Blake Davis, Justin Turner and Felipe Garcia each had three
hits as Cal State Fullerton (11-2)rolled past UCLA (7-9) 14-4 in the final
game of the Kia Baseball Bash in front of 2,183 fans at Goodwin Field
Sunday afternoon.
With the win on Sunday, the Titans completed a sweep of the field that
included Oklahoma, Nevada and UCLA to win their third Kia championship
in the six years of its existence.
Not only did the Titans win all three games, they swept the awards at
the conclusion of the tournament as well. Felipe Garcia was named The
Kia Most Outstanding Player with Ricky Romero and Ryan Schreppel sharing
Most Outstanding Pitcher honors.
The Titans pounded out 19 hits against the Bruins on Sunday with Brandt
Rustich (1-1) taking the brunt of the damage. He allowed nine runs on
10 hits over 1.1 innings of work before giving way to Brendan Lafferty
in the second. Lafferty didn’t fair muich better as Fullerton tagged
him for 3 runs on four hits over his 3.1 innings of work.
Titan starting pitcher Scott Sarver picked up his third win though he
wasn’t as sharp as he would have like to have been. Sarver allowed
four runs on six hits over 5.1 innings of work, striking out five and
walking four.
The Titan bullpen continued its effectiveness not allowing a run over
the final 3.2 innings. Adam Jorgensen, John Estes, Dave Pherrin and Lauren
Gagnier combined scattered only two hits while striking out two Bruins.
The Titans used an eight-hit, six-run first inning to take UCLA out of
the game. Both Davis and Turner collected two hits in the first innings.
The big blow came off thebats of Danny Dorn and Felipe Garcia. Dorn knocked
a two-run double to the right center field gap scoring Turner and Sergio
Pedroza flowed by a two-run single by Garcia that scored Brett Pill and
Dorn to cap the first-inning scoring for the Titans.
For Good measure, Fullerton added five more runs in the fifth to solidify
their tournament championship. Brandon Tripp’s two-out, two-run
double to right concluded Fullerton’s scoring for the night.
Fullerton will play a newly-added 2:30 p.m. midweek game with Cal State
Northridge at Goodwin Field on Wednesday (Mar. 9) before hitting the road
for a three-game series with the Tulane Green Wave. Friday will start
at 4:30 p.m., Saturday at noon and Sunday at 11 a.m., Pacific Time.
