April 14, 2012
Box Score - Game 1 | Box Score - Game 2
STOCKTON, CA - Pacific's Nicole Matson finished 5-for-6 with four runs scored and three driven in on Saturday afternoon, helping power a 22-hit attack and lift the host Tigers to a doubleheader sweep of visiting Cal State Fullerton by the scores of 7-2 in the opener and 9-0 in five innings in the nightcap at Bill Simoni Field in Stockton, Calif.
The losses dropped the Titans to 16-20 overall and evened their Big West Conference record at 4-4 on the year after they had opened the season with back-to-back series victories. Preseason conference co-favorite Pacific, which has posted three run-rule wins in its last four victories over Cal State Fullerton, improved to 27-14 overall and 6-2 in league play, moving into a tie with Long Beach State atop the standings after the 49ers took a pair from first-place UC Davis.
Seniors Anissa Young and Nicole Johnson each finished 3-for-4 on the day to help pace the Titans' offense, the latter extending her hitting streak to a career-high nine games with a hit in both contests on Saturday. With hits in both games, Young also extended her hitting streak to a season-high five games, including her seventh multi-hit game of the year in the opener.
The two teams complete their three-game series on Sunday afternoon (April 15) at 12 p.m.
GAME 1: PACIFIC 7, CAL STATE FULLERTON 2
Taylor Petty and Amy Moore each drove home runs as part of a three-run fifth to break open a close contest while Nikki Armagost scattered just seven hits in the complete-game effort as the Tigers won the opener, 7-2.
After Fullerton had closed to within a single run and had the tying run cut down at the plate to end the fifth, Petty, one of three Pacific batters to finish with three hits in the game, had the big blow in the Tigers' half of the fifth, driving home a pair with one-out to give Pacific a three-run cushion before Moore followed with an RBI groundout to make it 6-2.
Matson added a two-out RBI single in the seventh to cap the scoring and back Armagost (9-5), who surrendered just two runs on seven hits while striking out a pair to earn the win in the circle. Katey Laban (1-2) suffered the loss for the Titans, tagged for six earned on 12 hits in six innings of work.
The Tigers struck early on an RBI double by Moore in the second for the 1-0 lead, but Fullerton responded with a run of its own in the third as Ashley Carter doubled to lead-off the inning and came home to score two batters later on Johnson's single to tie the game.
Petty made it 3-1 in the third with a two-run single up the middle with one out, part of four consecutive hits from Pacific in the frame, before the Titans put together a two-out rally in the fifth. Senior Adriana Martinez reached on her second infield hit of the game and moved to third on back-to-back walks to Johnson and Eliza Crawford.
That brought up Young, who looped a single to right field, scoring Martinez easily, but Petty's throw to the plate was on time and on target, cutting down Johnson on the tag by Moore to preserve the Tigers' one-run lead and set up Pacific's big finish.
Martinez, Johnson, and Young each finished with two hits, combining for six of Fullerton seven hits on the day. Matson and Alexa Rivera also had three hits to join Petty on the day and pace all hitters in the opener.
GAME 2: PACIFIC 9, CAL STATE FULLERTON 0 (5 inn.)
Freshman Dani Bonnet tossed a four-hit shutout, striking out two, while the Pacific offense banged out 10 hits as the Tigers overwhelmed the Titans in the nightcap, 9-0, in five innings.
Bonnet (9-5) allowed only seven baserunners on the day to earn the victory, stranding the bases loaded in the second and retiring five of the final six hitters on the day to nail down the win. Freshman Desiree Ybarra (10-11) suffered the loss for Fullerton, allowing just three earned on 10 hits while striking out two in four innings of work.
Armagost had an RBI single and Matson slugged her league-best 12th home run of the season (a two-run shot) in a three-run first inning for the Tigers for the early lead before Bonnet worked out of a jam in the second. Young and Gabby Aragon were hit by pitches with one out and both moved up 60 feet on Kirsten Lambertson's single to the left side to load the bases, but Bonnet got a ground ball and a strikeout to end the threat and preserve the lead.
The score remained that way until the fourth when a throwing error on a bases-loaded ground ball allowed two runs score and proved costly as, after a ground ball back to the circle would have ended the inning, Pacific scored four more unearned runs on a two-run double by Armagost and a two-run single by Moore put the Tigers ahead 9-0. All six runs in the inning for Pacific were unearned.
Bonnet then worked around a two-out single by Carter in the seventh, getting a ground ball to second base to end the game after a strikeout and lineout for the first two outs of the frame.
Four different Titans finished with hits for the game while Armagost, Matson, and Megan Hom each had pair for Pacific.