FULLERTON, Calif. – USC was only able to strike in one inning, but that's all it needed, as a three-run first frame held up to be enough to come away with a 3-1 win over Cal State Fullerton, Tuesday evening at Goodwin Field.
The Titans (9-13) finish the homestand at 5-3 and are set to begin conference play at UC Santa Barbara beginning on Thursday.
Besides a rocky first frame, Tanner Bibee was superb, tossing 7.0 innings while scattering nine hits and surrendering just three runs (all in the first), while fanning five. Timothy Josten continued to be a pleasant surprise out of the bullpen, as he tossed 1.2 innings of scoreless baseball and stuck out two.
Ruben Cardenas picked up two hits with a triple and scored the Titans lone run, while Daniel Cope also produced a knock and came up with Fullerton's only RBI.
Brett Borgogno, Hank LoForte and Mitchell Berryhill all recorded a hit apiece.
After the Trojans' three-run first, Fullerton responded in the fourth with a run, after Cardenas launched a three-run triple to left field. Cope then drove him in with a sacrifice fly to right field to cut the deficit to just 3-1.
The Titans managed to get the tying run to the plate in the ninth after Cardenas led the inning off with a single to left, but neither of the next three Titan hitters managed to produce.
Fullerton begins conference play this Thursday at 3 pm PT in game one of three-game series at UC Santa Barbara.
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