by Chris Stringfellow in the fifth. Matt Belfanti followed with a single to drive in Stringfellow and give the Titans a 1-0 lead.

Loe retired 14 of the first 15 batters, allowing only one baserunner on an error by left fielder Adam Nikolic.

Loe struck out seven and allowed three hits but exited after allowing a leadoff walk to Jason Corapci in the seventh. The walk was Loe’s first of the game.

“I wasn’t feeling tired,” Loe said. “I was trying to go outside on them, pitch the ball away from them.”

Said Batesole: “He threw a heck of a game. [But] we have a quality bullpen that we trust.”

Dunn immediately walked Rifkin and both runners advanced on a sacrifice.

Rouse followed with his game-tying hit.

Merrell, a 6-foot-4 freshman right-hander, struck out four and scattered six hits over seven innings, keeping the Matadors off-balance by changing speeds.

“I knew my job was to keep the ball down so they didn’t have a chance to get it up in the air,” Merrell said. “They have some guys who can swing it, but, as a team, they don’t hit the ball inside well. That one inning, I made a mistake.”

Merrell was replaced at the start of the eighth by Cordero, another freshman right-hander.

“Darric’s been very consistent, very difficult to beat,” Horton said. “Loe was pitching great. Our only chance was when he got tired there at the end.

“We got about as much out of our at-bats as we possibly could for the four runs. We relied on pitching and defense.”