On a gloomy Sunday afternoon where clouds and sun split time shining upon Goodwin Field, the Cal State Fullerton pitching staff could not hold onto a six run lead, falling 7-6 in eleven innings to Stanford.
“I thought we had a chance to deliver a few blows and knock em out and we didn’t do it,” said Head Coach Rick Vanderhook.
The Titans were given strong performances by starting pitcher Colton Eastman and centerfielder Scott Hurst. Eastman, who pitched two innings of relief on Thursday, only gave up one run in five innings while striking out four batters. Hurst went four for five with two runs batted in.
“I kinda knew that throwing Thursday it was gonna be close if I came in, but if I didn’t throw that I know for a fact that I would’ve given more innings today,” Eastman said.
The Titans sent Eastman out to the mound to start off the afternoon against the Cardinal. Eastman set down Stanford quickly, only making 7 pitches in his scoreless first inning. In his second inning of work, Eastman retired the Cardinal in order while recording one strikeout.
In the bottom of the first, the Titans could not capitalize against Stanford starting pitcher Chris Castellanos, with runners on first and third with one out.
Shortstop Timmy Richards hit into an inning-ending double play, keeping the game scoreless. Castellanos pitched a scoreless second inning too, keeping the Titans off balance with his offspeed pitches while striking out two batters.
Stanfordl threatened in the third inning with runners on first and second after getting consecutive singles, but Eastman was able to get out of the jam with a flyout doubleplay.
Eastman got Matt Winaker to fly out into foul territory to Titan right fielder Ruben Cardenas and then Cardenas immediately threw out Cardinal Duke Kinamon, who was trying to tag from second to third base to end the inning.
In their half of the third, the Titans got on the board against Castellanos. Second baseman Dillon Persinger scored all the way from first base on a two out RBI double to left center by Hurst. Two batters later, Cardenas doubled in both Hurst and Richards from first and second base. The Titans scored three runs in the bottom of the third, all with two outs to make the score 3-0 Titans.
After again holding the Cardinal scoreless in the fourth, the Titans put runners on first and second, after third baseman Taylor Bryant singled to left and first baseman Jake Pavletich reached on an error.
With two outs, Persinger doubled off the centerfield wall to drive in both runners to put the Titans up 5-0. One batter later, Hurst doubled in Persinger to increase the Titan lead to 6-0. Those would be all the runs the Titans would score, as they only managed to get two more hits the rest of the afternoon.
In the fifth inning, the Cardinal finally got on board but Eastman limited the damage to one run, giving up a sacrifice fly ball to Kinamon. New Stanford pitcher Tyler Thorne held the Titans scoreless in the bottom of the fifth to leave the score 6-1.
Sophomore Blake Workman began the sixth inning and worked the seventh inning on the mound for the Titans and allowed one run.
The Titans loaded the bases in their half of the sixth, but were retired without scoring a run and went quietly in their half of the seventh to keep the score at 6-2.
Left-handed reliever Maxwell Gibbs was not able to keep Stanford off the board in his two thirds of an inning in the eighth, allowing two earned runs and giving way to Titan right-hander Brett Conine, who retired Kyle Stowers on a groundout to short to end the inning and stop the Cardinal scoring. The Titan bats were silent in the eighth, leaving the score at 6-4 Titans heading into the ninth inning.
Hurst moved to the mound in the ninth to try and close out the game for the Titans. Kinamon doubled off the wall in center field to begin the ninth and Cardinal Beau Branton reached on an error to put runners on first and second with no outs for Stanford.
After a meeting on the mound, Hurst then retired the next two batters on fly balls but gave up a game tying two out RBI double to Quinn Brodey on a 3-2 count. Hurst then retired Alex Dunlap on a flyball to keep the score tied at 6-6 with the Titans heading up to bat.
Cardinal pitcher Colton Hock worked through the meat of the Titans’ order and was able to set them down one, two, three while only throwing nine pitches. He came out for a second inning of work in the tenth and held the Titans scoreless.
Freshman Dillon Brown saw his first action of the season for the Titans in the top of the tenth inning in relief of Hurst and pitched a scoreless inning to keep the game tied but in the eleventh, Stanford took the lead on a perfectly executed hit-and-run by Winaker that scored Kinamon from first base.
Brown retired the next two Cardinal hitters to leave the score at 7-6 Cardinal, with the Titans having their last chance to tie the game in the bottom of the eleventh.
“I had a feeling they were going to hit and run but I don’t think there was much we could do in that situation,” Vanderhook said.
CSUF could not muster anything against Hock in the bottom of the eleventh, going down in order and bringing to an end a disappointing day. Hock earned his first win while Brown took his first lost of the season.
Fullerton took the first two games of the series against Stanford, with a Thursday night 1-0 win and a Saturday night 8-1 win.
The Titans next game will be an exhibition on Tuesday against the NC Dinos, a member of the KBO League in South Korea.
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