On senior night at Goodwin Field Tuesday, senior second baseman Sean Alley
drove in the go-ahead run with his first career hit – a double down
the left field line – as No. 17 Cal State Fullerton came from behind
to beat UCLA, 11-4, in a nonconference game.
The Titans, who have won six of their past seven games, improved to 36-17
overall, while the Bruins dropped to 26-32.
The night also featured a rare feat for Titan pitcher Travis Ingle, who
was technically credited with a pair of wins on the day. Earlier, Fullerton
completed the ninth inning of protested game in which Ingle was credited
with the win (though he only pitched in the original portion of the game
played on April 23). In Tuesday's regularly scheduled contest, the sophomore
pitched three scoreless innings, striking out five and scattering just
two hits to improve to 3-1.
The Bruins scored a pair in each of the first two innings, with Wes Whisler
hitting his UCLA freshman-record breaking 16th homer off Jordan DeJong
in the first.
But the Titans scored two in their own half of the first on an RBI-double
by Richie Burgos and a sac fly by Chris Klosterman and David Fischer's
single in the third scored Geoff Comfort to cut UCLA's lead to 4-3.
The Titans broke things open with an eight-run fifth, though six of the
runs were unearned. Shane Costa's three-run double and a two-run single
by Burgos were the big hits, though Alley's go-ahead double off Wade Clark
(0-3) certainly drew the loudest cheers from the crowd of 1,374. The two-year
Titan from Issaquah, Wash. has been a fan-favorite since transferring
from El Camino College two years ago.
David Fischer was 3-for-3 and reached base all five times, extending his
streak of reaching base to seven consecutive appearances. Geoff Comfort
was 1-for-3 to extend his hitting streak to 11 games and Costa and Burgos
each had two hits and three RBI. Casey Grzecka, who was 2-for-4, was the
lone Bruin with multiple hits.
Fullerton will head to Long Beach this weekend for the final series of
the regular season. The Titans and 49ers are tied for second place with
14-7 conference marks.
