Anteaters give, Titans take

IRVINE — Cal State Fullerton Coach Dave Serrano was reluctant to say his Titans had regained what Big West Conference baseball rival UC Irvine had taken from them last season, after erasing a 4-0 deficit to win the rubber game of the three-game series, 6-4, before 2,965 at Anteater Ballpark Sunday.

UCI Coach Mike Gillespie, however, didn’t hesitate in saying his team gave away a game in which, for the first five innings, his team had established firm command.

“My first thought is that we let one get away that was gettable,” Gillespie said after the Titans scored one run in the sixth to close to within 4-1, then scored four in the seventh and one in the eighth to win the series, two games to one.

It was a reversal of last year’s regular-season series, in which the visiting Anteaters, coached by Serrano, won two of three from the Titans. UCI then eliminated Cal State Fullerton in the College World Series to make it a 3-1 season record against the Titans.

“I know how we felt last year, when we did take the torch from them,” Serrano said of UCI’s 2007 series win over its more renowned Orange County neighbor, UCI’s first series win over the Titans since 1980. “But I don’t know if a weekend series determines that. Somewhere down the line, we might face that [UCI] team again [in the postseason], so I’d be reluctant to say we took the torch back. We won the series. We won a great series, and it’s good for our guys.”

The bad taste the loss left with Gillespie and the Anteaters had to do with defensive breakdowns that negated a strong pitching performance by sophomore starter Danny Bibona.

“We wasted a winning pitching performance,” Gillespie said. “If we play the game right behind [Bibona], we win.”

Bibona, who registered five of his first six outs with strikeouts, blanked the Titans (18-10, 4-2 in conference), ranked No. 21 by college baseball writers, for five innings.

Heading into the sixth, he had allowed just two hits, one of those a bunt single.

But the Titans scored a run on three hits in the sixth, then combined timely hitting and aggressive base running with a UCI defense that Gillespie later said was exposed, to turn the tide.

“There were certainly breakdowns, that’s for sure,” Gillespie said. “I was disappointed with our execution on three or four things during the [seventh] inning.”

With UCI leading, 4-1, Chris Jones lined a one-out single to center field, then stole second. After a flyout, Dustin Garneau lined a single to right, on which the throw to the plate sailed to the backstop, allowing Garneau to reach second.

After Garneau stole third, one of four Fullerton thefts, Gary Brown pulled what appeared to be a routine ground ball to third. But UCI junior Josh Tavelli, playing third base in place of Casey Stevenson, who was benched for violating team rules, stumbled and fell trying to get in front of the ball, which bounced past him for an RBI double to pull the Titans within 4-3.

After Tom Calahan relieved Bibona, whose season-long 6 2/3 innings required 107 pitches, Fullerton leadoff man Josh Fellhauer followed with an RBI single to tie the score.

After Fellhauer stole second, Fullerton shortstop Christian Colon hit a bounding ball toward UCI freshman second baseman Tyler Hoechlin. Instead of charging the ball, Hoechlin backed up onto the outfield grass to field the ball, and his throw to first was late. Fellhauer, running hard all the way, scored from second, as first baseman Jeff Cusick’s low throw to the plate skipped past the catcher for an error, allowing Colon to reach second.

Cusick also elected to throw to first, when it appeared he had a play at the plate, after fielding Garneau’s safety squeeze bunt that allowed an insurance run to score in the eighth.

“Those [defensive blunders] were things that were really, really disappointing,” said Gillespie, whose team, ranked No. 4 by Collegiate Baseball, fell to 20-5, 3-3. “So, a good game turned into, not just a loss, but I think exposed some [defensive concerns]. I was not very proud of the way we handled some things [defensively].”

It’s the third loss in five games for UCI, which drops into a three-way tie for fourth place in conference, behind UC Davis (3-0), UC Santa Barbara (5-1) and the Titans. Cal State Northridge and UC Riverside are also 3-3 in Big West play.

UCI opened the scoring in the second, when Tavelli cashed in a walk to Brock Bardeen and a double by Sean Madigan with a two-run single through the left side.

Ben Orloff, who drove in the winning run in the 12th inning of Saturday’s 3-2 triumph, reached on an error and scored on Cusick’s double off the center-field wall to make it 3-0 in the third.

UCI added to the lead in the fifth, when Cusick and Francis Larson singled with two outs and advanced on consecutive walks to Bardeen and designated hitter Tony Asaro.

Serrano, however, stuck with starter Cory Arbiso through the hardship and Arbiso rewarded his coach’s faith, picking up the win in seven-plus innings.

“I looked over in the third inning, as Danny was rolling through our lineup, at the jubilation that was coming from the [UCI] dugout,” Serrano said. “They wanted it more than us early. But, we were able to sustain some at-bats, put the ball in play and then, the whole complexion of the game changed.”

Cusick and Tavelli paced UCI’s seven-hit attack with two hits apiece, while Colon finished three for four and Fellhauer was two for four for the Titans.

Fellhauer, Colon and former Vanguard standout Erik Komatsu, the first three hitters in the Fullerton lineup, were a combined 17 for 39 in the series (.436) with 10 RBIs.

Fullerton sophomore Travis Kelly worked two scoreless innings to earn his first save.

UCI visits UCLA Tuesday.

Big West Conference

Cal State Fullerton 6, UC Irvine 4

SCORE BY INNINGS

Arbiso, Kelly (8) and Garneau; Bibona, Calahan (7), Bergman (7) and Larson. W – Arbiso, 5-2. L – Calahan, 0-1. Sv – Kelly (1). 2B – Colon (CSF), Komatsu (CSF), G. Brown (CSF), Cusick (UCI), Madigan (UCI).

BARRY FAULKNER may be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at barry.faulkner@latimes.com.