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Long Beach State Gets Jump on Fullerton, 3-2

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Times Staff Writer

Bitter rivals Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach State have been the Southland’s top teams in recent years and the Titans’ move to the top of every major college baseball poll this week added a little more drama Thursday at Blair Field.

Long Beach struck the first blow in the three-game nonconference series, getting two runs in the seventh inning to defeat the reigning College World Series champions, 3-2, before a chilled but energetic crowd of 1,744.

Evan Longoria and Chris Jones delivered run-scoring singles in the seventh off Fullerton ace Ricky Romero and helped their own star southpaw Cesar Ramos win the duel between two of the nation’s top hurlers.

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“Great pitching is usually in this series,” Long Beach Coach Mike Weathers said. “I know a lot of pro scouts were here tonight. They go all over the country and they said they were here tonight because they didn’t think there were any better in the country.”

Ramos threw a two-hitter and struck out eight. Romero gave up three runs and eight hits in 7 2/3 innings.

“You feel like it’s going to mean a lot more because it’s for bragging rights off the field,” said Ramos, who improved to 5-3.

Ramos was able to hold down a Titan offense that was averaging nine runs. The Titans (16-5) had already won series against nationally-ranked opponents Stanford, Arizona and Tulane.

Long Beach (17-9), which came one game shy of joining the Titans in Omaha last year, has won 12 of its last 15 games. The unranked 49ers also got a boost before the game when they learned that All-American shortstop Troy Tulowitzki would be available after missing 20 games because of a broken bone in his left hand.

Tulowitzki made an immediate impact in the third inning. After Sean Boatright reached on a bunt single, the junior ripped a double down the left-field line to score Boatright and tie the score at 1-1.

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“Some people thought we were the best in the country coming into this,” Fullerton Coach George Horton said. “They’ve been underrated, I think, because they’ve been winning every series against quality opponents.

“And now they’ve got their All-American shortstop back in the mix.”

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