Cal State Fullerton scored six runs in the final two innings – including five in the ninth – on Sunday to turn a very tight game into a 9-3 victory, earning the Titans a series win over UCSB.
The Gauchos were aiming to hand the No. 8 Titans their first series loss in conference play and only the second of the season, by taking a 1-0 and a 3-1 lead during Sunday’s affair. UCSB (24-24 overall, 10-11 in the Big West) was attempting to earn its first series win over CSUF since 2007.
However, the Titans scored an unearned run in the eighth and blew open the game in the ninth on two more Gaucho errors and a pair of run-scoring singles. UCSB committed four errors on the day.
It was two Fullerton (32-15, 14-4) errors in the first inning that gave UCSB its 1-0 lead. Brett Vertigan reached on Richy Pedroza’s error and came around to score on Anthony Trajano’s error on Marc Venning’s groundball.
After CSUF tied it on J.D. Davis’ double in the second, Brandon Trinkwon’s double scored Vertigan in the third and UCSB tacked on another run in the fourth on Greg Mahle’s ground-rule double, which scored Joey Wallace.
Zak Edgington allowed two earned runs on five hits in 5.0 innings with four strikeouts on Senior Day as the Gauchos honored Edgington, Kevin Gelinas, Lance Roenicke, Ryan Palermo, Jeremy Peterson, Bryce Tafelski, Matt Vedo and Joey Wallace.
The Gauchos have one more home game, May 22, vs. USC.
