Jaymie Torres hurled his third complete game of the season and UC Riverside
snapped top-ranked Cal State Fullerton's 10-game winning streak with a
13-3 win over the Titans in a Big West Conference game at the Riverside
Sports Complex Friday night.
The Titans, who hadn't allowed double figures in runs all season, fell
to 38-9 overall and 11-2 in conference. Riverside improved to 34-12 overall
and 9-4 in conference play. Fullerton has a one-game lead over Long Beach
and a two-game edge on Riverside in the Big West race.
Fullerton actually matched the Highlanders' hit total with 14, but the
Titans stranded 12 runners on base. Torres was not dominating, but improved
to 9-1. Titan starter Wes Littleton, who gave up a career-high nine runs
(four earned) in just 3.1 innings, fell to 6-2.
The Highlanders used a pair of hits that just eluded Titan infielders
to grab a 1-0 lead in the first. Littleton retired the next five batters
he faced before Richie Burgos' fielding error with one out in the third
opened the door for the Highlanders' five-run inning. Riverside used three
singles, a walk and a hit batter in the frame and capitalized on the Titans'
second error of the frame -- a throwing error by third baseman Ronnie
Prettyman. Littleton survived the inning, but was chased in the fourth,
when Riverside tacked on three more.
The Titans finally got to Torres for a pair of runs in the fifth when
Justin Turner singled with two outs to drive in David Fischer and Ronnie
Prettyman. Shane Costa singled through the right side to extend the rally,
but Kyle Boyer grounded out to short to end the inning.
Costa had three hits for the Titans and Prettyman, Turner and Fischer
each had two. Riverside's Randy Blood was 3-for-4 with three RBI and three
runs and Brian Emmons was 3-for-4 with four RBI.
Fullerton and Riverside will continue the three-game series on Saturday
at 6 p.m.
