FULLERTON, Calif. – Cal State Fullerton baseball defeated Long Beach State, 9-1, on senior day to stave off a series sweep and keep its postseason hopes alive. The Titans broke an eight-game losing streak with the win and improve to 29-21 on the year and 18-9 in Big West play.
Fullerton is three games behind UC San Diego for first place in the conference and are tied with UC Santa Barbara in second place. UC San Diego is still ineligible for postseason play after making the jump from Division II while the Titans hold the tiebreaker over UCSB.
Brendan Bobo got the Titans on the board in the first inning on a two-run double to right field to score Caden Connor and Nate Nankil. Bobo went 2-for-5 Sunday with two RBI while going 6-for-11 (.545 average) with three RBI in three games this weekend.
They don't all need to be b��mbs!#TusksUp | @brendan_bobo pic.twitter.com/RIMnZ1fsnd
— Titans Baseball (@FullertonBSB) May 21, 2023
Long Beach State cut the Titans lead in half in the third inning on a sacrifice fly. Evan Yates limited the damage to just one run after the Dirtbags had runners on the corners with no outs.
Fullerton quickly got the run back in the home half of the third inning on a sacrifice bunt by Cole Urman that drove in Connor to put the Titans up 3-1.
Whatever it takes! #TusksUp pic.twitter.com/Z9ZKdHdFM6
— Titans Baseball (@FullertonBSB) May 21, 2023
The Titans extended their lead in the third inning on a sacrifice fly by Moises Guzman to bring home Eli Lopez from third base and make it a 4-1 game.
After five years in a Titan uniform and in his last game at Goodwin Field, Zach Lew hit a leadoff solo home run in the sixth inning to extend the Titans lead to 5-1. With three games left to play in the regular season, Lew has 205 career hits, 127 runs and 108 RBI.
Zach Lew crushes a home run in his last game at Goodwin Field! #TusksUp | @zachlew20 pic.twitter.com/K9AfFdJnnH
— Titans Baseball (@FullertonBSB) May 21, 2023
Fullerton plated four runs in the seventh inning to jump out to a commanding lead. With the bases loaded, Guzman worked a walk to drive in a run. One batter later, Connor hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Lopez and put the Titans up 7-1. Connor had a strong senior day, going 1-for-2 with two runs, an RBI and two walks.
With two outs, Nankil hit a run-scoring single to score Zach Lew and put the Titans up 8-1. Nankil had a much needed bounce back game, going 4-for-5 with an RBI. A wild pitch then scored Guzman from third to make it a 9-1 Titans lead.
Make it 8-1 Titans thanks to @nankils619! #TusksUp pic.twitter.com/XfgYrgxGs9
— Titans Baseball (@FullertonBSB) May 21, 2023
Yates had another quality start for the Titans, his fifth of the season. The sophomore allowed just one earned run on five hits in seven innings pitched. Yates walked just two batters while striking out seven, one shy of tying a career-high. The righty improved to 2-2 on the year with the win.
The Titans hit the road next week to wrap up the regular season at Cal Poly with a three-game series beginning Thursday night.
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