Cal State Fullerton sophomore righthander Wes Littleton notched his sixth
win with 8.1 solid innings and outdueled Sacramento State's Jeff Groeger
as the 13th-ranked Titans beat the Hornets, 3-1, in a Big West Conference
game at Goodwin Field Friday night.
The Titans improved to 19-10 overall and 3-1 in conference with the win
while the Hornets fell to 13-14 and 0-4 in Big West play.
Littleton (6-2) allowed just a run on five hits, walked one and struck
out six in 8.1 innings while lowering his conference-leading ERA to 1.25.
Littleton allowed four hits through the first three innings, but the Hornets
didn't manage to hit another ball out of the infield until catcher Joe
Evans singled to left with one out in the ninth. At that point, Titan
closer Chad Cordero came on and picked up the final two outs to notch
his conference-high ninth save.
Taking the tough-luck loss was Groeger (4-4), who went the distance for
the Hornets, allowing three earned runs on eight hits in his eight innings
of work. Groeger was somewhat wild, however, as he walked five batters,
hit three more and uncorked three wild pitches.
The Hornets jumped on top, 1-0, in the top of the second when designated
hitter Danny Gill deposited a 1-0 pitch from Littleton over the left field
fence. Littleton had not allowed a homer since the first inning of the
season, a span covering 64-plus innings.
Fullerton took a 2-1 lead in the third when Titan first baseman Richie
Burgos doubled in front of a diving right fielder Mario Celillo. Celillo
appeared to think he had caught the ball and began jogging toward the
Hornet dugout, but first base umpire Ken Allen ruled the ball was trapped.
Shane Costa scored from second and Jason Corapci scored all the way from
first during the confusion.
Groeger's control problems cost him a run in the sixth. Leadoff batter
Chris Stringfellow drew a leadoff walk and moved to second on a wild pitch
to set up an RBI-single by catcher P.J. Pilittere.
Burgos had two hits for Fullerton and Costa was 1-for-3 to extend his
hitting streak to 11 games. Corapci ended an 0-for-20 slump with a single
to left-center in the seventh. Casey Fuller and Celillo each had a pair
of hits for Sacramento State.
Fullerton will host the Hornets in the second game of the series on Saturday
at 6 p.m.
