April 5, 2012
Final Stats
FULLERTON, Calif. - David Popkins hit a solo home run in the sixth to tie the game and UC Davis took a 4-2 lead in the eighth, but 14th-ranked Cal State Fullerton scored three runs in the bottom half of the eighth to take a 5-4 win in the Aggies' Big West opener on Thursday in Fullerton.
UC Davis lost its fourth straight game and drops to 11-14 overall and 0-1 in the Big West while Cal State Fullerton improves to 19-10 on the year and 3-1 in league action.
Dayne Quist struck out seven batters in 7.1 innings of work, giving up four runs on eighth hits and not allowing any walks. Harry Stanwyck entered with one out in the eighth and gave up the game winner to receive the loss and move to 1-3.
Cal State Fullerton's Dylan Floro gave up all four Aggie runs and struck out three in eight full innings of work to earn the win and move to 5-2. Michael Lorenzen earned his 11th save of the year.
UC Davis took a 1-0 lead in the first inning after stringing together three straight base hits, starting with a Popkins single to center field. Paul Politi followed that with a base hit through the gap into left field, then Nick Lynch's single scored Popkins before Spencer Brann lined into an unassisted double play. Titan shorstop Anthony Trajano caught Brann's line drive, then stepped on second to get Lynch out and end the inning.
The Titans tied it with a run of their own in the bottom half of the inning after Trajano was hit by a pitch, stole second, moved to third on Richy Pedroza's bunt single. Pedroza would get to third, but Ivory Thomas grounded out for the final out of the inning.
Quist struck out the final two batters of the second inning, but the Titans put another run up in the third to take a 2-1 lead. With two runners on and two outs, Matt Orloff's single into center field scored Pedroza, but Quist struck out Matt Chapman to hold off the Titan threat.
The Aggie senior retired the side in the fourth, then kept another run from scoring in the fifth when he forced Thomas to ground out for the second time with two outs and a runner on third.
Popkins tied the game at 2-2 with his solo shot over the right field wall, then Quist got back to work, retiring the side in both the sixth and seventh innings.
John Williams started the late Aggie rally in the eighth inning with a leadoff single, then back-to-back Titan errors put runners on first and third and scored Williams with nobody out. Paul Politi gave UC Davis the 4-2 lead with a two-out single into center field to score Tino Lipson before Lynch struck out to end the inning.
Cal State Fullerton, however, put up three runs in the bottom half of the inning. Lorenzen led off with a double down the right field line, before Thomas singled through the gap into left field to score Lorenzen.
Stanwyck entered the game for Quist at that point, and gave up a pinch hit single to Anthony Hutting to put runners on first and third with one out. Chapman drew a walk to load the bases, then Clay Williamson's pinch hit single scored two runs to give Cal State Fullerton the 5-4 win.
The series continues on Friday at Goodwin Field with first pitch set for 7 p.m.
