FULLERTON, Calif. - The Titans finished their second Big West Conference series against Cal Poly on Sunday with a 7-2 loss in extra innings. The Titans couldn't overcome the five-run ninth inning by the Mustangs as they fell 2-1 in the three-game series.
With the loss, the Titans drop to 20-18 overall and 3-3 in the Big West, while the Mustangs improve to 28-10 overall and 4-2 in the Big West.
Pitcher Kelsey Kessler (11-6) took the loss for the Titans with six runs on seven hits, only two earned, in seven innings. She also had six strikeouts to total 106 strikeouts on the season. Cal Poly's Sierra Hyland (16-6) earned the win for the Mustangs with two runs on five hits, only one earned, and seven strikeouts.
Senior Delynn Rippy shined offensively as she went two for four at bat with one RBI in the final game of the series. She totaled five hits for the weekend and leads the team with 130 at-bats for the season and 20 in conference.
Cal Poly jumped out with a 1-0 lead in the first inning with a double from Sierra Hyland to bat in Amanda Sandoval.
During the fifth, Sydney Colenzo reached first from an error by the Mustang short stop. Brooke Clemetson came in as the pinch runner and advanced to second on a sacrifice groundout from Kylie Padilla. Pinch hitter Zoe Richard immediately slammed a double to bat in Clemetson to tie the game 1-1.
Emily Randall re-entered the game for Richard and advanced to third from a groundout from Ariana Williams. Then Delynn Rippy singled to bat in Randall to give the Titans the lead 2-1.
To tie the game 2-2 in the sixth inning, Sierra Hyland smacked a double to bat in Amanda Sandoval for Mustang's second earned run.
The pitching battle continued until the ninth inning, when Cal Poly loaded the bases from a single and two errors. Hyland came back to the plate for a sacrifice fly to bring in one run for the 3-2 lead for Cal Poly. The Mustangs then batted in two more runs from a double and hit a home run to bat in the final unearned run to take the win 7-2.
Cal State Fullerton will play again on Friday, April 14 at 3 p.m. at UC Davis for their third conference series.