June 1, 2008
FULLERTON, CA - Cal State Fullerton junior righthander Cory Arbiso struck out seven in a complete-game gem and freshman Christian Colon finished with a pair of hits to lift the Titans to a 4-1 victory over Virginia in an elimination game on Sunday afternoon at Goodwin Field in front of 1,689 fans.
Fullerton (39-20) advanced to face unbeaten UCLA in a potential championship game on Sunday night at 8:06 p.m. The Cavaliers finished their season at 39-23 overall.
Arbiso (12-3) allowed just one run on eight hits without a walk for his second complete game of the year. The junior, who retired 15 straight batters at one point following a double to leadoff the game, finished with six or more strikeouts for the fifth time this season and ended-up just three shy of his career high of 10 set earlier this year.
Pat McAnaney (4-6) suffered the loss, allowing three runs on three hits in just 2 1/3 innings of work, walking three and striking out one. Matt Packer pitched well in relief, allowing just one run on two hits and striking out two over the final 6 2/3 innings.
A bases-loaded hit batter and an RBI single by Colon in the second inning staked the Titans to the quick 2-0 advantage and Fullerton added another run in the third on back-to-back doubles by Brian Wilson and Gary Brown to make it 3-0.
Erik Komatsu's eighth home run of the year into the trees in rightfield capped the scoring and gave Arbiso and the Titans more than enough.
Virginia finally broke onto the scoreboard in the seventh on Franco Valdes' RBI single - one of three hits in the inning for the Cavaliers, who threatened to put up big numbers an inning earlier in the sixth when a controversial call at second place stifled a Virginia rally.
John Barr and Tyler Cannon reached on back-to-back singles and Miclat bunted for a hit to load the bases. That brought up David Coleman, whose ground ball was fielded by Jared Clark at first and looked to score a run for the Cavaliers.
Clark threw on to second for the first out and Miclat was called for interfering with Colon's return throw to first on his slide to try and break up a potential double play. The call erased Coleman from the basepaths and returned Barr and Cannon to second and third.
Arbiso then wriggled off the hook, inducing David Adams into an inning-ending foul out to end the threat.