FULLERTON, Calif. – In another battle between two baseball powerhouses that went down to the wire, Cal State Fullerton was unable to answer Long Beach State's run in the eighth inning as the Titans fell 1-0 in the season finale in front of a crowd of 2,594 Saturday night at Goodwin Field.
Long Beach State scored the winning run on a sacrifice fly to left center field by Daniel Jackson in the top of the eighth inning to give the Dirtbags a 1-0 victory.
With the loss Fullerton finish 34-21 overall and 15-9 in the Big West with a third place finish in the conference. The Titans the have made the College World Series five times without winning the conference title, with the last time coming in 2009.
Offensively, Sahid Valenzuela, Timmy Richards, Hunter Cullen and Chris Hudgins all collected hits on the evening while Cullen led the way with his 11th multi-hit performance of the year.
In just his third game back on the mound after an injury had kept him out of the rotation for most of the season, Colton Eastman dominated Long Beach State, pitching 4.2 innings, giving up no runs and just one hit while striking out eight batters. Of his 14 outs, eight came via the strikeout.
Eastman has appeared in six games and has allowed just 11 hits and four runs while striking out 24 batters with a 1.86 ERA for the season.
Sophomore Gavin Velasquez (4-3) came in for relief of Eastman and continued the starters dominance. Gavin gave up just three hits and one run in 2.2 innings of work for the Titans while fanning two Long Beach State batters. He recorded the tough-luck loss.
Hunter Cullen continued to impress in his senior season, going 2-of-4 at the plate in what will most likely be his final game at Goodwin Field. After having just six at-bats in his junior season, Cullen posted a .276 average in 163 plate appearances.
Fullerton will find out its postseason fate Monday at 9 a.m. PT The NCAA Baseball Selection Show will be shown on ESPNU.
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