FULLERTON, Calif. - Cal State Fullerton continued to pitch well but managed just five hits on the day as No. 11 UC Santa Barbara scratched out a 3-2 victory in the series finale Sunday at Goodwin Field.
The Titans (28-21, 13-5) had their seven-game winning streak snapped on Sunday as the Gauchos (35-13-1, 12-6) got a solid start from Shane Bieber and great relief from left-hander Domenic Mazza to secure the victory.
Bieber went six innings and allowed two runs on five hits. He walked two and struck out five en route to his seventh victory of the season. Mazza closed the door on the Titans offense, holding Fullerton hitless for the last three innings. He walked two and fanned four to pick up his second save of the year.
John Gavin took the loss for the Titans despite a stellar start on the mound. The freshman went six and 1/3 innings and allowed three runs on seven hits. He walked one and set a new career high with seven strikeouts.
David Olmedo-Barrera and Jerrod Bravo each had multi-hit games as Olmedo-Barrera went 2-for-3 with a run scored and a walk, extending his hitting streak to 10 games. Bravo was 2-for-4 with an RBI and reached base for the 31st consecutive game in which he has appeared. Timmy Richards had the other Fullerton hit, going 1-for-4 on the day and has now reached safely in 21 straight games.
Both teams got on the scoreboard in the first inning. The Gauchos got a one-out walk to Cameron Newell followed by a double from Robby Nesovic to put two runners in scoring position against Gavin. Paddy O'Brien stepped up and gave the Gauchos their first lead of the series with a single to bring in both runs and make it 2-0 for Santa Barbara.
The Titans quickly trimmed that lead in half in the bottom of the first inning after Tyler Stieb got hit by a pitch with one out. Olmedo-Barrera chopped a single through the right side and Stieb advanced to third. He would score on Tanner Pinkston's fielder's choice groundout to make it 2-1.
In the third, the Titans tied the game with a two-out rally started by Olmedo-Barrera's single to center. Pinkston followed with a walk and then Bravo singled through the left side to plate Olmedo-Barrera, making it 2-2. Dalton Blaser walked to load the bases but Bieber got Richards to hit a comebacker to the mound to end the inning.
The score stayed deadlocked until the seventh inning when the Gauchos scratched out a run to retake the lead for good. Andrew Calica, who entered as a pinch-hitter the inning before, singled to lead off the seventh. He stole second and then came around to score on a one-out single back up the middle by catcher Campbell Wear to put the Gauchos up by a run and Mazza did the rest, holding the Titans hitless for the last three innings to get the save.
The Titans will host UCLA Tuesday night at Goodwin Field before heading out for a three-game series at Hawai'i on the weekend.
Notes: With UC Irvine's 6-5 win over Cal Poly Sunday, the Titans and Anteaters are now tied for first place in the conference with the Gauchos just one game behind heading into the final two weeks of the regular season… The Titans are now 7-9 this season in one-run games… Fullerton now holds a 100-37 overall record against the Gauchos and a 53-18 edge at Goodwin Field… Olmedo-Barrera's 10-game hitting streak is tied with Stieb for the longest by a Titans player this season.