Feb. 26, 2008

Box Score

Fullerton, Calif. - Four Cal State Fullerton arms, led by freshman Daniel Renken, shutout Loyola Marymount 4-0 in a non-conference baseball game Tuesday night in the Titans' home opener at Goodwin Field.

The Titans win their second game in a row and improve to 3-1 on the young season. They also won their tenth home opener in a row dating back to 1999. The Lions fall to 1-3.

Renken (1-0) allowed just one hit over four innings of work, striking out four to earn his first career win. The freshman faced just one batter over the minimum, that being courtesy of a Jared Clark throwing error with two outs in the fourth.

Lion starter Xavier Esquivel (0-1), one of eight Lion hurlers on the night, was tagged with the loss after surrendering a run in the second inning.

Clark led the second off with a double to the left field gap and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Josh Fellhauer lifted an Esquivel offering deep enough to left to bring home what was the eventual game-winner.

Fullerton later rallied for a pair of runs in the fifth off the third Lion reliever Ernie Cho. Erik Komatsu led off the frame with an infield singe to short, and Khris Davis followed by getting hit by a Cho breaking ball. Corey Jones laid down a sacrifice bunt to set up an RBI ground out by Clark and an RBI-flare to right by Dustin Garneau.

Jason Dovel, and Michael Morrison combined for four innings of three-hit relief of Renken. Both Titans went two innings, with the freshman Dovel giving up a pair of hits. Morrison struck out four of the eight batters he faced.

Freshman Christian Colon led off the eighth by getting hit with a Brett Williams pitch, immediately putting pressure on the Lion defense. The shortstop stole second base and two batters later swiped third, only this time forcing an error on Lion catcher Sean Dovel that sent the ball skipping into left, allowing Colon to brin home the Titans fourth and final run of the night.

Colon's stolen bases were two of six on the night for Cal State Fullerton. The Titans as a team now have 17 in five games after stealing 53 all last season.

Joel Weeks led the team with two hits on Tuesday night, and Komatsu was walked three times, upping his total to six base on balls over the last two games.

Fullerton continues their non-conference schedule this weekend at Sunken Diamond, home of the Stanford Cardinal. Expected to pitch are Jeff Kaplan, Cory Arbiso and Adam Jorgenson. Game times are set for 5 p.m. on Friday night, and 1 p.m on both Saturday and Sunday.

NOTES: Jason Dovel pitched to every LMU batter in the lineup except his brother Sean, the Lion's catcher...Fullerton is now 14-2 in Goodwin Field home openers.