Box Score SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – Cal State Fullerton defeated Cal Poly, 7-4, on the road Friday night to secure an automatic bid to the NCAA Postseason for the first time since 2018.
At 31-21 on the year and 20-9 in Big West play, the Titans remain a half game ahead of UC Santa Barbara for second place and a game behind UC San Diego for first place. However, UC San Diego is ineligible for the postseason because of the NCAA transition rule.
Cal Poly didn't make it easy on the Titans as they jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning.
Fullerton came back to tie the game in the top of the third on a two-run double by Nate Nankil. JT Navyac and Zach Lew drew back-to-back one-out walks before Nankil came through with two outs on the board.
The Titans took the lead in the fourth inning on an RBI double by Eli Lopez to bring home Cole Urman, once again with two outs. Lopez had another terrific game at the plate, going 3-for-4 with an RBI.
Caden Connor and Lew kept the Titans going in the fifth inning. Lew led-off the inning with a triple down the right field line before Connor drove him in on a double to the gap in left center. Lew went 2-for-4 on the night with two runs and an RBI.
Connor later scored from third on a wild pitch to put Fullerton up 5-2. The junior went 3-for-5 in the game with a run and an RBI.
The Mustangs answered in the bottom half of the fifth inning with a two-run home run which cut the Titans lead to 5-4.
Fullerton didn't panic as it quickly got one run back in the sixth inning on a productive out by Navyac to score Urman from third base.
Lew came through once again for the Titans in the eighth inning to give the bullpen an insurance run. With the bases loaded Lew singled through the right side of the infield to drive in Carter White and make it a 7-4 Titans lead.
White had a big game at the plate, recording a tied for career-high four hits in five at-bats with one run.
Peyton Jones gave Fullerton a great start, allowing four runs (two earned) on six hits in six innings pitched. Jones earned the win to improve to 5-1 on the year.
Seth Tomczak and Jojo Ingrassia combined to get the final nine out and secure the win. Tomczak pitched the seventh inning and after walking the leadoff hitter got three quick outs.
Ingrassia pitched the final two frames and allowed just two hits while striking out one batter to earn his seventh save of the season. His seven saves ties the entire team total of saves from a year ago.
The Titans look to finish off the regular season in fashion with a sweep over Cal Poly Saturday afternoon. With a win the Titans would earn a share of the Big West Championship with UC San Diego.
WATCH THE TITANS ON ESPN+
Titans fans can now watch home contests exclusively on ESPN+. Cal State Fullerton has built a top-tier production studio to give the viewers an ESPN quality production for Titan Athletics. Additionally, all schools in the Big West Conference are committed to producing ESPN quality streams which will allow fans to watch the Titans on ESPN+ for all road conference games.
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