March 12, 2010
SAN DIEGO - Cal State Fullerton took advantage of some timely hitting and got an excellent pitching performance from starter Daniel Renken as it defeated San Diego State, 11-1, Friday night at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The Titan right-hander limited the Aztecs to a single unearned run on two hits in his five-plus innings of work.
The Titans (5-7) got out of the gate quickly, scoring a pair of runs in each of the first two innings to take a quick 4-0 lead. Those runs came off Aztec freshman starter Bryan Crabb, who would toss six innings and allow six runs (four earned) on eight hits with a walk and three strikeouts. The right-hander from nearby Coronado High School would take the loss to see his record drop to 1-2 on the year.
CSF's Renken (1-2), meanwhile, was keeping the SDSU offense under control as he gave up just one hit over the first five innings. His teammates aided his cause by adding single markers in both the fifth and sixth frames to increase the Titan lead to 6-0. Renken's final line read 5.2 innings pitched with one run allowed on a pair of hits along with four walks and eight strikeouts.
San Diego State (6-8) avoided the shutout with a fortuitous run in the bottom of the sixth. Mitch Blackburn reached on a throwing error and advanced to second when Renken walked Jordan Van Hoosier. With two out, first baseman Guy Willeford hit a ball to shortstop that hit the lip of the infield and bounced over the infielder's head to bring home Blackburn with the unearned run.
Fullerton erased any doubt about the game's outcome with a five-run outburst in the seventh inning that came via six hits and a walk off a pair of SDSU relievers. Matt McDaniel came on to get the final out of the inning and tossed two more innings of shutout ball, retiring seven of the eight hitters he faced.
Action continues at the Aztec Invitational on Saturday for San Diego State when it faces Fresno State at 6:00 p.m. in a re-match of the meeting at the NCAA Regional last season. Prior to that contest, San Francisco will take on UAB at 2:00 p.m.