FULLERTON, Calif. - Chris Keck's RBI single in the top of the 10th proved to be the difference Tuesday night as Cal State Fullerton fell 5-4 to No. 2 UCLA in extra innings at Goodwin Field.
The Titans (28-22) got a great night at the plate from outfielder Tyler Stieb as the Clements, Calif. native recorded his fourth career three-hit game to lead the offense, but the Bruins (37-12) pulled off the season-sweep of the Titans thanks to a 2-for-5 night from Brett Stephens and a 2-for-4 showing from Keck and Trent Chatterton.
Stieb went 3-for-5 with a run scored for the Titans while Timmy Richards was 2-for-4 with a run scored. Josh Vargas, David Olmedo-Barrera, Tanner Pinkston and Taylor Bryant also collected hits for Fullerton.
On the mound, freshman Connor Seabold was superb for the Titans. He allowed just two hits in five and 1/3 innings of work and struck out six, matching his career high.
Fullerton took a 1-0 lead in the first inning after Vargas led off the frame with a double to left field. He moved over to third on a groundout and then, with two outs, Pinkston fisted a single to shallow right center just past the diving Chatterton at second base.
The Titans added another run in the second as Richards led off with a single to right-center field. Christoph Bono overran the ball and allowed Richards to advance all the way to third on the error and then the Titans shortstop scored on a wild pitch by Poteet to make it 2-0 for Fullerton.
It stayed that way until the seventh when UCLA sent nine batters to the plate and scored four times to take the lead, capped off by a two-run triple by Stephens to put the Bruins up 4-2.
In the bottom half of the inning, the Titans got a leadoff single from Bryant and then Stieb hit a one-out double to right to put the tying runs in scoring position. Reliever Tucker Forbes struck out Olmedo-Barrera and got a groundball to short for what should have been the final out of the frame, but Kevin Kramer could not handle the ball and both runners came in to score on the error to tie the game at 4-4.
The teams remained tied until the 10th inning when Stephens led off with a single through the right side. Kramer followed with a bunt-single to first and then both runners advanced on a sacrifice bunt. Keck then stepped in and lined a single back up the middle to score Stephens with the go-ahead run.
The Titans will resume conference play this weekend as they head to Hawai'i to take on the Rainbow Warriors beginning Friday night.
