June 10, 2007
FULLERTON, CA - Junior Matt Wallach's one-out single to left centerfield scored John Curtis with the go-ahead run and relievers Adam Jorgenson and Bryan Harris combined to pitch 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief Sunday night to help lift host Cal State Fullerton to a 2-1 victory over UCLA and a berth into the 2007 College World Series in front of 3,442 fans at Goodwin Field.
It is the 15th trip to the College World Series for the Titans, who improved to 38-23 overall on the season after winning their fifth-straight contest. The Bruins saw their season come to an end as they finished 33-28 overall.
Cal State Fullerton will meet the winner of the Super Regional between defending national champion Oregon State and Michigan in its first game at the College World Series on Saturday (June 16). The Beavers posted a 1-0 win earlier Sunday afternoon to take a 1-0 lead in their series.
Jorgenson (4-2) earned the win in relief of starter Jeff Kaplan, who pitched 6 2/3 innings, allowing an unearned run on five hits and striking out six in the no decision. Jorgenson threw just eight pitches in two-thirds of an inning of work, walking one.
Harris then came on in relief with one out in the eighth, scattering two hits and walking one in 1 2/3 innings of work to log his third save of the year.
Bruins' starter Gavin Brooks (6-7) suffered the loss, allowinga two runs on seven hits in the complete-game effort, striking out a career-high 12 batters without a walk.
Fullerton had to rally from its first deficit of the postseason after UCLA put the first run on the board in the fifth. Gabe Cohen led-off with a double to the wall in left field for the Bruins and was safe at third on a sacrifice attempt by Will Penniall when the throw from Kaplan went wide at third.
After a fly out and a walk to Justin Uribe to load the bases, Ryan Babineau followed with a single through the left side to plate Cohen for the 1-0 lead. Jermaine Curtis hit into a 1-2-3 double play to get Kaplan out of the inning without further damage.
The Titans responded with the tying run in the sixth as junior Clark Hardman, who finished 3-for-4 on the night to extend his hitting streak to seven games, lined the first pitch from Brooks off the light standard in right field for his fifth home run of the year to knot the score at 1-1.
That set up Wallach's seventh-inning dramatics as Curtis led off the inning with a single through the right side and moved into scoring position on Chris Jones' sacrifice bunt back to the mound. That brought up Wallach, who split the outfielders to the gap in left centerfield to score Curtis with the go-ahead run.
UCLA, which left 10 runners on base and six in scoring position for the game, let golden opportunities for the go-ahead or tying run slip away in the final five innings as the Bruins led off four of those frames with doubles to put men in scoring position, but they were to convert only one.
The starters for both teams matched zeroes through the first four innings as UCLA had only two baserunners in that span while the Titans had a runner thrown out at the plate for the second out in the fourth.
NOTES: Chris Jones extended his hitting streak to seven games with a single through the left side in the fifth inning... With the two wins this weekend, Fullerton improved to 13-4 (.765) all-time in the super regional round and 125-60 (.676) all-time in the postseason... The 15 appearances in the College World Series for the Titans ties them for seventh all-time with Arizona and Stanford... Fullerton also stands seventh all-time with 34 wins at the College World Series and tied for fifth with Miami with four national championships.