Titans Fall Short

By GARY KLEIN

June 11, 2001 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

OMAHA —

In a College World Series that has been characterized by marathon games, balks and scores more suited to football, Cal State Fullerton and Stanford played with classic style Sunday night at Rosenblatt Stadium.

Fullerton right-hander Kirk Saarloos and Stanford left-hander Mike Gosling dueled into the late innings with neither team surrendering more than one run.

Fourth-seeded Stanford finally scored four hard-earned runs in the 10th inning and held off a two-out charge by the top-seeded Titans to secure a 5-2 victory before an announced crowd of 23,087.

Stanford (50-16) is the only unbeaten team in its bracket and will be off until Wednesday. The Cardinal will play the winner of Tuesday’s elimination game between Tulane and Fullerton.

“This is as good as you’re going to get,” said Stanford Coach Mark Marquess, whose team is 2-0 in the World Series for the third consecutive year. “It’s unfortunate that a team has to lose that.”

A fifth-inning home run by Fullerton’s Louis Lamoure and a seventh-inning homer by Stanford’s Ryan Garko provided the only scoring in the first nine innings as Gosling and Saarloos showed why they were second- and third-round selections, respectively, in last week’s amateur draft.

Gosling gave up two hits and struck out four in 7 2/3 innings.

“He made it look like we weren’t trying,” Fullerton Coach George Horton said.

Saarloos gave up five hits and struck out three in 8 1/3 innings, enabling only two runners to reach second base.

Fullerton (47-17) came within a foot or two of winning the game in the bottom of the ninth when Mike Rouse hit a two-out pitch from J.D. Wilcox (5-0) high into the air toward the bleachers in left field. Stanford left fielder Brian Hall, however, drifted to his right and made the catch at the fence to send the game into extra innings.

Hall then started the winning rally when he singled to left against freshman reliever Chad Cordero (3-4), who had earned his 14th save in Fullerton’s victory over Nebraska on Friday.

Hall moved to second on a wild pitch and the next batter, Scott Dragicevich, popped up a bunt to the right side. Titan first baseman Aaron Rifkin dove for the ball, but he came up short and knocked it into foul territory with his glove, putting runners at first and third.

Stanford second baseman Chris O’Riordan then hit a 1-and-2 pitch through the right side of the infield to drive in the go-ahead run.

“I was a little anxious on my first two swings,” O’Riordan said. “I didn’t get a good piece of the bat on the ball that I hit, but I was fortunate it got through.”

Mike Nunez replaced Cordero after O’Riordan’s single and Sam Fuld hit his first pitch to right-center for a triple.

“That was a huge hit because I knew one run was not going to be enough against Fullerton,” Marquess said.

Garko followed with a fly ball to right that scored Fuld and gave the Cardinal a four-run cushion.

Fullerton, however, would not go quietly.

Wilcox got Chris Stringfellow to ground out and then struck out Lamoure. But Shawn Norris, the Titans’ No. 9 hitter, hit a double to right-center field and David Bacani drove him in with a single.

“I thought they were dead after they got two outs, but they showed why they are Cal State Fullerton,” O’Riordan said.

Jeff Bruksch replaced Wilcox and got Robert Guzman to hit a ground ball to shortstop, but Guzman beat Dragicevich’s throw to first, bringing the tying run to the plate.

Designated hitter Jason Corapci hit a fly ball to center field on a 1-and-0 pitch to end the game, giving Bruksch his second save in as many games.

“They did to us what we like to do to other teams,” Horton said. “They didn’t give us anything.”

Fullerton will play a Tulane team that lost its opener to Stanford, 13-11, then came back to eliminate Nebraska, 6-5, on Sunday.

“They are a good offensive club,” Horton said of Tulane. “The good news is we don’t have to play right away, like you do in the regionals.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

WORLD SERIES GLANCE

Double Elimination

June 8

* Stanford 13, Tulane 11

* CS Fullerton 5, Nebraska 4

June 9

* USC 11, Georgia 5