Big West Belongs to Titans

Just when it looked as though Cal State Fullerton was in danger of losing the deciding game of its three-game series against Long Beach State Sunday, the Titans came to life.

Fullerton scored nine runs in the eighth inning, wiping out a four-run Long Beach lead, and won, 10-5, claiming the Big West Conference baseball title in front of 2,223 at Goodwin Field.

With second-place UC Santa Barbara losing to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo on the final day of the regular season, Fullerton could have backed into an outright championship with a loss. “But we wanted to do it the right way,” Titan Coach George Horton said. “This gives us some momentum and more respect going into the playoffs.”

The NCAA regional pairings will be announced today, and Horton hopes Fullerton (41-15, 14-4 in the conference) will be among the eight nationally seeded teams.

Long Beach (35-21, 11-7) scored five runs off Titan ace Kirk Saarloos on nine hits, but freshman closer Chad Cordero came in to stop the 49ers on one hit after taking over with one out in the eighth.

“I was really pumped up in the ninth after we scored all those runs,” Cordero said.

Saarloos gave up hits to Chris Wright, Bobby Crosby and Bryan Kennedy that produced one run in the eighth, and Jeff Jones singled off Cordero, driving in another run, but Cordero (3-3) retired the next five batters to earn the victory.

“Their hitters did a better job than we did for the first 7 1/2 innings,” Horton said. “We weren’t tough outs.”

Fullerton had only three hits before ripping Long Beach closer Josh Alliston (2-3) for eight runs in the eighth after reliever Chris Demaria hit David Bacani to start the inning.

Alliston gave up a walk and Jason Corapci singled before Aaron Rifkin drilled a two-run double down the left-field line. Brett Kay went to the opposite field for a two-run single, tying the score.

The backbreaker for Long Beach came after Kay stole second, Rouse walked and Shane Costa advanced the runners with a sacrifice. Kay was caught between third and home on Chris Stringfellow’s ground ball, but Kay knocked the ball loose from third baseman Edgar Varela.

With Rouse moving to third, Kay turned for the plate again. Kennedy, the 49er catcher, was caught in Kay’s way and was called for an obstruction, allowing Kay to score.

“That was the game right there,” said Crosby, the 49er shortstop. “If we get that out, we’re still in the game.”

The next batter, pinch-hitter Shawn Norris, drilled a double to right for two more runs. Robert Guzman and Corapci had RBI singles off reliever Jeff Baumback.

“That hit by Rifkin was the real icebreaker, and Kay couldn’t have done better about where he hit the ball,” Horton said. “That [obstruction] call was correct, but it was a tough one. I wouldn’t want to be on the other side of one like that.”