Cal State Fullerton sophomore left-hander
Ricky Romero tossed his fifth complete game of the year and the Titans
capitalized on four Miami errors in the first three innings as No. 4 Fullerton
defeated the top-ranked Hurricanes, 6-3, in front of 24,857 on Monday
night at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Neb.
Fullerton improved to 44-21 overall on the season, winners of its last
seven straight and 19 of 22. Miami is 50-12 overall and falls into the
losers bracket to face South Carolina in an elimination game on Tuesday
at 6 p.m CDT.
Romero (13-4), who was making his first career College World Series start,
gave the Titans another milestone in this championship tournament. For
the first time since 1990 (Georgia), a team has had starting pitchers
throw complete games in its first two contests. On Saturday, senior right-hander
Jason Windsor became the first pitcher to throw a complete game shutout
in the CWS since 1994.
The sophomore lefty allowed three runs on nine hits, striking out six
and walking only two for the Titans, who will meet the Gamecocks or the
'Canes on Wednesday (June 23) at 4 p.m. PDT for a shot at the Championship
Series.
Miami starter J.D. Cockroft (9-5) lasted just 3 2/3 innings, allowing
five runs (three earned) on nine hits in the loss.
The Titan bats warmed up in the second, but it was the Hurricanes' gloves
which gave Fullerton the early lead. Three errors in the frame, two of
them coming on the same play, led to three Fullerton runs.
Back-to-back singles by Danny Dorn and Felipe Garcia led off the inning
and the Titans plated a run on a wild play with one out. Neil Walton's
hot shot to third was mishandled, allowing Dorn to come home, and the
ensuing throw by the shortstop sailed into right field, moving Garcia
to third.
Ronnie Prettyman then lifted a fly ball to left field which was knocked
down by the wind, falling in front of the fielder and allowing Garcia
to score for the 2-0 lead as Walton was forced at second.
Prettyman stole second and was followed by Justin Turner, whose hard-grounder
up the middle was misplayed by the fielder, allowing Prettyman to score
all for the 3-0 lead.
Cal State Fullerton added another run in the third as P.J. Pilittere reached
on a one-out error and scored two batters later on a base hit by Bobby
Andrews, the second of three-straight hits to load the bases for the Titans.
However, Cockroft wriggled off the hook, getting Prettyman to ground out
on a nice play by Jim Burt at first base to end the threat.
Miami finally got on the board in the fourth as Gaby Sanchez atoned for
two previous errors, singling home Brian Barton to cut the Titan advantage
to 4-1.
Fullerton got the run back in its half of the fourth, as Garcia's two-out
single to left plated Pilittere for the 5-1 lead. However, the Titans
could not come through in the clutch for the second straight inning as
reliever Alex Blanco got Andrews looking to leave the bases loaded.
Miami then got its offense going in the seventh, as four-straight one-out
hits scored a pair of runs, including an RBI triple by Richard Giannotti
to the right field corner and a run-scoring single back up the middle
by Roger Tomas to cut the Titans' lead to 5-3.
Fullerton's defense then got the Titans off the hook. After a sacrifice
moved runners to second and third with one out, a fly ball to center was
caught by Clark Hardman as he fired a perfect strike home to prevent the
runner from third from scoring. Romero then induced the big-hitting Burt
into a ground out to third to end the inning.
Prettyman then came through in the seventh with some pure clutch hitting.
After Garcia led off the frame with his fourth hit of the game, Prettyman
drove home pinch-runner Joe Turgeon with a single off the glove of Burt
which dribbled into right field, allowing Turgeon to score and make it
6-3.
That was all Romero would need as he retired six of the final seven batters
he faced, allowing just a fielder's choice in the eighth, to close out
the game.
The top four hitters in the Miami lineup went just 2-for-16 on the night
while Brian Barton led the 'Canes at the plate with a 3-for-4 day.
Fullerton was led by Garcia's 4-for-4 day and got production from the
bottom half of its lineup as the 6-9 hitters combined to go 7-for-15 with
five RBI. Hardman and Pilittere each had two hits on the day. Eight of
the nine Titan starters had at least one hit.
EXTRA BASES: Fullerton's defense got the leadoff out
in seven of nine innings... the Titans stranded 11 baserunners (five in
scoring position) for the game... Tonight's attendance of 24,857 set a
new Session 6 record, breaking the previous session record of 24,842 set
in 2003, and is the seventh highest-attended session in College World
Series history... Monday marked the first doubleheader in the College
World Series without a home run since May 30, 1987.
