Kotsay’s Home Run Sparks Titans Past UCLA

Mark Kotsay’s eighth-inning home run turned the tide as Cal State Fullerton beat UCLA, 14-9, in nonconference baseball Wednesday night at UCLA’s Jackie Robinson stadium.

Tim DeCinces, a former Corona del Mar standout, had homered in the seventh inning to pull UCLA into a 9-9 tie. But Kotsay’s home run gave the Titans the lead for good, and they added four runs in the ninth.

UCLA took a 4-0 lead after one inning and a 6-2 lead through three before Cal State Fullerton came back.

Kotsay finished with two RBIs for the Titans (6-1). Dustin Spencer (1-0) was the winning pitcher, and Mark Chavez picked up the save.

Eric Valent, a freshman from Canyon High School, had a double and a single and drove in three runs for UCLA (6-4).

In other nonconference baseball:

Cal State Dominguez Hills 10, Concordia 6--Greg Edwards hit a double and a triple, knocking in two runs and scoring twice for Dominguez Hills (2-4).

For Concordia (1-3-1), Derrick Bly hit a two-run home run and Ernie Silva added a double.

La Verne 8, Chapman 7--Cale Shephard had three hits and three RBIs for visiting Chapman, which led, 6-4, after 4 1/2 innings.

La Verne scored twice in the bottom of the fifth and seventh innings to take the lead, 8-6. Shephard hit a two-out run-scoring single in the top of the ninth to score Josh Fallon, but Dan Disero popped out to end the game.

UC Riverside 8, Southern California College 4--Rob Pegg had two hits and an RBI for visiting SCC, which had 11 hits--all singles--and left nine men on base.

In Golden State Athletic Conference men’s tennis:

Azusa Pacific 4, Southern California College 3--Singles victories by Ryan Lewis, Paulo Barriga and Kevin Villar were not enough for SCC, which lost two of its three doubles matches. Southern California College is 0-2.