Cal State Fullerton freshman Dustin Miller held the high-powered Arizona
State offense to just three hits over 7 2/3 innings and the Titans scored
all the runs they needed in the first three innings as Fullerton advanced
to its 12th College World Series with a 7-1 victory over the Sun Devils
on Sunday afternoon at Goodwin Field.
The Titans improved to 48-14 overall with the victory and will meet LSU
in the first round of the College World Series on Friday. It is the second
trip to Omaha for Fullerton in the last three years, last visiting Rosenblatt
Stadium in 2001.
Arizona State closed out its season with a 54-14 overall record, the most
victories since the 1988 squad went 60-13.
ASU entered the series as the best hitting team in the nation with a .352
batting average and the top-scoring squad in the country at 10.35 runs
per game.
The five hits by the Sun Devils on Sunday tied a season low in that category,
matching the mark set in a 4-2 loss to Stanford on March 24 and against
the Titans in the first game of the Super Regional on Friday night.
It was also only the fourth time this year that Arizona State had been
held to just one run in a game -- two of those coming this weekend. Oregon
State stymied the ASU bats in a 6-1 win on May 13 and Washington matched
the feat in a 5-1 win on May 17.
That didn't stop Miller (9-2) as the freshman scattered just three hits
in his stint on the mound before leaving to a standing ovation from the
raucous crowd of 3,215 in attendance. He allowed just one run while walking
four and striking out one before giving way to closer Chad Cordero in
the eighth, who closed out the game with 1 1/3 innings of two-hit baseball.
Beau Vaughan (10-6) suffered the loss for the Sun Devils, allowing four
runs on four hits in just one inning pitched. His replacement, Jered Liebeck,
didn't fare much better, allowing three runs on three hits in an inning
pitched. Four relievers then combined to hold Cal State Fullerton to just
three hits over the next six innings.
The Titan bats jumped all over Vaughan in the first inning as Ronnie Prettyman
was hit by a 1-2 pitch to lead off the frame and came all the way around
to score when Justin Turner tripled to left center for the 1-0 lead. Shane
Costa then brought him home with his RBI single to center for the 2-0
advantage. Cal State Fullerton added another run in the inning on a run-scoring
single by Richie Burgos to make it 3-0.
Kyle Boyer, making his first start after suffering an injury before last
weekend's regional championship game against Notre Dame, led off the second
inning with his sixth home run of the year to left field, chasing Vaughan
and giving the Titans a 4-0 lead.
Costa, who was 2-for-5 on the day, drove home another run three batters
later with a double to left field, scoring Prettyman, who had doubled,
to make is 5-0. The double for Costa gives him 61 for his career, moving
him past former Titan great Mark Kotsay for third on the career list.
After Costa stole third base, P.J. Pilittere made it 6-0 with a sacrifice
fly.
The Titans tacked on their final run in the third as freshman Danny Dorn
led off the inning with a towering drive that cleared the left centerfield
fence, his seventh home run of the year, to make it 7-0.
Arizona State, which had just one hit through three innings, finally cracked
the scoreboard in the fourth inning with Travis Buck singling home Jeremy
West for the Sun Devils' lone run.
That would be all the offense ASU could muster the rest of the way as
Miller set the side down in order in two of the next three innings and
Cordero got the Titans out of a jam in the eighth, getting West to pop
out to second with runners on second and third.
Cordero then sat the side down in the ninth after a leadoff single by
Jeff Larish, inducing Buck to hit into a double play and getting Dennis
Wyrick to strike out swinging to notch the final out of the game.
Dorn and Boyer each went 2-for-3 with a run and RBI on the day, while
Arizona State was led by Larish, who was 2-for-4.
POST-GAME QUOTES Pat Murphy (Arizona State Head Coach)… “This was a great team in Cal State Fullerton and all the
credit goes to their defense and pitching. I think that this was one of
the best teams that we played all year and they have a chance to win it
all in Omaha. Our team did not make quality pitches when they were needed
and our two seniors did not pitch well enough to earn the win. Fullerton
got the extra-base hits when they were needed and they got them in bunches.”
Arizona State Catcher Tuffy Gosewisch... “This team had never give up mentally and we knew that
if we put a couple of hits together that the runs would come eventually.
We knew what we needed to do in order to win, but could not find the offensive
game when we needed it.”
George Horton (Cal State Fullerton Head Coach)… “We are very excited about going to Omaha, but you can
take nothing away from a great Arizona State team. They were one of the
top teams in the country and it took everyone coming together as a unit
to take two games from these guys. Both teams had a lot of adrenaline
going into the game and I told my team that we needed to relax and play
our game in order to win.”
Cal State Fullerton Starting Pitcher Dustin Miller… “I was very relaxed on the mound today and, even though
I did not have my best stuff, I was able to shut down their offense and
not allow them to score a lot of runs. Going out on the mound with a 6-0
lead after two innings really settled me down, allowed me to focus a lot
more and get the outs when they were needed.”
Cal State Fullerton Outfielder Shane Costa… “We played hard as a team and did what it took to win.
Everytime we took the field, we were thinking how could we turn one base
into two, and so on and so forth.”
On going to Omaha…
“Most of us have been there before, but the first time we were just
there to be there. This time we are going there to win and thinking about
nothing but bringing home the trophy to Southern California.”
Cal State Fullerton Outfielder Kyle Boyer… “We knew that this was a big game and we wanted to play
no matter the cost. I knew that I had taken enough time to rehab my injury,
but I began feeling the pain after each swing so I knew that I could put
a good rip on the ball and then think about the pain. On my home run,
I was looking fastball all the way and when I got it, I dropped the head
of the bat and sent it over the left field fence.”
Cal State Fullerton Outfielder Danny Dorn… “I always watched the College World Series from home as
a little kid and dreamed of playing there one day, but it has not set
in yet that I am going to get that chance. I am very excited about playing
in Omaha and will look to my teammates who have been there for guidance
the whole time that we are there.”
