SAN DIEGO, Calif. – The Titans (3-2) battled tough but ultimately fell to Fresno State (4-1), 5-2 Saturday afternoon in their second game at the Tony Gwynn Classic.
Fullerton had its chances to take control of the game, trailing by three runs in the ninth, Jairus Richards and Zach Lew were hit by a pitch to start the inning and were followed up by a base hit from Kameron Guangorena to load the bases with no outs. However, the next three batters were unable to produce, leaving three stranded to end the game.
The Titans fell behind early, giving up two runs in the first inning and one in the third to trail 3-0. However, Fullerton battled back, answering Fresno State's run in the third with a run of its own on a sacrifice fly from Brett Borgogno to drive in Hank LoForte.
Fullerton put up another run one inning later in the fourth to cut the deficit to 3-2. AJ Curtis got the inning go with a leadoff walk. Two batters later Mitchell Berryhill hit a single through the right side to put runners on first and second. Berryhill had a strong game at the plate for Fullerton, going 2-for-3.
With two outs in the inning, LoForte came up clutch with a single to center-field, scoring Curtis from second and bringing the Titans to within just one run. LoForte was vital to keeping the Titans in the game as he went 2-for-5 with one run, one RBI and a double.
Timothy Josten was exceptional on the mound for the Titans in his second start of the season. The sophomore went six innings, giving up five hits, three runs, two of them earned, walking only one batter while striking out a career-high nine. Josten's previous career-high in strikeouts was three.
The second year pitcher did struggle early on in the contest, giving up back-to-back singles to start the game before walking a batter to load the bases. Josten limited the damage to only two runs and then came back with vengeance to give up just two hits and one run in the next five innings and striking out nine batters in five innings as previously mentioned.
Gavin Velasquez come on in relief of Josten and went four innings, giving up five hits and two runs while striking out three. Velasquez and Josten combined for 12 strikeouts, the most since May 24, 2018 when the Titans had 11 against Long Beach State.
Fresno State's starter, Nikoh Mitchell, went five innings while giving up six hits and two earned runs with two walk and six strikeouts.
Fullerton looks to bounce back tomorrow morning as they change venues to the University of San Diego to take on Oklahoma at 10:00 a.m. in the teams final game of the Tony Gwynn Classic.
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