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Titans
Win 11th Straight as Saarloos Goes to 9-2 Apr. 13, 2001 – Sacramento, Calif. Kirk Saarloos won his ninth consecutive game and Robert Guzman and Brett Kay each had two hits and three RBI as the 14th-ranked Cal State Fullerton baseball team won its 11th straight game in a 9-5 win over Sacramento State Friday afternoon. The Titans, who improved to 25-10 overall and 5-0 in Big West Conference play, have won 17 of their last 19 games. The 11-game winning streak is their longest since a 17-game streak during the 1999 season. The win also gave Coach George Horton 199 in his Division I career. Sac State fell to 17-21 overall and 1-4 in conference play. Saarloos, who threw a no-hitter vs. Pacific last Sunday, allowed season-highs in runs (five) and hits (eight), but was good enough to improve to 9-2 on the season. He gave way to Chad Cordero with one out in the eighth, marking the first time in eight starts that he did not go the distance (Saarloos lasted seven innings in a start vs. Stanford on Feb. 4). Cordero, who worked the final inning and a third, picked up his team-high fifth save. Fullerton grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Kay singled in Jason Corapci, who had reached on a two-out walk. Kay, who added a RBI-single in the sixth and a sacrifice fly in the ninth, is 12-for-24 with 12 RBI since returning to the line-up last Friday. The Hornets' Aurelio Jackson singled to left field on Saarloos' first pitch in the bottom of the first, stole second base, moved to third on a sacrifice and scored on Saarloos' first wild pitch of the season to tie the score. But the Titans regained the lead for good in the top of the fourth on an RBI-single by David Bacani. Fullerton would get two more in the fifth when Corapci and Rifkin scored after being issued back-to-back walks to start the inning. In the first two games of the series, Hornet pitchers have walked 23 batters. Rifkin alone has walked seven times and been hit by two pitches in the two games. The Hornets got another run in the fifth, but Guzman's two-run homer in the top of the sixth (his first home run in two years) and Kay's RBI-single made it 7-2. Saarloos, who threw 127 pitches on the day, showed signs of fatigue in the eighth. He gave up two home runs in the inning, including a two-run shot to Cory Williams that cut the lead to 7-5. But Fullerton got a pair of insurance runs in the top of the ninth and Cordero held the Hornets scoreless in the bottom of the frame. Corapci and Mike Rouse each had two hits for the Titans. Rouse has 14 hits in his last four games and is batting a team-high .375. The Titans will go for their third consecutive series sweep on Saturday when Fullerton's Jon Smith meets Sac State ace Mike Miranda in a 1 p.m. game at Hornet Field. Box score
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