SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - No. 22 Cal State Fullerton had the tying run on base in the ninth inning but could not cash it in as the Titans dropped a 3-2 Big West Conference decision to No. 24 UC Santa Barbara Friday afternoon at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium.
The Titans (30-17, 12-4) never led in the game as the Gauchos (31-13-1, 10-6) held three separate one-run leads throughout the game, making the last one stick.
Timmy Richards went 2-for-4 and drove in both Titans runs while Dalton Blaser was 2-for-4, extending his hitting streak to 10 games. Josh Vargas, Jerrod Bravo and Jake Pavletich all tallied one hit.
Connor Seabold took the loss, going six and 1/3 innings and allowing three runs on six hits. Shane Bieber got the win for UCSB, going seven innings and allowing two runs on six hits, striking out six. Kyle Nelson got his sixth save; recording all six outs he recorded by way of the strikeout.
J.J. Muno put the Gauchos out in front in the second inning, sending a 2-0 offering from Seabold deep and over the wall in right-center field for a solo home run and a 1-0 UCSB lead.
The Titans tied the game in the fourth inning as Richards worked an eight-pitch at-bat against Bieber, culminating with a solo home run deep over the left-center field wall to tie the game, 1-1.
In the fifth inning, the Gauchos reclaimed the lead as freshman catcher Sam Cohen blasted a 1-0 pitch from Seabold over the right field wall for a solo homer, the first of his career, putting the Gauchos back in front 2-1.
That lead was short lived as Vargas led off the inning with a single, advanced on a wild pitch and then scored on a single up the middle by Timmy Richards to make it 2-2 through six innings.
The Gauchos went up 3-2 in the bottom of the seventh as Josh Adams led off with a single and advanced on a sacrifice bunt. That was the end of the line for Seabold as the Titans brought in Miles Chambers from the bullpen. Cohen greeted Chambers with a single to right but the runner held at third. Tevin Mitchell would hit a slow roller to short which allowed the go-ahead run to score.
The teams will meet for game two of the series Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. with John Gavin getting the start for Fullerton while Noah Davis gets the ball for the Gauchos.
Notes: The Titans lead in the Big West Conference over both Long Beach State and UC Santa Barbara is now two games after Friday's loss… Fullerton is now 7-9 in one-run games… The Titans are now 8-10 on the road this season.