Photos by David Cohen.
FULLERTON, CA — On Friday evening at Goodwin Field the Cal State Fullerton Titans (48-8) hosted the Columbia University Lions (27-19) in the teams’ debuts at the Fullerton Regional. Fullerton starter Grahamm Wiest threw a complete game and got the win as the Titans took the first game in a 4-1 victory on home turf.
Wiest held Columbia scoreless in the top half of the first before the Titans took a 2-0 lead in the bottom half of the inning.
Columbia starter David Speer hit Fullerton’s lead-off hitter, Richy Pedroza, and Pedroza took second on a clean steal. No. 3 hitter Matt Chapman singled to drive in the first run of the game and J.D. Davis recorded an RBI on a sacrifice fly to score Chapman for a 2-0 advantage.
Columbia’s David Vandercook, who has one home run on the season while hitting for a .207 average, sent one sailing over the right field fence to put the first Lion run on the board for a one-run deficit at 2-1 in the second.
Fullerton widened the gap in the bottom of the fourth inning as Matt Chapman smacked one clear over the left field wall for his fifth home run of the season.
“I had two strikes and I was just looking for a pitch out and over,” said Chapman. “I put my hands inside and let the barrel do the work.
Davis then reached first base on a fielding error by Columbia’s third baseman and Davis advanced to second on a single from Chad Wallach. A second error from the Lions’ third baseman would load the bases for the Titans as Velasquez reached first on a misfielded ground ball. Jake Jefferies got an RBI on a groundout to the shortstop as Davis recorded a run scored for a 4-1 advantage.
Neither team scored in the fifth or sixth innings and after 6.2 innings pitched, Speer handed off the ball to RHP Kevin Roy. With runners already on second and third, Roy walked Lopez to load the bases with two outs, but induced an inning-ending pop-out to centerfield to escape without any damage.
Third baseman Chapman helped secure the win in the top of the ninth after turning two. Wiest induce a fly ball to centerfield for the final out of the game to advance to the winner’s bracket.
“Grahamm pitched a good game for Cal State,” said Columbia coach Brett Boretti. “He didn’t give up anything for free. Their defense did a tremendous job. They took advantage of a couple situations where we had some tough balls to handle.”
“We were facing the No. 5 seed in the country on their home field and I think we responded to the early adversity really well.”
“It was a good game defensively, said Fullerton coach Rick Vanderhook. “We did what we do every week, every game, and hopefully we can keep doing that.”
Check out the 18-photo gallery shot by David Cohen of BHE Photos of the action Friday in Game 2 of the Fullerton Regional:
[scrollGallery id=152]
—
