Titan Runs Come in Waves During Rout of Pepperdine

Cal State Fullerton continued to build on its reputation as one of college baseball’s hottest teams Tuesday night against Pepperdine.

The sixth-ranked Titans scored 10 runs in the first two innings and blasted the No. 14 Waves, 14-7, in a nonconference game at Goodwin Field. It was Fullerton’s sixth consecutive victory and its 20th in 21 games. Fullerton (34-11) is 26-3 since losing eight of its first 16.

The Waves, who lead the West Coast Conference’s West Division, fell to 32-15. Pepperdine, which had an 11-game winning streak stopped Saturday by San Diego, lost for only the third time in the last 15 games.

Fullerton’s victory underlined again how much the Titans have improved since they started the season with a 5-2 loss at Pepperdine. In that game, the Titans had only six hits.

Pepperdine’s second-line pitching was no match for Fullerton’s hitting this time. The Titans had 13 hits, three for extra bases. Shortstop Mike Rouse was three for five with three runs batted in.

The Titans used the midweek game to continue developing their pitching depth.

Junior Charlie Zahari made his second start of the season, giving up three runs on six hits and two walks in four innings. Two of those runs came on leadoff home runs by senior Jared Pitney in the second and fourth innings. Zahari (2-1) got the victory.

Freshman Wes Littleton took over in the fifth and pitched 2 2/3 innings, giving up five hits and three walks. Littleton gave up up a two-run homer to Chris Kelly in the sixth and two more runs in the seventh.

Mike Nunez replaced Littleton with the bases loaded and two out in the seventh and ended the inning on a ground ball to third. Nunez retired the side in order in the eighth and gave up a walk in the ninth.

“Nunez was really good,” Titan Coach George Horton said. “He came in when they could have made it a much closer game, and stopped them. And we had two really good innings on offense to start with.”

The Titans got to Pepperdine starter Greg Ramirez (3-3) for five runs in the first.

Five consecutive hits produced five more Fullerton runs in the second. Jason Corapci and Aaron Rifkin had RBI singles, and Brett Kay delivered a two-run triple. Rouse also drove in a run with a double.