Merrell Wins Fourth in Row for Titans

Freshman Darric Merrell won his fourth consecutive game and freshman Chad Cordero earned his eighth save as No. 8 Cal State Fullerton defeated UC Riverside, 4-1, in a nonconference baseball game Saturday at Goodwin Field.

Merrell (5-2) gave up one run and six hits with seven strikeouts and four walks in seven innings. Cordero retired six of the seven batters he faced as the Titans (32-11) won their fourth consecutive game and clinched their 10th series in a row.

The Titans broke a scoreless tie in the fifth inning when Matt Belfanti doubled, advanced to third on a groundout and scored on a wild pitch. UC Riverside (16-28) tied the score, 1-1, in the next inning when Brian Wahlbrink’s infield single scored Adam Spiker.

In the bottom of the sixth, Jason Corapci opened with a single and Aaron Rifkin doubled. Corapci scored on an infield out by Mike Rouse and a bloop single by Chris Stringfellow drove in Rifkin.

The final Titan run came on Rifkin’s 11th home run of the season in the eighth inning.

In Golden State Athletic Conference baseball:

Azusa Pacific 16-6, Vanguard 9-8--Chad Chop’s grand slam in the fifth inning of the second game clinched an NAIA playoff berth for Vanguard (27-18, 14-13).

Consecutive singles by Bryan Davis, Mark Tisthammer and Jeremy Isherwood, plus two wild pitches by Azusa Pacific (31-9, 17-9) accounted for three more runs in the sixth.

In a nonconference game:

Chapman 6, UC San Diego 4--Andrew Tisdale gave up seven hits and one earned run in seven innings for visiting Chapman (31-8). Alex Taylor, Andy Karp and Tony Serna each had a hit and drove in a run for the Panthers.

In Golden State Athletic Conference softball:

Vanguard 2-1, Point Loma Nazarene 1-3--Cheri Smith drove in both runs for Vanguard (34-20, 13-11) in the first game with a two-out single in the first inning.

In Big West Conference men’s tennis:

Pacific 4, UC Irvine 0--The Anteaters didn’t win a set in singles play and lost both doubles matches after beating Pacific twice during the regular season.

In the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation women’s water polo tournament:

Pacific 6, UC Irvine 4--Jessica Schroeder scored three goals to lead Pacific (7-20) into the tournament’s ninth-place game against Long Beach State. Erica Horman, Briana Foulds, Meghan O’Donnell and Nerissa Reidenbaugh each scored a goal for UC Irvine (3-27).