BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - No. 23 Cal State Fullerton had one-run leads on two occasions but could not hold on to those advantages as they dropped the series finale to Indiana 10-4 Sunday afternoon at Bart Kaufman Field.
The Titans (9-9) have now dropped four straight games after winning seven in a row. It was also the first time the Titans have been swept in a weekend series this season. The Hoosiers (13-4) have now won 10 straight games including their last five at home.
David Olmedo-Barrera and Josh Estill each went 2-for-4 to lead the Titans offense on Sunday while Josh Vargas, Jerrod Bravo and Timmy Richards each recorded a base hit.
On the mound, John Gavin pitched five innings and allowed three earned runs on four hits. He walked three and struck out one en route to a no-decision.
For the Hoosiers, Austin Cangelosi went 3-for-4 with a double, triple and three RBIs while Craig Dedelow was 2-for-5 with a run scored.
Evan Bell earned the victory, pitching two and 2/3 innings of scoreless relief to back up starter Jake Kelzer, who gave up four runs on seven hits in four and 1/3 innings of work.
Right fielder Scott Hurst went 0-for-3 but made what could be the defensive play of the year to save a run, robbing Craig Dedelow of at least an RBI-double. Dedelow hammered a pitch from Gavin into the right-center field gap. Hurst was in full stride and then laid out to make the diving catch, but crashed face first into the padded wall. He would stay down for a few minutes, but not before flipping the ball to the center fielder Vargas, who made the throw back into the infield where Richards received the relay and gunned out Casey Rodrigue, who was trying to return to first base for the 9-8-6-3 double play.
Hurst would eventually rise to his feet and just in time to help the Titans get the first run of the game. Bravo led off the fourth with a double off the top of the wall in left-center and in stepped Hurst, who sacrificed Bravo over to third with a perfect bunt. Catcher A.J. Kennedy then cashed in Bravo with an RBI groundout to short and the Titans were up 1-0.
With the hit, Bravo extended his hitting streak to six games.
The Hoosiers responded in the bottom half of the inning, scoring three runs thanks to a pair of two-out triples.
The Titans reclaimed the lead in the very next inning after Tyler Stieb and Olmedo-Barrera led off the inning with a walk and a single respectively. Josh Estill then stepped in and blasted a three-run home run well over the wall in left-center to put the Titans up 4-3.
But the lead was short lived as Indiana added two more runs in the sixth inning to go up 5-4. The Hoosiers loaded the bases with their first three batters and plated the two runs on a bases loaded walk to Will Nolden, his third of the game. Brian Wilhite hit a sacrifice fly to left to put the Hoosiers up for good.
Indiana would add four runs in the seventh and another in the eighth to put the game away.
The Titans will now head back to Goodwin Field for a Wednesday matchup against CSU Bakersfield at 6 p.m. before heading back out on the road to face Long Beach State in a non-conference series next weekend.
Notes: The Titans belted three home runs in the three-game series against the Hoosiers after coming into the weekend having hit two round-trippers in 15 previous games… The Titans have not won a game this season in which they have recorded a home run… Jake Jefferies went 0-for-4 and failed to reach base on Sunday, snapping his streak at 16 games… Estill has now reached base safely in 11 straight games… The Titans defense made nine errors over the weekend after entering the series have committed 15 errors in 15 games.
