LUBBOCK, Texas - Cal State Fullerton got another outstanding pitching performance from freshman Colton Eastman in a 4-1 nonconference victory over Texas Tech Sunday at Rip Griffin Park.
Eastman went seven innings, his longest outing of the season, and surrendered just one earned run on four hits. He walked two and struck out six to improve to 3-0 on the season.
Dylan Prohoroff tossed a scoreless eighth and notched two strikeouts while Chad Hockin recorded his second save of the season as he allowed one walk and struck out one on 20 pitches in the ninth.
Offensively, Dalton Blaser led the way as he went 3-for-4 with an RBI-single in the fifth. He went 7-for-10 during the weekend with three multi-hit games, a walk and a run scored along with Sunday's RBI hit.
Tanner Pinkston went 2-for-4 with an RBI single and Chris Hudgins was 1-for-5 with a double and a run scored.
Timmy Richards got the Titans out in front right out of the gate, blasting the third pitch he saw from Red Raiders starter Ty Damron over the left-center field wall for a leadoff home run, his first of the season.
The Titans made it 2-0 in the third inning after Richards was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. He moved to second base on a sacrifice bunt from Tyler Stieb and then took third on a deep fly out to center by Chris Hudgins. Tanner Pinkston stepped in and smacked a two-out single to left field to bring in Richards. The Titans shortstop finished the day 1-for-3 with a walk, hit by pitch and two runs scored.
Texas Tech got a run back in the fourth inning after Stephen Smith led off the inning with a single. Tanner Gardner sacrificed him over to second and then Tyler Neslony smashed a double that one-hopped off the wall, allowing Smith to score easily.
Fullerton would answer in the fifth as Hudgins led off with a double to right. He moved over to third on a groundout and then, after Bravo was hit by a pitch, scored on an infield single by freshman Ruben Cardenas that went off pitcher Hayden Howard's glove and trickled to short. Blaser followed with a single through the left side to score Bravo and put the Titans ahead 4-1.
Eastman did the rest as the freshman allowed just three runners to reach second base in his seven innings of work, two of those coming in the fourth inning. He retired five straight at one point.
The Titans return to Goodwin Field Tuesday night for the first of a two-game midweek series against Arizona State with first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m.
Notes: Richards' home run in the first was the first leadoff homer by a Titan since April 18, 2014, when Matt Chapman hit a leadoff blast at Cal Poly… The home run was also Richards' second career round-tripper, the first coming on May 21, 2015 against Long Beach State at Goodwin Field… Eastman is the first freshman to earn wins in his first three starts since Thomas Eshelman and Justin Garza did so in 2013… The Titans conclude their road trip 2-2 and will not leave the state of California for the rest of the season. They have just one more stretch of four straight games on the road, which is from April 29-May 3 when they face UC Irvine followed by a midweek game at San Diego State… The Titans have not lost a series to Texas Tech in program history and they are now 6-2 against the Red Raiders all time.