Smith Goes Distance, Titans Defeat Houston

Robert Guzman had three hits and Aaron Rifkin drove in two runs as Cal State Fullerton defeated Houston, 5-2, Friday to take the first of a three-game series in Houston.

Jon Smith (4-0) went the distance for the Titans (9-8). He gave up two runs and nine hits and struck out four. It was the second complete game of his career and first in two years.

Shane Costa doubled and Shawn Norris tripled for the Titans, who scored twice in the first inning. Guzman scored on a fielding error and David Bacani scored on Matt Belfanti’s RBI single for a two-run lead.

Houston (6-14) pulled to within 3-2 in the fourth inning, but Fullerton scored in the seventh and ninth innings.

In the Sun West softball tournament:

Concordia 6, Pomona-Pitzer 2--First baseman Tricia Thoms homered and drove in three runs for Concordia (10-12), which scored all of its runs in the fourth inning. Pomona-Pitzer scored both of its runs in the bottom of the fourth. The game was at Hart Park in Orange.

In nonconference women’s tennis;

Penn State 5, UC Irvine 2--Nickole Kabe defeated Judy Wang, 6-7, 6-0, 6-3, and Amy Tranckino beat Janelle Perez, 1-6, 6-4, 7-6, for UC Irvine’s only two points against Penn State.

In Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men’s volleyball:

UC Irvine 3, Pacific 0--Jarett Jensen and Jimmy Pelzel had 10 kills each for UC Irvine (6-9, 4-6), which is ranked 12th in the nation. Setter Todd Steinert recorded 37 assists for the Anteaters, who won, 30-24, 30-26, 30-22.

Pacific (5-8, 3-7), ranked 11th in the nation, was led by Tim Gerlach with 19 kills.

The Anteaters host seventh-ranked Stanford tonight at 7 p.m. at Crawford Hall.

In Mountain Pacific Sports Federation women’s water polo:

Hawaii 15, UC Irvine 6--Former Canyon High standout Lauren Volcan scored two goals for the host Anteaters (1-11, 1-3).