Fullerton responds to ‘Eaters upset

The UC Irvine baseball team, which upset No. 4 Cal State Fullerton

Friday night, fell victim to the Titans, who defeated the Anteaters,

6-4, in Big West Conference action Saturday in front of 1,910 at

Goodwin Field.

UCI (20-31, 8-9 in conference) collected 10 hits to Fullerton’s

six, but a costly three-base error in the outfield in the bottom of

the seventh inning helped the Titans (40-12, 12-5) win the game.

Fullerton shortstop Justin Smyres smacked the ball to right field,

where UCI’s Gary Dudrey committed an error, allowing Ronnie Prettyman

and Kurt Suzuki to score. Smyres later scored after a Justin Turner

single that gave the Titans a 6-2 lead.

UCI third baseman Brett Dalton led the Anteaters with a 3-for-4

performance that came with one RBI, while designated hitter collected

two RBIs. First baseman Matt Falk and center fielder Jon Horwitz

recorded two hits each.

Sophomore starter Glenn Swanson struggled early allowing four hits

and three runs in the first inning, but he settled down and produced

five shutout innings. However, the Titans struck for three runs in

the seventh. Jason Windsor improved his pitching record to 8-3 for

Fullerton after he allowed six hits and two unearned runs to go with

five strikeouts.

The two teams close out the Big West series with the rubber game

starting at 1 p.m.

*--*

Big West Conference

Cal State Fullerton 6, UC Irvine 4

Score by Innings

UC Irvine 000 020 020 -- 4 10 2

Fullerton 300 000 30x -- 6 6 1

Swanson, Koehler (7) and Wagner;

Windsor, Martin (8), Cordero (8) and

Suzuki. W -- Windsor, 8-2. L -- Swanson,

2-8. Sv -- Cordero (6). 2B -- Wallis

(UCI), Horwitz (UCI)

*--*