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FULLERTON, Calif.—No. 1-ranked Cal State Fullerton fell to the UC Riverside Highlanders 9-7 in the 11th inning Friday night as the Titan pitching staff gave up a season-high nine earned runs.

The loss is only their second out of 12 in Big West Conference play this season.

Coming into the game with a 1.46 ERA, Wes Roamer surrendered a season-high six runs on 10 hits despite striking out eight, including five in the first three innings.

UCR closer Daniel Stange (1-1) allowed the Titans to tie the game in the ninth on a Justin Turner two-out single, but held on through the 11th to earn the win.

Going 4-for-6, Blake Davis extended his hitting streak to 11 games while third baseman Evan McArthur added three hits in the losing effort.

Brandon Tripp and Brett Pill each had two-run homers to take an early 5-0 lead, but UC Riverside finally got to Roemer in the fifth and tied the game.

Going into the game Titan closer Vinnie Pestano (1-1) had only walked six batters all season, but he gave seven free passes in two and one-third innings Friday night and earned the loss after a sacrifice fly and bases-loaded walk gave the Highlanders a two-run lead in the 11th.

Looking to even the series, Cal State Fullerton sent Lauren Gagnier (10-3) to the mound for the Titans Saturday night to face UC Riverside’s Haley Winter (3-4).

Gagnier threw eight full innings, allowing three earned runs on eight hits. It was exactly the effort the Titians needed, as relievers Adam Jorgenson and Justin Klipp were able to finish the Highlanders off in order in the eighth and ninth innings.

The hurting started early for Winter as the Titans scored three runs in the first inning. Davis tripled to score Turner and Pill singled him in before reaching third on a pair of errors. An infield single by David Cooper scored Pill for the third run before Tripp hit into an inning-ending double play.

UC Riverside leadoff man Aaron Grant hit a two-out homer to right center to put the Highlanders on the board in the third but a questionable call in the fifth led to an inside-the-park home run by Riverside second baseman Drew Garcia.

Fullerton’s Tripp made what appeared to be a highlight-reel catch in deep right center, slamming into the wall. First base umpire Billy Haze ruled that Tripp did not retain possession of the ball despite lifting his glove to show he had caught it. Manager George Horton argued the call but it was not reversed.

With a 11-3 victory, the game marked the ninth time this season the Titans have scored 10 runs or more, and have yet to lose when doing so.

Sunday’s afternoon game saw Dustin Miller (9-1) taking the mound to become the second nine-game winner for the Titans.

UC Riverside starter Taylor Bills went six innings, allowing seven earned runs on five hits and five walks.

Tripp hit his second home run of the series in the second—a two-run blast to center field—while Turner hit his first homer at Goodwin Field, driving in John Curtis and McArthur.

The Titan bats pegged the Highlander bullpen for four additional runs, winning the game with another score of 11-3. Davis extended his streak further with a triple—his only hit of the game.

The Titans, who are expected to stay atop the Baseball America rankings this week, will travel to Santa Barbara to face the Gauchos for a three-game series of Big West Conference play beginning Friday afternoon.

LONG BEACH, Calif.—The Long Beach State Dirtbags swept the Pacific Tigers last weekend in Big West Conference play.

While the Dirtbags national reputation may have dwindled since the start of the season, they have lost only one game in eight conference matches this season and sit atop of the Big West standings.

Friday night’s game saw a strong performance from Jared Hughes (7-1) who went eight innings giving up two runs on just five hits.

Hughes loaded the bases twice in the first inning but managed to get out of a nasty jam, allowing only one run on a sacrifice fly to give Pacific an early 1-0 lead.

Brandon Godfrey tied it in the second with a RBI single before scoring on a double play ball hit by Danny Espinosa to take the lead 2-1.

Sean Boatright added to the lead with an RBI single in the third. Godfrey drove another runner in with a sacrifice fly before Espinosa singled in Boatright for the ninth Dirtbag hit in less than three innings.

Dirtbag reliever Andrew Liebel ran into some trouble in the ninth. After striking out the first Pacific batter, Liebel hit the next two. With the tying run at the plate, Bryan Shaw took over and got out of the jam with an inning-ending double play earning him the save.

Andrew Carpenter gave up five runs Saturday afternoon and did not factor in the decision, as it was Vance Worley (2-6) who earned the win.

With the game tied in the eighth Worley loaded the bases and nearly gave up a grand slam to Pacific third baseman Justin Baum who flied out to deep left field to end the inning.

Returning to work in the ninth Worley retired the side in order.

Still in a tie in the bottom of the eighth, Robert Perry singled in the go-ahead run. Perry had three hits in the game including two RBI.

Evan Longoria added an insurance run in the eighth with a two-out suicide squeeze to give the Dirtbags the 7-5 lead.

Long Beach State sent closer-turned-starter Donnie Hume to the mound Sunday afternoon for his best performance of the season. Hume pitched into the sixth inning allowing only three runs on six hits and retired eight in a row at one point.

The Dirtbags combined for 14 hits on the day that included hot-hitting Perry going 3-for-4 with a pair of RBI and Longoria going 2-for-3 also with two RBI.

A two-run blast by Pacific’s Baum gave the Tigers an early 2-0 lead, but Longoria countered by driving in a pair in the home half of the inning with a double to left center before scoring on a Jose Hernandez single to take the lead 3-2.

The Tigers came back to tie it 3-3 in the second as Adam Ching hit an RBI single but freshman Danny Espinosa wouldn’t allow the tie to last long doubling in the bottom of the third to take the lead 4-3.

Liebel took over for Hume in the seventh and threw two scoreless innings and Shaw took over in the ninth to earn his fourth save.

The Dirtbags exploded in the eighth with four runs to win the game 9-3, extending their winning streak to seven games and increasing their once-plummeting record to 22-18-1).

Star third baseman Evan Longoria earned his third Big West Player of the Week award of the season and is the first position player in Long Beach State history to earn the honors three times in their collegiate career—something Jason Giambi nor Bobby Crosby ever did.

Long Beach State will travel to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo this weekend to face the Mustangs for a three-game conference series.

DAVIS, Calif.—Long Beach State may have fallen off the college baseball radar over the past few weeks, but nobody told AJ Pinocchio who had eight hits over the weekend against the UC Davis Aggies despite only playing in only one game through the first two months of the season.

The Dirtbag designated hitter helped Long Beach State win the first game of the weekend series with a double and a triple, driving in three runs.

Jared Hughes (6-1) gave up four earned runs on seven hits but still managed to earn the win thanks to the Dirtbag’s 12 hits. Hughes struck out five batters in his six and two-thirds innings of work before Brett Andrade came in to finish the game and earn his third save of the season.

Losing pitcher Michael Potter was chased from the game after giving up five earned runs through only four innings of work. Reliever Brad McAtee didn’t perform much better, giving up another three runs through four innings.

The Dirtbags built an early lead with three runs in the second inning on five hits, and increased their lead to 5-0 in the fourth with Robert Perry’s RBI triple and Pinocchio’s RBI double.

The four runs against Hughes were all the Aggies could gather as the Dirtbags won 9-4.

Saturday saw an even more impressive victory over UC Davis with Long Beach State putting 20 hits on the board in the 15-1 blowout. Perry contributed five hits and Pinocchio added four.

Starter Andrew Carpenter (6-2) went eight innings, struck out five and only allowed one run while UC Davis starter Brent Nichols went five and two-thirds innings. The Dirtbags pounded him for 13 runs (nine earned) before David Treat came in for relief in the sixth.

Long Beach State got an early lead with six runs on eight hits through the first two innings.

The Dirtbags sent 10 batters to the plate during a five-run sixth inning that included a two-run homer by Perry.

Tom Wolf went long in the eighth for his first collegiate home run—a pinch-hit, two-run blast.

Andre Lamontagne pitched the ninth inning for the Dirtbags, walking one, but allowing no hits.

Sunday, UC Davis sent Bryan Evans (3-6) who was the first Aggie pitcher to keep the Dirtbags under control. Evans held to Dirtbags to only two runs on five hits but was unable to pull a victory as the Aggies offense couldn’t outscore Long Beach State. Despite being out hit 7-5, Long Beach State was able to win 2-1.

A combined pitching effort by Donnie Hume, Andrew Liebel (2-0), Vance Worley and Bryan Shaw held the Aggies to one run.

Long Beach State again struck early, taking advantage of an error by shortstop Brandon Oliver, to take the lead 1-0 in the first inning.

The Dirtbag’s winning run came courtesy of an error by leftfielder Aaron Hanke for a score of 2-0 before a two-out single by Matt Dempsy cut the lead to 2-1 in the bottom half of the fourth.

Shaw earned the save, pitching the final two innings while only allowing one hit to sweep the Aggies and take the Dirtbags above .500.

Long Beach State returns home for a five-game homestead with a record of 19-18-1.

They will take on World Series winner Ed Sprague’s Pacific Tigers beginning Friday at 6:30 p.m. at Blair Field.

STOCKTON, Calif.—The Cal State Fullerton Titans Swept the Pacific Tigers last weekend, demonstrating to college baseball fans exactly why they are the No. 1-ranked team in the nation.

Wes Roemer (8-1) allowed only three hits Friday in his second complete game of the season and did not issue a walk as the Titans defeated Pacific 8-1 in the start of a three-game Big West Conference series.

With his 100-pitch performance, Roemer lowered his ERA to 1.46, allowing only one run on a homer by Tiger outfielder Anthony Jackson in the fourth inning. Roemer also increased his strikeout to walk ratio to an incredible 29:1.

Danny Dorn doubled to start the second inning and quickly put the Titans on the board after a pair of sacrifice outs by Jared Clark and David Cooper. Brandon Tripp followed with a double and scored on a single by Evan McArthur.

In just his fourth game back in the starting lineup, Dorn doubled twice and drilled a solo home run. McArthur added three hits also and drove in three runs during the 14-hit outing.

Lauren Gagnier (9-3) took the mound for the Titans Saturday afternoon and pitched seven and one-third innings of five-hit baseball before handing the ball over to John Estes to finish Pacific off.

The Titan offense delivered 11 runs and a season-high of 17 hits while the Tigers were only able to counter with one run on six hits.

Justin Turner led the game with three hits and four RBI but it was Clark who blew the game wide open in the second inning with the first grand slam of the season for the Titans.

Surprisingly, just four of the Titan’s 17 hits were for extra bases as big-hitting Fullerton played small ball to win 11-1 over Pacific—clinching the series.

Looking to for Fullerton’s seventh sweep of the season and his eighth win, Dustin Miller threw another great game for the Titans. Miller, Ryan Paul and Vinnie Pestano combined for only four runs on eight hits with Pestano earning his 12^th save of the season.

Jackson’s solo homer off of Paul narrowed the lead to 6-4 for the Tigers, but John Curtis added an insurance run with a squeeze bunt in the eight. A based-loaded error in the ninth led to another Titan run for a final score of 8-4.

While it didn’t help the Tigers win the game, second baseman Adam Ching’s diving stop to start an inning-ending double play in the ninth did prevent Tripp from getting a hit in the game, ending his 15-game hitting streak.

Tripp likely won’t be too concerned about his hitting streak ending, as the junior and the Titans hope to finish the remaining 15 games strong as CSUF stands mighty atop the Big West Conference with a record of 8-1. Their sweep of Pacific will likely be more than enough to keep Fullerton at the top of Baseball America’s College Baseball Top 25 rankings with a record of 31-10.

The Titans will host a three-game Big West Conference series against UC Riverside at Goodwin Field beginning Friday at 7:00p.m.

I’m sitting here on a break at work doing something that I can’t believe. Utilizing my MLB Gameday Audio pass to listen to the Chicago Whitesox home opener against the Cleveland Indians.

Being a fan of my hometown Angels, I won’t forgive the Whitesox for what they did to us in the post season last year.

This year is different though. I have three Chicago players on my fantasy team. Yes, I finally caved in and began playing fantasy baseball. In fact, I am in two different Yahoo leagues. One with a group of Dodgers fans I met online, and another with some real-life friends. Tonight, I have Mark Buehrle on the mound, Scott Podsednik and Jermain Dye in the outfield. It’s the first game of the season and the first time I’ll see points add up and likely take me into the lead since I have more Sox players than anybody else in the league. Read the rest of this entry »