Titans Get 18 Hits in Rout of Cal Poly

Cal State Fullerton banged out 18 hits and defeated Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, 13-1, Saturday in a Big West Conference baseball game at San Luis Obispo.

With the score tied, 1-1, the Titans broke the game open with three runs in the fifth inning and six in the sixth.

The Titans (37-11, 10-1) sent 11 batters to the plate in the sixth, with Shawn Norris and Mike Rouse driving in two runs each in the inning.

Robert Guzman went three for three for Fullerton, scored three runs and drove in one.

Titan pitcher Darric Merrell (6-2) gave up one run and seven hits in eight innings.

In another Big West Conference baseball game:

UC Santa Barbara 5, Long Beach State 4--Long Beach State (29-18, 6-5) lost its season-high fifth game in a row, stranding 12 runners on base.

Long Beach pitcher Nate Buecler left the game with a 4-2 lead, but Jeff Cruz (1-2) and Chris Demaria could not hold the lead in the seventh, when the Gauchos scored three times.

Jared Schumaker cut the lead to 4-3 with a run-scoring single. Demaria then relieved Cruz and walked the next two batters to force home the tying run. A sacrifice fly by Dave Molidor gave Santa Barbara the lead.

Jeremy Sugarman picked up the victory in relief for the Gauchos and Jeremy Gonzales came on in the ninth to earn his seventh save.

The victory allowed the 25th-ranked Gauchos (35-11, 9-2) to remain one game behind league-leading Cal State Fullerton.

In Big West Conference softball:

Cal State Fullerton 2-5, Utah State 0-0--The Titans (45-12, 18-2) clinched their second consecutive conference championship. Jenny Topping established a school single-season record with 58 runs batted in when she hit her 14th home run of the season in the third inning of the first game. Amanda Hockett hit a two-run homer in the second inning of the second game.