Titans Dispose of 49ers

The Cal State Fullerton baseball team took advantage of a rare off day by the Long Beach State relief corps and scored five runs in the eighth inning Sunday to rally for a 7-5 victory before 2,457 at Blair Field.

Fourth-ranked Fullerton (24-6) won the final two games of the first three-game series against fifth-ranked Long Beach. The Titans won, 7-0, Saturday in their first shutout at Long Beach’s home field, a day after having to scratch scheduled Friday starter Jason Windsor with tendinitis in his pitching shoulder.

The Titans already are working without starters Wes Littleton and Ryan Schreppel. Littleton remains suspended until April 7 and Schreppel underwent surgery to repair a torn cartilage in his knee.

“Even with all of our horses, I’m tickled to death to win two here,” Fullerton Coach George Horton said. “We kept shooting ourselves in the foot because we couldn’t get a good at-bat with guys in scoring position. We’re fortunate that Jamison opened the door for us.”

The 49ers (18-9) held a 5-2 lead but relievers Neil Jamison and Carlos Muniz couldn’t pick up where starter Jered Weaver and Bo Ashabraner left off. Jamison didn’t retire any of the four batters he faced, including hitting Danny Dorn with the bases loaded.

Sergio Pedroza then doubled in two runs to tie the score and Justin Smyres singled in the game-winner off Muniz, who came into the game with seven saves.

“Our pitching did a good job holding them down this weekend,” Long Beach Coach Mike Weathers said. “We did a lot of good things. It just so happened that that one inning got us today.”

UCLA (16-16) opened Pacific 10 Conference play by winning two of three home games against No. 17 Arizona. Brandon Averill hit a game-winning, two-run homer in a 6-4 victory Friday and hit two home runs and drove in five runs in the Bruins’ 12-10 loss Sunday.

It was a rough weekend for several local teams. Loyola Marymount, Pepperdine and UC Riverside each won Sunday to avoid three-game sweeps. Jonathan Oller hit his eighth and ninth home runs of the season for the Lions (17-11, 5-4) in a 9-2 West Coast Conference victory over San Diego.

The Waves (15-14, 6-3) got two runs batted in from Kevin Estrada and Brandon Daguio in an 8-2 win over Santa Clara. Brian Wahlbrink’s solo homer in the 10th gave Riverside (22-6) a 3-2 win over Nevada.

Third-ranked Arizona State scored four runs in the final two innings to edge USC, 7-5, and take two of three at Dedeaux Field. The Trojans (14-16, 2-4) got a 6-5 win Saturday on Jon Brewster’s game-winning single in the bottom of the ninth.

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Keira Goerl pitched her first no-hitter of the season to spark the UCLA softball team in its winning trip to the Bay Area.

Goerl struck out nine in Friday night’s 5-0 victory over Stanford, including the side in the seventh to finish her seventh career no-hitter.

Top-ranked UCLA (31-2, 3-0 in the Pac-10) then took care of NCAA champion California with 3-0 and 4-1 victories Saturday and Sunday.

Tairia Mims sparked Sunday’s win with two home runs, including one in the eighth inning that ended a 1-1 tie.

The Bruins hit eight home runs in the three games.