Cesar Ramos allowed only two hits and Long Beach State (17-9) pushed across
two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning for a 3-2 non-conference
victory Thursday night over No. 1 Cal State Fullerton (16-5) at Blair
Field.
Ramos (5-3), last week’s Big West Conference pitcher of the week,
set down eight Titans by way of the strikeout en route to his fifth win
of the season, at one point retiring 11 Titan hitters in a row.
Ricky Romero was the hard-luck loser, allowing only 3 runs in 7.2 innings
and fell to 5-2 on the season as the offense could only produce two runs
on two hits. He struck out six while allowing only one costly walk.
A Titan offense that was averaging over 13 hits and nine runs per game,
couldn’t help Romero out for his second consecutive start. Romero
has given up just four runs in his last 15.2 innings resulting in two
consecutive losses for the lefty.
The Titans got on the board firsts as Brett Pill led off the second inning
by doubling to the left-centerfield gap, then easily stealing third base
before Ronnie Prettyman’s RBI ground ball scored him.
Fresh off the disabled list, Troy Tulowitzki made his presence felt when
he doubled down the left field line to score Sean Boatright to tie the
game up 1-1 in the bottom of the third inning.
Fullerton regained the lead in the top of the sixth when Sergio Pedroza
hit a sacrifice fly to score John Curtis, who led off the inning with
a walk. The sixth inning would be the last inning the Titans would get
a hit, with Justin Turner lacing a sharp single to left field.
A leadoff walk and a hit batter would be the downfall for Romero and the
Titans as they both cam around to score in the seventh inning on back-to-back
RBI singles off the bats of Evan Longoria and Chris Jones to give the
49ers the eventual 3-2 lead.
With his hit in the sixth, Turner extends his hitting streak to 14 games.
The two teams will go at it again tomorrow from Blair Field starting at
6:30. It figures to be another solid pitching match-up as where Schreppel
is scheduled to go for the Titans and Marco Estrada for the 49ers. Both
men have perfect records and ERAs under 2.00.
