Ricky Romero hurled his fourth complete game of the season and P.J. Pilittere
and Justin Turner each had three hits as Cal State Fullerton beat No.
21 UC Irvine, 11-1, at Anteater Ballpark Saturday night to clinch the
series victory.
Fullerton improved to 32-20 overall and 15-2 in conference play. The Titans
are a game up on Long Beach State with four to play. Irvine fell to 31-16-1
overall and 8-9 in Big West play.
Romero (10-4) scattered just five hits and did not allow an earned run
while striking out seven without issuing a walk.
The Titans jumped on Irvine starter Chris Nicoll (5-4) in the first when
Turner led off with a bloop double down the right field line and scored
on a hard single to left field by Kurt Suzuki.
Fullerton opened the floodgates in the second, sending 11 batters to the
plate and scoring six times to grab a 7-0 lead. The Titans picked up eight
hits in the inning -- all singles -- with Pilittere alone picking up a
pair of hits in the frame.
Pilittere blasted a solo shot to left field in the fifth for an 8-0 lead
before the Anteaters scored their first run of the series on a double
by Mark Wagner in the bottom of the fifth.
Sergio Pedroza's RBI-double in the sixth plated another run and the Titans
scored two more times in the seventh on a wild pitch and a sac fly by
Suzuki, who increased his Big West-leading RBI total to 67 with a pair
of runs driven in on the night.
The Titans will go for the three-game sweep on Sunday at 1 p.m.
