Freshman Ricky Romero struck out a career-high 14 batters - the most by
a Titan pitcher in three years -- and hurled a three-hit shutout as second-ranked
Cal State Fullerton blanked Pacific, 7-0, in a Big West Conference game
at Goodwin Field Saturday night.
The Titans improved to 26-7 overall and 2-0 in conference play while also
improving to 16-0 at Goodwin Field. Pacific slipped to 19-14 overall and
0-2 in Big West action.
Romero, a lefty out of East Los Angeles, improved to 3-0 while lowering
his ERA to 2.81. After allowing a single to open the fourth, Romero retired
18 of the final 19 batters, 11 of them by strikeout. Five different Tigers
struck out at least twice. The 14 Ks were the most since Adam Johnson
fanned 17 Pacific batters during the 2000 season.
The Titans gave Romero all the support he needed in the bottom of the
first on a sac fly by Kyle Boyer. Ronnie Prettyman, who was 4-for-5, tripled
in a pair of runs in the second and scored on Justin Turner's groundout
to give the Titans a 4-0 lead. Freshmen Danny Dorn and Sergio Pedroza
collected RBI-singles in the third and Dorn doubled in another run in
the fifth to complete the scoring.
Dorn was 2-for-3 with two RBI and two runs scored and Pedroza was 3-for-3
with a run and an RBI.
Fullerton will go for the sweep on Sunday at 1 p.m.
