Jon Wilhite, fresh of the disabled list, collected
three hits (including two doubles) and three RBI as the Cal State Fullerton
Titans (12-2) defeated Cal State Northridge (6-6-1) 7-4 in a non-conference
game at Goodwin Field Wednesday afternoon.
Northridge jumped ahead 4-0 in the first inning plating four unearned
runs due to four Matador hits and three uncharacteristic Titan errors.
After the rocky start in the first inning by starter Jared Clark, the
Titan pitching staff settled down to face just three batters over the
minimum, striking out nine.
Adam Jorgenson (1-0) retired the six batters he faced in the third and
fourth innings to pick up his first collegiate victory. Northridge starter
Craig Baker dropped to 3-1 giving up six earned runs in his 5.1 innings
on the mound.
Brian Stevens, John Estes, and Vinnie Pestano also pitched adding to the
bullpens recent success. Since February 25, the relievers have allowed
just one earned run in the last 22.2 innings. Pestano picked up his third
save of the year.
After finding themselves down 4-0 in the first, the Titans battled back
to score two in the bottom half of the inning on a two-run RBI single
by Sergio Pedroza driving in Blake Davis and Justin Turner.
The Titans followed in the bottom of the second with back-to-back RBI
hits from Wilhite and Davis to tie the game up at 4-4.
Freshman catcher Jon Wilhite, playing his first game of the year, drove
in runs in his next two at bats giving Fullerton the lead for good. Wilhite
then gave way to John Curtis for the final two innings who picked up and
RBI with a single to right field in the eighth inning to conclude the
Titans production.
Felipe Garcia continued his hot hitting knocking two hits in three plate
appearances.Every starter had at least one hit except for Brett Pill whose
13-game hitting streak came to an end. Ronnie Prettyman did however have
a single in the second inning to extend his streak to 13.
Cal State Fullerton will travel Thursday to Louisiana where they will
meet the No. 1 team in the country in the Tulane Green Wave. The three-game
series will feature one of the best pitching match-ups in the country
when Fullerton standout Ricky Romero (4-0, 1.92 ERA) takes on Tulane’s
Brian Bogusevic (3-0 0.90 ERA) on Friday night at Turchin Stadium. Game
time is 4:30 PST.
