April 15, 2012
STOCKTON, CA - Nikki Armagost finished 4-for-4 with three RBI and Taylor Petty added a pair of hits and drove in four on the day, powering host Pacific to a 10-5 victory over Cal State Fullerton and a sweep of the regular season series on Sunday afternoon at Bill Simoni Field.
The loss dropped the Titans to 16-21 overall and 4-5 in Big West Conference play, suffering a sweep in a league series for the first time since April 17-18, 2010, at Cal Poly. The Tigers improved to 28-14 overall and 7-2 in Big West play, posting a series sweep of Cal State Fullerton for the first time since 1999.
Senior Anissa Young's seventh home run of the year - a grand slam in the fourth - brought the Titans back from a four-run deficit to tie the game in the third inning after Armagost (RBI single) and Petty (three-run double) gave Pacific the early lead in a four-run first inning. Young has now hit safely in her last seven contests - the longest active streak by a Titan after Nicole Johnson's nine-game streak was snapped after the senior finished 0-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI.
Amy Moore brought home the go-ahead run in the third with a single to right that scored Kelsey Rodriguez to make it 5-4, and Armagost and Nicole Matson drove home runs with back-to-back run-scoring hits with two outs in the fourth for some breathing room and the Tigers cruised from there.
Petty and Megan Hom each slugged solo home runs in the fifth in support of starter Tori Shepard (10-4), who gave up five runs on eight hits while striking out four to earn the win. Katey Laban (1-3) suffered the loss, tagged for seven earned on eight hits in 3 1/3 innings.
Seven of Pacific's nine starters had a hit - four of them with multiple hits - as the Tigers racked up 13 hits on the afternoon led by Armagost's perfect day. Junior Ashley Carter finished 2-for-4, including her third triple of the season in the seventh that led to Fullerton's fifth run on an RBI groundout by Johnson, to pace the Titans.
Cal State Fullerton continues Big West Conference play next weekend at Anderson Family Field as the Titans host UC Riverside. The series opens on Saturday (April 21) with a doubleheader at 4 p.m. before concluding with a single game on Sunday (April 22) at noon.