Charlie Zahari picked up his first victory of the season as 11th-ranked
Cal State Fullerton beat Vanguard University, 6-1, in a nonconference
game at Goodwin Field Wednesday night.
The Titans, who have won a season-high seven consecutive games and 17
of their past 20, improved to 29-12 overall. The Lions, members of the
Golden State Athletic Conference (NAIA), fell to 19-22-1.
Zahari allowed just a run on six hits in 4.2 innings and earned the win
due to a predesignated pitch count. He struck out four and walked none.
Travis Esquibel, Tim Jimenez and Chad Robbins followed Zahari to the mound.
Richie Burgos was 3-for-4, but had hits in his first three at bats to
extend his consecutive hits streak to eight (he was 5-for-5 vs. UCLA on
Tuesday). The Titan record is 10 consecutive hits, held by three players,
including current major leaguer Brent Mayne. Shane Costa, who has a 22-game
hitting streak, did not play Wednesday.
The Titans grabbed a 4-0 lead in the first, when the Titans' first five
batters reached against Vanguard starter Jason Searle (1-2). Kyle Boyer
drew a leadoff walk before four consecutive singles. Chris Klosterman's
double-play grounder plated the fourth run of the inning. Fullerton also
got a sac fly from Mike Martinez in the third for a run and an RBI-single
from Klosterman in the fifth.
Vanguard, which stranded nine runners, scored its only run in the fifth,
when leadoff hitter Sam Baeder doubled off Esquibel and scored on Andy
Freeman's RBI-single to right-center field.
Joe Turgeon was 1-for-2 with three runs for Fullerton while Klosterman
had two hits and Martinez drove in a pair of runs. Searle had two hits
for the Lions.
Fullerton will host Cal State Northridge for a key Big West Conference
series at Goodwin Field this weekend, beginning Friday at 7 p.m.
