Matt Wilkerson singled in the go-ahead runs in the eighth inning as UC
Santa Barbara came from six runs behind to upset Cal State Fullerton,
14-7, at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium on Sunday and hand the Titans their first
Big West Conference loss of the season.
Fullerton fell to 25-18 overall and fell to 8-1 in conference, a game
back of Long Beach State, which swept Cal Poly this weekend to improve
to 9-0. UC Santa Barbara improved to 24-17 and 2-7.
Alex McRobbie picked up the win to improve to 1-0 while Scott Saver took
the loss to fall to 1-2. The nine-inning game last four hours, 17 minutes.
The Titans allowed 20 hits -- the most since they gave up 21 to Stanford
on Feb. 2, 2002 -- and stranded 13 runners in blowing their largest lead
since failing to hold a 7-0 lead at Arizona on Feb. 13, 2004. Fullerton
also had its nine-game winning streak against the Gauchos snapped.
The Gauchos trailed by a run heading into the bottom of the eighth, but
scored eight runs in the inning. Sarver hit a batter and walked another
to open the inning, and the Titans called on Clark Hardman to come in
from right field and pitch. But Hardman gave up a ground-rule double to
Taylor Vogt before Wilkerson's hard single to left drove in the go-ahead
runs and open the floodgates.
Fullerton had a 6-0 lead after three innings, but the Gauchos scored a
single run in the fourth, plated a pair more in the fifth and chased Titan
starter Mike Martinez in the fifth when they scored another run to make
it a two-run game. UCSB used a pair of walks from reliever Ryan Schreppel
and a single to load the bases before Justin Turner made an outstanding
diving stop on a hard grounder by Taylor Vogt and threw him out at first
to end the inning.
Fullerton had several chances to break the game open. The Titans had the
bases loaded with no outs in the fifth and with one out in the sixth,
but did not score a run in either frame. The Titans also left the bases
loaded in the seventh, though they did push across a run on Kurt Suzuki's
sac fly.
The Gaucho closed the gap to 7-6 in the seventh. An uncharacteristic error
by third baseman Ronnie Prettyman -- just his fourth of the season --
and three base hits led to a pair of runs, though Hardman came up with
a huge play when he threw out Matt Emrick trying to reach third base on
a single by David Figoni.
Felipe Garcia had a third-inning single to extend his hitting streak to
13 games, the longest by a Titan since Shane Costa hit in 22 consecutive
games during the 2002 season. P.J. Pilittere also extended his hitting
streak to 12 games.
Fullerton will return to action next weekend when it hosts Cal Poly in
a three-game Big West Conference series at Goodwin Field.
