Titans Are Left Second Guessing : College baseball: Two Fullerton decisions are pivotal in loss to Pepperdine.

Cal State Fullerton may have been too aggressive when it shouldn’t have been during Saturday’s College World Series championship game against Pepperdine. And the Titans weren’t aggressive enough when they probably should have been.

With the Waves’ defense making every play in sight, Fullerton had little room for error Saturday. That’s why two decisions--one by a Titan baserunner and one by Fullerton coaches--loomed large in the Titans’ 3-2 loss before 17,962 in Rosenblatt Stadium.

In the fourth inning, the Titans had two of their fastest runners on base--Jeremy Carr at second and Chris Powell at first--and were trailing, 2-0, with none out.

Phil Nevin, who finished with a .526 average in the series and was the No. 1 pick by the Houston Astros in Monday’s draft, stepped to the plate.

Patrick Ahearne’s curve was in the dirt and bounced just to the right of Pepperdine catcher Scott Vollmer. Carr took off for third but was thrown out when Vollmer retrieved the ball and made a perfect throw to Mark Wasikowski, who applied the tag.

Nevin grounded a single to center field that would have scored Carr but advanced Powell only to third. Powell scored on a passed ball and Jason Moler walked to put runners on first and second, but Tony Banks grounded into a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.

Cost to the Titans: One run.

“We’re taught to advance on a ball in the dirt, but that guy (Vollmer) made a great play,” Moler said. “We’ve been doing that all year long, playing aggressively. That’s how we got here, and we weren’t going to stop.”

That attitude didn’t seem to carry over to the eighth inning. With the Titans trailing, 3-1, Pepperdine reliever Steve Montgomery hit Nate Rodriquez and Carr with pitches to start the inning.

Pepperdine positioned its defense in preparation for a bunt by Powell, with David Lovell in on the grass at third, shortstop Eric Ekdahl near second, second baseman Steve Rodriguez shaded toward first and first baseman Dan Melendez 20 feet in from the bag.

Montgomery ran the count to 3 and 1 on Powell, who squared to bunt on each pitch.

The question facing Titan coaches: Have Powell bunt and risk having the Waves walking Nevin intentionally, taking the bat out of your best hitter’s hands?

Or let Powell, a .444 batter in the series, rip into what should be a good hitting pitch with the infield out of position and hope that Nevin gets a chance at another cut.

Fullerton Coach Augie Garrido chose the bunt. Powell bunted the runners up, the Waves walked Nevin, and Moler followed with a sacrifice fly to right field, cutting the lead to 3-2.

Carr advanced to third on the fly ball, but Rodriguez made the play of the series, diving to his left to snag Tony Banks’ grounder, throw him out at first and strand Carr at third to end the inning.

“There was some thought to letting Chris hit, but a double play, pop up or strikeout would have been an unproductive out,” Garrido said. “Chris is a great bunter and that play puts a lot of pressure on the defense. It puts them under a lot of pressure.”

Garrido said he didn’t anticipate Pepperdine walking Nevin to pitch to cleanup batter Moler.

“Jason has been clutch for us all season and has hit a lot of alleys,” Garrido said. “That thing could have turned around big. It was a gutsy move that worked out for them, but I’m not sure I would have made that call.”

It was a no-brainer for Pepperdine, though.

“I didn’t mind that bunt at all,” Rodriguez said. “Everyone knows the kind of series Phil was having, that he was the No. 1 pick, that he’s been phenomenal hitting with runners on base. It was in everyone’s mind to walk him. (Wave Coach Andy) Lopez did a great job. I would have done the same thing.”

Garrido said he would love to play the game again, but refused to question the Titans’ decisions.

“You can try to analyze it, pick it apart, but I can’t find anything negative about our performance,” he said. “The difference in the game was their pitching staff, the fact we had only four hits, and their defense.”