Titans Fail to Sweep Past No. 2 Alabama

FULLERTON —  Cal State Fullerton didn’t get the baseball series sweep it was hoping for against second-ranked Alabama.

That slipped away Sunday on a two-run homer by Andy Phillips off Titan left-hander Erasmo Ramirez in the eighth inning.

Alabama, which has reached the College World Series the past two seasons and was runner-up to Louisiana State last year, won the final game of the three-game series, 6-5, in front of 1,217 at Titan Field.

But Titan Coach George Horton walked away from the weekend encouraged.

“It still was a very good week for us, and I like the way we competed most of the time,” Horton said. “If they truly are the second-best team in the country, then it shows that we can play with anyone this season.”

The Titans (10-6) took a 5-3 lead in the sixth inning on consecutive home runs by designated hitter Pete Fukuhara and catcher Chad Baum. Baum was in the game as a replacement for Craig Patterson, who was sidelined because of an ankle he twisted Saturday.

“Some good things happened,” Horton said. “Fukuhara, who hasn’t played much, gets a homer and three walks, and Baum comes in and gets a home run and is solid on defense.”

First baseman Kevin Duck hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning--his fifth of the season--after Alabama had taken a 3-0 lead.

Horton, however, was disappointed by his team’s play on defense early in the game and its failure to capitalize on scoring chances in the last two innings.

“We can’t seem to get a sustained defensive effort for Ramirez,” Horton said. “If I had to point to anything, we got hurt by those two unearned runs in second inning.”

The Crimson Tide (11-2) pushed across one run when catcher Matt Frick doubled and scored on shortstop Chad Olszanski’s throwing error. “Olszanski was in there for his defense, but I was less concerned with that error than the fact that we had two plays that we didn’t back up,” Horton said. “We weren’t hustling early in the game.”

Ramirez, who fell to 1-3 with the loss, gave up 10 hits. He didn’t get an out in the eighth before Fullerton went to the bullpen after the homer by Phillips, who made the All-World Series team last year at third base.

“It was a bad pitch in the eighth,” Horton said. “He got it up a little high. That happens sometimes to off-speed pitchers when they get the ball up. But, again, he deserved better.”

The Tide also got a run off Ramirez in the seventh after a leadoff double by Jayson Cox that almost was caught by outfielder Steve Chatham. Chatham, who had three hits, narrowly missed a spectacular running catch on the drive to left when the ball dropped out of his glove when he hit the wall. Cox later scored on Paul Phillips’ two-out single.

It was the most hits given up by Ramirez in six appearances.

“Mo wasn’t as sharp as he has been, but I don’t think I helped him with a couple of pitches I called late in the game,” pitching coach Dave Serrano said. “He’s been pitching into some bad luck, and we need to change that for him. We’ll get it better if he maintains a positive attitude.”

The Titans had chances in the eighth and ninth innings, but stranded two runners in the eighth when pinch hitters Greg Jacobs and Jojo Hernandez were out on fly balls after a Crimson Tide error and a walk.

Aaron Rowand, the team’s second-leading hitter, grounded into a double play to end the game after a walk. “Rowand’s the guy you’d want up there in that situation,” Horton said.

Jarrod Kingery, who was 10-1 last season for the Crimson Tide, came in to get the final two outs in the eighth and retired the Titans in the ninth, picking up his fifth save of the season.