Ronnie Prettyman had three hits and Neil Walton drove in a career-high
three runs as fifth-ranked Cal State Fullerton beat Pepperdine, 11-2,
in a nonconference game at Goodwin Field Tuesday night.
The Titans improved to 15-1 overall to match the 1996 squad for the best
start through 16 games. Fullerton is also 10-0 at home, its best start
at Goodwin Field since going 11-0 in 1994. Pepperdine had its four-game
winning streak snapped and fell to 7-5.
Neil Walton singled in Jason Corapci to break a 2-2 tie n in the fourth
inning and the next three Titans added singles as well to put Fullerton
on top, 5-2. The Titans broke the game open with a five-run fifth and
Kyle Boyer blasted his first home run in the sixth to give Fullerton an
11-2 lead.
The Waves scored a run in each of the first two innings off Titan starter
Ricky Romero, but Jason Windsor (2-0), Sean Martin and Chad Cordero combined
to allow just four hits over the final six innings. James Carroll -- the
first of six Pepperdine pitchers -- took the loss to fall to 1-1.
Justin Turner, Shane Costa, Richie Burgos, Boyer and Walton each had two
hits for Fullerton, which used 16 position players.
Fullerton will host Keio University (Japan) in an exhibition on Wednesday
before traveling to Minneapolis for a three-game series with Minnesota
in the Metrodome.
