FULLERTON, Calif. - Cal State Fullerton earned its first home victory of the season as they edged visiting Stanford 4-2 Saturday night at Goodwin Field.
The Titans (2-4) put up a three-run fifth inning and Titans pitchers held the Cardinal (2-4) to 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position.
Josh Vargas went 2-for-2 for the Titans and reached base all four times he stepped up to the plate on Saturday night. Tyler Stieb, Tanner Pinkston and Scott Hurst all had a hit for the Titans with Stieb, Dustin Vaught and Timmy Richards each collecting RBIs.
Justin Garza made his first start of the season for the Titans and was brilliant, allowing just three hits and fanning six batters in just four innings of work. He did not come out for the fifth inning due to being on a pitch count.
Kyle Murray came in to pitch in relief in the fifth and picked up his first win of the season, allowing one hit and one walk in the frame but also collecting a strikeout. Maxwell Gibbs and Tyler Peitzmeier combined to finish out the game for the Titans on the mound.
For the Cardinal, Marc Brakeman suffered his first loss of the season despite allowing just one earned run on four hits in six innings of work. He walked three and struck out four.
The Titans got on the board in the fifth inning, capitalizing on a pair of hits and some defensive miscues by the Cardinal. Hurst led off the inning with a triple to right field. Richards stepped in and, with the infield playing in, hit a chopper to short. Stanford shortstop Tommy Edman tried to rush his action to try and get Hurst at home but had the ball go off the tip of his glove and fall at his feet for an error, giving the Titans a 1-0 lead and a runner on first with one out.
Vargas stepped in and hit the first pitch he saw from starter Marc Brakeman into left field for a single. Left fielder Alex Dunlap fielded the ball and tried to throw out Richards at third, but the ball got away from the third baseman and Richards came around to score with Vargas ending up at third for the second run of the inning.
Vaught then capped off the scoring in the frame for the Titans as he hit an RBI groundout to short to give the Titans a 3-0 lead.
It stayed that way until the eighth inning when the Stanford offense woke up. Right fielder Quinn Brodey got on with a leadoff walk of Titans reliever Tyler Peitzmeier and then Dunlap followed with a double to put runners in scoring position with nobody out. Pinch-hitter Beau Branton then stepped in and, behind in the count 1-2, laced a triple to left field for his first career hit and bring the Cardinal within a run at 3-2.
With the tying run 90 feet away with no outs, Peitzmeier maintained his composure and proceeded to strikeout the next two batters and then got pinch-hitter Jonny Locher to fly out to left to end the threat and keep the Titans in front by a run.
The Titans added an insurance run in the eighth inning and Peitzmeier slammed the door in the ninth, retiring the side in order in his third inning of relief to earn his second save of the year.
The teams will return for the rubber match on Sunday afternoon as freshman John Gavin is slated to make his first career start at Goodwin Field while Stanford will counter with lefty John Hochstatter. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.
Notes: After reaching base four times on Saturday, Vargas now boasts a .550 on-base percentage on the season, second on the team only to Vaught's .588 clip… Hurst's triple was the first for three-base hit for the Titans this season… The Titans snapped a short two-game losing streak to Stanford with Saturday's win, both of those losses coming at Goodwin Field. Sunday will mark the 99th all-time meeting between Stanford and Cal State Fullerton. The Cardinal lead the all-time series 55-43.
