FULLERTON, Calif. – Cal State Fullerton showed no letdown after Friday night's walk-off win, defeating UC Santa Barbara 10-4 Saturday night at Goodwin Field to secure the series victory.Â
With the win the Titans improve to 25-21 on the year and 16-7 in Big West Conference play.Â
Fullerton jumped all over UC Santa Barbara in the first inning, scoring three runs to take an early lead.Â
The Titans started game two how they ended game one, with a home run to right field. This time it was a homer off the bat of Carter Johnstone for his seventh of the season.Â
Following an Eli Lopez double, Maddox Latta hit an RBI single to bring him home from second and put the Titans up 2-0. Latta then stole second, his 13th of the season, to set up Max Ortega for an RBI single to extend the Titans lead to 3-0.Â
Fullerton opened the game up in the second inning with six runs to take a commanding 9-0 lead.Â
Jakob Schardt got the inning started with a leadoff double. With runners on the corners, Johnstone hit a sacrifice fly to center field to bring home Schardt to push the lead to 4-0.Â
Matthew Bardowell extended the Titans lead to 5-0 on an RBI single to right field, bringing home Cam Burdick from second base.Â
After Latta was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Max Ortega hit a no-doubt grand slam to left field. Ortega, Friday night's walk off hero, hit his first career grand slam while going 3-for-4 on the night with a career-high five RBI.Â
UC Santa Barbara got on the board in the fourth inning on a sacrifice fly to cut the Titans lead to 9-1. Jason Krakoski did a good job limiting the damage to just one run after having runners on second and third with no outs. Krakoski gave up just one run on three hits in four innings pitched while walking two and striking out five batters.Â
The two teams were scoreless until the seventh inning when UC Santa Barbara scored one run to cut Fullerton's lead to 9-2. This time Jason Blood limited the damage to just one run after back-to-back doubles to start the inning. Blood allowed just one run on two hits in three innings of work, walking one and striking out five.Â
The Titans immediately responded with one run in the bottom half of the inning to regain an eight run lead, 10-2. Schardt reached on a fielder's choice which gave Latta enough time to score from third.Â
The Gauchos scored two runs in the top of the ninth inning to make the final score 10-4.Â
The four Fullerton pitchers – Krakoski (5), Blood (5), Ryan Faulks (2) and Derek Turner (3) – combined to strike out a season-high 15 batters Saturday night.Â
Fullerton looks to sweep the weekend series against UC Santa Barbara with game three Sunday afternoon at Goodwin Field. First pitch is set for 1:00 p.m.
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