Feb. 11, 2006
Final Stats
FULLERTON, Calif. - UNLV baseball had the scored tied at four, but No. 9 Cal State Fullerton blitzed the Rebels for seven run in two innings as the Titans won 13-4 on Saturday night at Goodwin Field.
Left hander Kevin Skogley (0-1) took the loss for the Rebels, who are now 1-4 on the year, with those losses coming to the Titans and then-No. 13 Pepperdine. Dustin Miller (1-1) earned the win for CSF, which improved to 2-3.
The Rebels got off to a good start, plating three runs in the opening frame, benefiting from two Titan errors.
Ryan Kowalski led off the game with a single to left field and the junior centerfielder moved to third and Mike Cruz reached first on an error by CSF catcher John Curtis. Efren Navarro Jr., making his first start of the season at first base, drew a walk to load the bases. Chris Bonnell, the usual starter at first who got a break by being the Rebels' designated hitter, slapped a single that scored Kowalski. After a pop out, Blake Gailen hit a sacrifice fly that scored Cruz. The lead would grow to 3-0 by virtue of CSF's second error of the frame, when shortstop Blake Davis misplayed a groundball that allowed Navarro Jr. to score.
The Titans battled back though as they scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the first and again in the bottom of the second for a 4-3 lead. The two runs in the bottom of the second chased Rebel starter Matt Wagner, who only lasted 1.2 innings.
UNLV had a chance to score more runs in the top of the second, as they had the bases loaded with two outs, which got CSF head coach George Horton to go to his bullpen and replace starter Jared Clark with Dustin Miller. The move worked, as Miller got Ryan Bird to ground out to end the threat. The Rebels did tie the score at four in the top of the fifth inning, when Bird scored on a single by CJ Lang.
But as they did when the Rebels jumped out to their early lead, the Titans answered and they did so in a big way. CSF scored four runs in the bottom of the fifth to regain the lead and then added three more in the sixth to go up 11-4. CSF added another pair in the bottom of the eighth inning to wrap up the scoring.
Bonnell had a strong game at the plate, going 3-4 with an RBI. But he was the only Rebel who had more than one hit and UNLV finished the game with just six hits and two errors. Justin Turner had three hits for the Titans and Brett Pill and Danny Dorn each had three RBI as CSF racked up 15 hits.
The two teams end their series tomorrow evening with the first pitch slated for 1:00 p.m. (PST) at Goodwin Field. Left hander Chris Saddoris, who has the Rebels only win this season, gets the start. He will face off against Titans' right hander Lauren Gagnier.
