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Titans
Use Team Effort, Beat No. 4 Miami Again Mar. 31, 2001 – Coral Gables, Fla. Chris Stringfellow and David Bacani each had three hits and Darric Merrell picked up his second win as the 24th-ranked Cal State Fullerton baseball team beat No. 4 Miami, 8-5, at Mark Light Stadium Saturday night. The Titans, who finished with a 12-3 record in March, improved to 18-10 on the season, while Miami lost its second straight game for the first time this season and fell to 25-8. Fullerton will send ace Kirk Saarloos to the mound on Sunday as the Titans will attempt to become the first team to sweep Miami at Mark Light Stadium since the facility opened in 1973. Merrell, who allowed three earned runs on six hits over six innings, improved to 2-2. He struck out a season and career-high seven batters. Miami's Kiki Bengochea fell to 5-2 after getting hit hard (eight runs on 11 hits) over 5.1 innings. Fullerton's Chad Cordero picked up his second save. Miami trailed by six runs at one point, but used a three-run home run by Kris Clute in the bottom of the seventh to cut Fullerton's lead to 8-5. Cordero retired the Hurricanes in order in the eighth, but Miami loaded the bases with one out in the ninth and sent the potential winning run to the plate. Cordero struck out Burt and got Kevin Howard to ground out to shortstop Jason Corapci for the final out. Miami jumped on the board first on an RBI-single by Jim Burt in the bottom of the third. But the Titans came back with two in the top of the fourth and tied a season-high with a five-run fifth. Stringfellow had a two-run single in the fourth to give the Titans a 2-1 lead. Fullerton racked up six hits in the fifth including back-to-back RBI-doubles by Corapci and Aaron Rifkin and back-to-back bunt singles by Mike Rouse and Stringfellow. Rouse had to leave the game with an injured index finger in the fifth, which put the Titans in a dilemma. Corapci, already in the line-up as the designated hitter, moved to shortstop, which meant the Titans' pitcher moved into the five-spot in the order. Both Merrell and Cordero had their first career at-bats. Merrell struck out in the sixth, but extended his at-bat long enough for a wild pitch to plate Bacani. Cordero banged a ninth-innings single off Luke DeBold into left field. Sunday's series finale will start at 1 p.m. EDT. Box score
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