Jordan DeJong overcame a pair of shaky innings to pick up his third win
and Chad Cordero earned his fourth save as No. 12 Cal State Fullerton
rallied from four runs down to beat No. 16 Arizona State, 7-5, at Hohokam
Stadium Sunday afternoon.
The Titans, who have won three consecutive series since dropping two of
three at No. 1 Stanford to open the season, improved to 9-4, while Arizona
State fell to 8-5.
DeJong (3-0) scattered eight hits and five runs – but just one in
his final 4.2 innings – before giving way to Cordero, who survived
a brief scare in the ninth. Arizona State put its first two runners on
before Cordero retired ASU's No. 3, 4 and 5 batters. Fullerton has now
won 57 consecutive games (dating back to 2000) when it has led after seven
innings.
After trailing, 4-0, after two innings, Fullerton rallied for its biggest
comeback win of the season. The Titans scored four runs in the sixth to
take a 6-5 lead and added an insurance run in the top of the ninth when
pinch-hitter Richie Burgos launched his first career home run and the
Titans' first homer in five games.
The game started on an ugly note for the Titans
however, as they were again victimized by their infield defense in the
first inning. A two-base, two-out throwing error by third baseman David
Munoz led to a pair of unearned runs as the Sun Devils jumped out to a
2-0 lead.
Munoz made another throwing error in the second, but the Devils' two runs
in that frame were tagged on DeJong. He gave up back-to-back singles to
open the frame, hit a pair of batters in the inning, walked another and
balked in a run to give ASU a 4-0 lead.
The Titans got on the board in the third, when P.J. Pilittere drew a leadoff
walk and came around to score on a groundout by Chris Stringfellow. It
was Arizona State's defense which faltered in the fifth, allowing the
Titans to close the gap to 4-2. After Justin Smyres walked and Stringfellow
reached on a bunt single, Kartler sailed a pickoff throw by first baseman
Jeremy West and Smyres raced all the way home.
After Jeremy West's leadoff homer in the bottom of the fifth brought the
Sun Devils' cushion back to three runs, the Titans countered with a four-run
sixth to take their first lead. Geoff Comfort's two-run double to right-center
on an 0-2 pitch plated the first two runs of the frame. After Munoz struck
out, starter Bryce Kartler departed for Robbie McClellan. But McKlellan
uncorked his first wild pitch of the season to score Comfort with the
tying run and the Titans later took a 6-5 lead when Nick Fitzgerald scored
from third with two outs while the Sun Devils pursued Pilittere in a rundown
between second and third base.
Fullerton will return home to host the Kia Baseball Bash next weekend.
Miami and USC will open tournament action on Friday at 2:30 p.m. with
Fullerton meeting Houston in the 7 p.m. nightcap.
