Cal State Fullerton baseball took its weekend series 2-1 over Hawaii behind stellar starting pitching by Connor Seabold and Blake Workman.
Game 1
The Titans (28-16) took the first game of the series 3-1 Friday night behind a two-RBI day from shortstop Timmy Richards and a strong pitching performance from the righty Seabold.
With one out and center fielder Scott Hurst on third, Richards hit an RBI single down the left field line to drive in Hurst and put the Titans on the board in the first inning of the game.
Hurst had a perfect game at the plate in game one, going 4-4 with two runs, one RBI and one walk.
“I was just trying to see the ball up, focus on my approach I’ve been going with and get good swings on it and not chase pitches out of the zone,” Hurst told Cal State Fullerton Sports Media.
Hurst was a home run shy of completing the cycle for the game.
In eight innings of work, Seabold gave up two hits and one earned run while striking out seven Hawaii batters.
“He pitched one hell of a game tonight,” Hurst said.
With the win, Seabold has a record of 7-4 on the year and has earned a win in his last five starts.
Game 2
Once again, a single big inning for the opposing team’s bats was the downfall of the Titans in game two. Hawaii put up four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to control the 4-1 victory Saturday night.
Southpaw starter John Gavin struggled on the mound in his start, pitching six innings while giving up six hits and four earned runs.
The Fullerton bats didn’t give Gavin much help on the offensive side, recording one run while leaving seven runners on base.
Game 3
For the third consecutive game of the series, the Titans got on the scoreboard first with a sacrifice fly from Dillon Persinger to drive in Hurst from third base, leading to a 6-2 blowout victory in the final game.
CSUF right fielder Hunter Cullen continued his recent hot play with an RBI single to right field to bring home Hank LoForte and extend the Titans lead to 2-0 in the top of the second inning.
Hawaii answered right back in its half of the second inning with a leadoff home run by Adam Fogel to left field on the first pitch of the inning to cut Fullerton’s lead to 2-1.
After Gavin Velasquez had two straight disappointing starts, the Titans coaching staff decided to put typical reliever Workman on the mound for his third start of the season.
Workman lasted five innings, giving up a season-high seven hits while allowing just one earned run.
The Titans added two more runs in the top of the third and one run in the fifth inning to give themselves a comfortable 5-1 lead.
Velasquez did come in for relief of Workman in the sixth inning but didn’t fair well. He lasted 0.2 innings while giving up two hits and one walk before Titans Head Coach Rick Vanderhook and the coaching staff elected to bring in Jack Pabich.
Right-handed reliever Pabich walked the first batter he faced to load the bases but struck out the next batter on four pitches to end the inning.
One inning later Pabich gave up a solo home run to Josh Rojas to lessen the Titans’ lead to 5-2.
Fullerton responded in the eighth inning with a solo home run of its own by designated hitter Zach Weller to give the Titans a 6-2 lead.
Reliever Brett Conine came in and finished the game to record his second save of the weekend and a Big West-leading 11th of the season.
The Titans now return home to the mainland to host UCLA at 6 p.m. at Goodwin Field.
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