Juniors Dalton Blaser (front) and Tanner Pinkston (back) come in to score the 10th and 11th runs for CSUF in their 11-0 victory over Cal State Bakersfield Wednesday at Goodwin Field.
(Matt Corkill / Daily Titan)
Cal State Fullerton baseball returned with a bang to Goodwin Field on Wednesday night against Cal State Bakersfield, putting up 11 runs on 14 hits to snap its four-game losing streak.
The Titan offense wasted no time scoring, their bats exploded for six runs in the bottom of the first inning, all coming with two outs as the entire order batted around.
Junior second baseman Jake Jefferies led the game off for the Titans with a hard-hit single to third, before junior David Olmedo-Barrera was walked with one out and then freshman left fielder Turner Buis loaded the bases on another hard hit single to third base with two outs.
Junior third baseman Dustin Vaught came through with a hard-hit 2-RBI single through the left side before sophomore center fielder Hunter Cullen recorded his first career hit with his 2-RBI double to left. Sophomore shortstop Timmy Richards wrapped up the scoring parade with his 2-RBI single to left and gave the Titans a 6-0 lead going into the second.
“After last weekend, I think we were really focused on sticking to our approaches, taking good at-bats today, and I think they were there in the first inning,” Richards said.
Sophomore reliever Connor Seabold (2-1) earned his second win of the season with a gem, allowing no earned runs on two hits with six strikeouts over 5.2 innings pitched. The Titan bullpen came in to seal the victory, throwing 3.1 shutout innings combined with four different relievers.
“I had a good three-pitch mix going tonight and it worked really well against them,” Seabold said about his pitches against the Bakersfield hitters. “The fastball command tonight was really good and I was able to drop in some curveballs that were good and it worked pretty well.”
The Titan bats cooled down through the middle innings as nine batters were retired in order by Roadrunner starter James Barragan (1-3). However, CSUF rallied in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, adding another five runs to go up 11-0 and crush any hope the Roadrunners may have been holding onto.
“It gives you a little bit of breathing room, and it makes it a lot easier,” Seabold said about the early run support. “You don’t want to break your mentality for that, but it’s still a lot easier to pitch out there after that.”
Offensively, the Titans were led by Vaught, who went 2-for-3 with two RBIs. Vaught also made some spectacular plays defensively at third base to quiet the Roadrunner bats.
“Justin Turner sent Cory (Vanderhook) a message last weekend talking about runners in scoring position, just taking that mentality of no one is on base and your job is to get on first so I definitely just stuck with that and acted like no one was on base drove it into left,” Vaught said.
The Titans will next hit the road to face rival Long Beach State for a non-conference three-game set that starts on Friday at Blair Field with first pitch at 6 p.m.
“The whole team is going to have to have a pretty good mentality and go out there and put good swings and not waste any, and if everyone has a good mentality we’re going to score some runs and beat those guys,” Vaught said looking forward to the rivalry set against Long Beach.