June 16, 2007

Fullerton loses in CWS opener
Roemer is touched for two home runs and CSF falls to Oregon State, 3-2.
BY JANIS CARR
The Orange County Register

OMAHA, Neb.All the hits, runs and victories Cal State Fullerton had produced in its improbable postseason run meant little when the Titans hit the Midwest.

Even Coach George Horton talked about how every team starts the College World Series with a 0-0 record. Of course, by this point some teams are 1-0, while others are 0-1.

The four-time national champion Titans are one of the teams in the latter category after losing to Oregon State, 3-2, on Saturday in their opening game in front of 26,559 at Rosenblatt Stadium.

“I thought it was a good game,” Horton said. “One defensive play got away from us. I thought Wes (Roemer) pitched good enough to win and I knew it would be a close game. We mirror each other.”

Fullerton’s season isn’t over but the end could be near. The Titans, who went 5-0 through the regional and super regional, next play fourth-ranked UC Irvine in an elimination game at 11 a.m. PDT Monday. The Anteaters lost their opener to Arizona State, 5-4, earlier Saturday.

The ninth-ranked Titans have been in this position before, as recently as 2004 when they had to fight their way out of the losers’ bracket and went on to win the title. But that team, as Horton will tell you, had more talent.

This team, though, has its own stars.

Roemer pitched eight solid innings, scattering seven hits and striking out seven. But two of those hits were for home runs, including one in the first inning that got the Beavers off to a quick start. Mike Lissman lofted a two-out, 1-2 pitch over the left-field wall for a 1-0 lead.

Oregon State (48-12) made it 2-0 on Scott Santschi’s two-out RBI single in the second inning.

The Titans got back one run in the third on Nick Mahin’s solo home run off Oregon State freshman Jorge Reyes (6-3) to make it 2-1.

“He’s a decent pitcher,” Mahin said. “I didn’t see many of his fastballs until about the third inning, but his slider was tight. It is a good pitch. He competed though.”

Roemer gave up a second home run in the seventh to Santchi, a towering shot to right-center to push the Beavers’ lead to 3-1.

“This is a tough park to pitch in,” said Roemer (11-7), who has not encountered much success at Rosenblatt. “I left a few balls up, but I thought I pitched a decent game. I basically made two mistakes and those mistakes cost us the game.”

A failed safety squeeze in the eighth also cost the Titans.

Trailing, 3-1, Joe Scott led off the inning with an infield single off the glove of Oregon State third baseman Lonnie Lechet and he moved to third on Clark Hardman’s ground ball that caromed off the pitcher’s foot, which put runners on first and third with no outs.

Freshman Josh Fellhauer, a .320 batter, came up and Horton called for him to bunt. His attempt, however, was too hard and Scott was tagged out in a rundown between third and home for the first out.

Hardman eventually score on Mahin’s sacrifice fly to cut Oregon State’s lead, 3-2, but that’s all the Titans could do. John Curtis popped up to end the inning.

“I knew we didn’t do it exactly right,” Horton said. “It wasn’t a great bunt. I thought it was a no-brainer to do that.”
Oregon State coach Pat Casey said he has stressed that kind of defense this season.

“We have some special guys up the middle,” Casey said. “We were leading the nation in defense going into the last two weeks of the year. I don’t where we end up, but we do ask our guys to commit to defense.”