Cal State Fullerton senior right-hander Jason Windsor scattered just five
hits in eight innings while the Titan offense battered Tulane pitching
for 19 hits as No. 6 Fullerton opened Super Regional play with a 9-0 victory
over the Green Wave on Saturday night in front of 3,375 fans -- the seventh
largest-crowd in Goodwin Field history.
Fullerton improved to 41-21 and needs just one more victory to reach the
College World Series for the 13th time in the history of the program.
The Titans improved to 7-2 overall in Super Regional play dating back
to 1999. Tulane fell to 41-20 overall.
All nine Titan starters had hits, eight of those with two or more. Clark
Hardman and Felipe Garcia each had three hits to lead the offense, while
three different Titans added a pair of RBI.
Cal State Fullerton pounded Tulane starter Brian Bogusevic (9-5) early,
scoring three runs on five hits in the first two innings. Kurt Suzuki
had a run-scoring triple and P.J. Pilittere had an RBI ground out in the
first and Ronnie Prettyman added an RBI single of his own in the second
to stake the Titans to a 3-0 lead.
The Titans then broke open a tight game with five runs in the fifth. Danny
Dorn, Garcia, and Bobby Andrews all had run-scoring hits, the latter two
batters each knocking two run doubles, to make it 8-0.
Fullerton added another run in the seventh on another RBI single by Prettyman
to the left side, scoring Andrews for the 9-0 lead.
That was more than enough for Windsor (11-4), who retired 13 of the first
14 batters he faced, including the first eight in a row, and struck out
five during that stretch. He finished with seven strikeouts, allowing
just five hits and walking none. Freshman Vinnie Pestano then came in
and pitched a perfect ninth in relief with a pair of strikeouts.
Bogusevic lasted just 4 2/3 innings in the loss, allowing eight runs on
14 hits, walking two and striking out two. Wes Swackhamer led the Tulane
offense, going 2-for-3 at the plate.
The super regional continues on Sunday (June 13) at 6 p.m. with game two
of the series between the Titans and Green Wave.
OTHER NOTES: Saturday night marked the second time in
the last eight days that the Titans have had an all-time top-10 crowd
at Goodwin Field (3,211 in the NCAA regional opener against Minnesota
on June 4)... Cal State Fullerton was 9-for-21 (.429) with eight RBI with
runners in scoring position on the night... Titans starting pitchers have
not allowed a run in the last 21 consecutive innings... Fullerton has
not committed an error in its last 42 innings of play... Windsor improved
his career ERA to 1.90 which ranks first all-time in Titan baseball history...
The 9-0 victory by the Titans marked the first shutout in any of the 2004
Super Regionals... Over his last 10 starts, Windsor is 10-0 with a 0.94
ERA.
POSTGAME QUOTES Cal State Fullerton Head Coach George
Horton: Talking about the game as a whole…
“We are happy with the way that we are battling at the plate. We
are getting a piece of the ball and getting enough of it for it to drop
in and allow us to score the runs that we need to win. I commend our guys
on their effort tonight that allowed us to win.”
Cal State Fullerton starting pitcher Jason Windsor: Talking about overall performance in last 10 starts…
“I am not surprised at what I am doing, because this is what I expect.
I do not think that I had my best stuff tonight, but I put a lot of effort
and tried to do the best that I could. I do not feel that this was my
best performance this season, even though the score board might lie.”
Talking about 2004 MLB draft…
“The only thing that you can do in regards to the draft is perform
as a team and individually and that will make you stock go up and allow
you to go high in the draft.”
Cal State Fullerton player Kurt Suzuki: Talking about team’s hitting and runs over the past three
games…
“I think that everyone is getting quality at-bats and putting the
ball in plate. It does not matter who is on the mound, as long as we hit
the ball then we are going to have a chance to win.”
Comments about 2004 MLB draft…
“Having the draft over is a big relief for everyone. The draft is
not what is on our mind because right now we are focusing on the overall
team goal of winning a national title.”
Cal State Fullerton player Felipe Garcia: Comments about team’s philosophy…
“I do not think that anyone is thinking about personal stats right
now, we are just trying to put together enough wins that will allow us
another trip to Omaha.”
Talking about 2004 MLB draft…
“I never really thought about the draft, because I was focusing
on the team as a whole. Throughout the season, I took things one day at
a time and never really thought any different.”
Tulane Head Coach Rick Jones: Talking about game as a whole…
“Cal State Fullerton was a really tough team today. They had great
stuff (from their pitching staff) with great command and we could not
get very many quality swings, which figured out to them doing a great
job in every phase of the game.”
Comments about Cal State Fullerton starting pitcher Jason Windsor…
“(Windsor) is one of the best pitchers that we have seen all year.
He has great command of his pitches tonight and worked the strike zone
to his advantage. He threw a lot of two-strike high fastballs and when
you got a guy who can throw that 12-6 breaking ball things are going to
be tough.”
About Super Regional as a whole…
“Coming into this weekend, we knew that we needed to win two games
and this is just the first game and therefore we still have to do the
same thing that we set out to do from the beginning. Every time that our
club had has their backs against the wall, they have bounced back and
I expect us to do the same thing tomorrow.”
Tulane starting pitcher Brian Bogusevic: Talking about pitching performance overall and Cal State Fullerton
hitting…
“Everything that I was throwing tonight Cal State Fullerton managed
to get their bats on the ball. When every player in the lineup has 2 or
3 hits, you cannot anticipate that happening.”
