FULLERTON, Calif. – Cal State Fullerton's bats stayed red hot Tuesday night, defeating Pepperdine 13-3 at Goodwin Field. The Titans improve to 18-18 on the year with the win.Â
Fullerton wasted no time building an early lead, scoring five runs in the first three innings to take a 5-0 lead. The Titans went on to score in six out of eight innings on 14 hits.Â
Andrew Kirchner got the scoring started with a solo home run to left field in the first inning to put Fullerton up 1-0.Â
The Titans took a 2-0 lead in the second inning thanks to an RBI single to center field by Niko Lombardi to bring home Jakob Schardt from third base.Â
A three-run third inning extended the Titans lead to 5-0. With runners on first and second, Isaiah Gomez hit a double off the wall in right field to score two runs. Schardt followed with a single to center field to bring home Gomez.Â
Fullerton added one run in the fifth on another RBI single from Schardt, this time driving in Matthew Bardowell to extend the lead to 6-0.Â
The Titans put up another three-spot in the sixth inning. Marcos Rosales drove in the first run of the inning with a productive infield out to score Nick Miller from third base.Â
With Maddox Latta at second base, Kirchner blasted his second home run of the game to put the Titans up 9-0. Kirchner had another eye-opening performance, going 3-for-5 with three runs, three RBI with two home runs.Â
The junior extended his conference-leading RBI total to 50 on the year and now has 10 home runs which ranks tied for second in the conference. The first-year transfer has been on a tear over the last four games, hitting .579 (11-for-19) with seven runs, 11 RBI and six home runs. Kirchner's 10 home runs is the most by a Titan in a season since Scott Hurst hit 12 in 2017.Â
Pepperdine scored three runs in the top of the eighth inning to get on the board and cut the Titans lead to 9-3. However, Fullerton immediately answered with four runs in the home half of the inning to take a 10-run lead, 13-3.Â
With the bases loaded in the eighth, Max Ortega was hit by a pitch to drive in a run followed by Gomez drawing a walk to bring home the second run of the inning. Schardt then capped off his night with a single to right field to score Jack Burke and put the Titans up 12-3. Schardt had a strong performance after getting the start in left field, going 4-for-5 with a run and three RBI.Â
Fullerton added one more run in the eighth on a
Niko Lombardi sacrifice fly to bring home Ortega and extend the lead to 13-3.Â
Ryan Seo (1-0) earned his first Div. I win after pitching 1.1 innings of relief while getting the Titans out of a bases loaded jam in the second inning. The Titans used nine pitchers in total and gave up just three runs on six hits.Â
It's a short week for the Titans as rival Long Beach State comes to Goodwin Field for a three-game Big West series beginning Thursday night.
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