All Good Things Must End

GAME 15: OKLAHOMA STATE 10, TITANS 6

By Don Hudson

STILLWATER, Okla. -Throughout their eleven game winning streak, the Cal State Fullerton Titans won as a team: an explosive offense with speed and power; steady and oftimes spectacular defense; and solid pitching that got the big outs whenever needed. The Titans winning streak came to a crashing halt Saturday evening by a score of 10-6 to the Oklahoma State Cowboys, in a game played at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium in Stillwater, OK. Indeed, this outcome was a team effort, as several of the steadiest strengths of the team had the inevitable off night.

Throughout the winning streak, the Titans demonstrated that good teams take advantage of every mistake made by their opponent and go for the jugular when the other guy gives them an opening. Last night, the shoe was on the other foot: Fullerton was the team making the mistakes and Oklahoma State was the team meting out the punishment. Aided by four Titans errors (and a couple more which could have been ruled errors), the Cowboys offense exploded with a power barrage that included nine extra-base hits.

The visiting team Titans jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead in the first inning when Gary Brown led off with a walk, advanced on a groundout and scored on an RBI single by Josh Fellhauer. Kyle Witten pitched a strong 1-2-3 first inning.

Nick Ramirez led off the second inning with a home run. The third run of the game scored that inning: Tony Harkey singled and advanced to third on a double by Joe Scott. After Gary Brown was hit by a pitch, Christian Colon hit a groundball to the shortstop, who hesitated just slightly in tossing the ball to second, allowing the speedy Brown to beat the throw and giving Fullerton a 3-0 lead.

After another strong inning by Witten, the Titans squandered an opportunity to break the game open early. Jared Clark and Khris Davis had singles and a double steal, but strikouts by Harkey and Garneau left them stranded in scoring position.

The Cowboys showed they were not going to be pushed around, as Michael Dabbs blasted a two-run homer to cut the Fullerton lead to 3-2 in the bottom of the third inning. However, the Titans responded immediately with two runs in the top of the fourth on a Brown single, an RBI double by Colon and an RBI single by Clark, giving the Titans a shortlived 5-2 lead.

Witten gave up a couple hits in the fourth inning, but struck out the side and posted a zero. Ninth-place hitter Tyrone Hambly doubled to lead off the fifth inning and later scored on a sacrifice fly which made the score 5-3.

Josh Fellhauer homered in the fifth inning to give CSUF a 6-3 lead. Comfortable? Not at this ballpark, on a night in which neither temperature nor wind would be a factor (unlike Friday night).

The roof caved in for Witten and the Titans in the last of the sixth inning. Doug Kroll led off with a double before the turning point in the game. Neil Medchill skied a foul ball that looked like it might stay in play in front of the OSU dugout. Garneau camped under it, with Brown hovering in the area. The ball seemed to come back farther than he had judged and popped out of Garneau's glove for an error that extended the at-bat. Two pitches later, the lefthanded-hitting Medchill crushed one that turned the three-run lead into a narrow 6-5 edge.

Dean Green followed with a single and was forced out at second on a nice play by Brown on an attempted sacrifice bunt. The ninth-hitter, Hambly, then crushed a monster home run that gave the Cowboys their first lead of the night, 7-6. Exit Witten, enter Jason Dovel, who promptly plunked the first batter he faced. One out later, with Travis Kelly on the mound for Fullerton, Kevin David hit a sizzler past Clark into right-field for an RBI double and an 8-6 lead.

The inning gave the Cowboys and their small but partisan crowd a huge adrenaline injection. Pitcher Tyler Lyons seemed to be throwing harder in the seventh inning than early in the game. He threw easy 1-2-3 innings in the seventh and eighth innings.

Things really came unglued for the Titans defensively in the eighth inning after Kelly retired the first batter. The second batter up (Hambly) struck out, but the ball eluded Garneau momentarily and his throw to first base struck Hambly in the back for Garneau's second error of the evening. After Hambly was forced out at second base, the third out eluded the Titans when Joe Scott's feet slipped from under him and he booted a groundball. Kyle Mertins relieved Kelly, who pitched pretty well considering the defensive lapses, and walked Kevin David to load the bases. Tom Belza then hit a soft fly towards left-field that Harkey charged well, got to - and couldn't hold on to. It was ruled a double and the lead was stretched to 10-6. (So much for getting a runner aboard and bringing the tieing run to the plate in the ninth inning.)

Closer Randy McCurry struck out the side (sandwiched around a Fellhauer single) in the ninth inning to end the streak.

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So what did we learn last night?

First, we learned that the host team has a distinct advantage in a three-team round robin tournament format. When each team plays the other teams twice, wouldn't you expect every team to be home once and visitors once against each opponent? The deck was stacked so that OSU was the home team in both games against Fullerton.

In Tyler Lyons and Andrew Oliver, the Titans faced two of the country's premier lefthanded starting pitchers and posted fourteen runs in the two games: it us tough to score an average of seven runs a game against quality pitchers like that and only get a split. However, it is a good indicator of the offense's capability to hit elite pitching, not just score a pile of runs against weaker arms.

It would be a misstatement to call home plate umpire Ben Harlow a "homer"; he was absolutely dreadful calling pitches for both teams. The guy was so bad that it kind of evened out, but it seems that some of the biggest Cowboys' hits happened after an apparent third strike was called a ball. I guess an umpire is fair if both teams thought he sucked, but isn't a good umpire supposed to be the guy you hardly even notice he is on the field?

Sunday's opponent, URI, has taken two beatings from the superior Fullerton and Oklahoma State teams, pitching their third and fourth starters. We will be up against their ace, who pitched 8 2/3 shutout innings in the Rams' 3-0 win over Miami. The game is being moved up to 11:30 a.m. CDT to accomodate the Titans' travel plans and it is the final game of remarkable but grueling road trip. It is another great test of the mental toughness of this team: it would be perfectly understandable for this team to "mail it in" against an inferior opponent and head to the airport for a well-deserved trip home, but I expect these guys ready to show up Sunday and end this sojourn on a high note. Beware the Ides of March, Titans!

Winning pitcher Tyler Lyons (3-0) got stronger as the game wore on: he was getting hit early and it looked like his pitch count limit would be surpassed quickly, but he settled down and pitched well. Witten started stronger, but Lyons finished better. Lyons pitched eleven games last summer with the undefeated Team USA (which included Fellhauer, Colon and Clark) and allowed no earned runs.

Even with Lyons giving up some early hits and runs, he avoided the two things that have killed opposing pitchers during the Titans hot run: he gave up just one walk and one HBP. The Titans have had an uncanny knack for driving in runners that have reached base "the easy way", which Lyons avoided.

It was a little surprising that Witten stayed in the game as long as he did, considering the Titans had hoped to get 5-6 strong innings from him (his first extended duty since leaving the USM game with a tightened glut muscle; he pitched a little bit Tuesday against Texas A&M) and then use Jason Dovel to either contain the strong stretch of lefthanded hitting of OSU or to cause lineup changes to get weaker righthanded hitters in off the bench. Even though Witten's defense let him down in the sixth inning, he surrendered a three-run lead and gave up some long bombs to lefthanded hitters while Dovel waited in the bullpen.

Garneau made two errors and Colon and Scott had one each. There were a couple of tough plays in left-field that Jeff Newman, as well as he has played defensively, might have made. Pitches were left up and the price was paid.

We seem to be giving up a lot of extra-base hits to eighth and ninth batters lately. This may be merely reflective of the top-to-bottom quality of good teams, or is it something else?

We also learned that Reynolds Stadium plays different when the wind isn't blowing straight in: the ball jumped off bats and really carried - unlike Friday. Back in 1984, Oklahoma State outfielder Pete Incaviglia (you remember him with the Texas Rangers?) slugged an unimaginable 48 home runs (in 75 games). Even playing a few more games than today's teams that advance deep into the NCAA tournament, that is still a lot of homers, even if you are hitting golf balls with titanium bats. The stadium (which opened in 1981) had to have something to do with it.

Prior to the game, the Diamond Club held a gathering at a nearby restaurant. Coach Sergio Brown was the guest speaker and he gave an enthusiastic insight into how the team has really come together as a tight-knit family during this arduous road trip. I really like this coaching staff and the job they have done. Baseball lends itself to resolution-free arguments (should you bunt a lot or swing away? do you play a better defensive outfielder or one that hits better? do you stick with the starter or go to the bullpen?) The part of Sergio's speech that interested me most and made me proudest was when he talked about the quality of the young men in this program. There is a "Titan Way" for even the small things - like how to close a hotel room door - that teaches lessons that last long after the spikes and pinstripes have been replaced by wingtips and business attire.

I also enjoyed the impromptu introductions made by all meeting attendees. (Great idea, Larry!) After going to games for a few years now and poking my head in at a tailgate party now and again, the faces are familiar but the stories behind them aren't. It was great to learn about the identities and lives of the people stricken with this same addiction to Titans baseball as I am. Whether it is guys like Milt Bower and Matt Helm who played on the very first Titans baseball team back in 1963/64 or parents of players in their first year in the program, this is an outstanding group of people with successful lives and stories to tell.

Finally, the Titans' loss was not my only disappointment on Saturday. After a delicious breakfast at Mom's Diner, I set out to the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, all set to see the exhibits honoring greats like Lou Thesz, Bruno Sammartino, George "The Animal" Steele, Captain Lou Albano, King Kong Bundy, Haystacks Calhoun, Killer Kowalski, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, Rowdy Roddy Piper and all my other favorite athletes. Guess what? The place was bereft of tributes to any and all of the sport's legends: this place was all about honoring that phony-baloney college wrassling stuff. What a disappointment!

Titans Conquer Triskaidekaphobia

By Don Hudson

STILLWATER, Okla. - Neither Friday the 13th, frigid weather nor playing two games against opponents who entered play today with combined records of 18-4 could derail the red-hot play of the Cal State Fullerton Titans in the opening day of play of the Oklahoma State Tournament at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium in Stillwater, OK. The Titans won the opener against the University of Rhode Island Rams by a 17-3 score, behind the solid pitching of Tyler Pill and another offensive onslaught that included sixteen hits and five hit batsmen. In the nightcap, the Titans won an 8-4 verdict against the host team and perennial powerhouse Oklahoma State Cowboys, beating nationally recognized lefthander Andy Oliver on the strength of a fourteen hit attacked led by Jared Clark (5-5), Josh Fellhauer (3-5 with an RBI) and Tony Harkey (2-2 with 4 huge RBI).

Game 1 Recap: Cal State Fullerton 17, Rhode Island 3

URI came out swinging in the first inning looking like the little train that could: hitting the ball sharply despite blustery cold playing conditions made tougher by steady winds that made it feel even worse. Pill surrendered a run in the first on sharp double by Oliver Palmer following a single by Zoey Angulo. The Rams' 1-0 lead was shortlived, however, as Fullerton responded with two in the bottom of the inning on a two-out double by Nick Ramirez, driving in Gary Brown and Christian Colon, who had each singled.

After a LeBel triple and Adams double tied the score for Rhody in the top of the second, the Titans continued to work deep into the counts against starting pitcher Tim Boyce. The Titans scored three runs (and lost another when Billy Marcoe, substituting to allow Dustin Garneau to rest for the nightcap, led off with a single but was promptly picked off) on a Joe Scott HBP, another Brown single, a Colon HBP, a sacrifice fly by Josh Fellhauer and a two-ribby hit by Jared Clark.

The Titans broke the game wide open in the third inning with four runs after Pill had pitched a 1-2-3 frame. The rally was started by the bottom third of the order: Newman led off with a single and stole second; Marcoe walked and Scott was hit by a pitch. Gary Brown hit a two-run double and subsequently came around to score on Felly's two-run single.

From that point on, the game was a matter of avoiding frostbite - both in the stands and dugout and on the field. Jared Clark spiked another monster home run through a stiff breeze blowing in. You know the game has gotten out of hand when the focus of our fans was discussing the respective merits of the diners at small Southern California airports. Flo's Country Kitchen at the Chino Airport was the concensus winner, but strong support was given for the diners at Brackett Field (La Verne), Cable Airport (Upland) and Corona Municipal Airport.

Pill ended up going seven innings, surrendering three runs on eleven hits, walking none. With the win, Pill upped his record to 3-0 on the season. Derrick Dingeman pitched the last two innings, finishing strong after allowing a four-pitch walk and a single when he entered the game in the eighth inning.

Game 2 Recap: Cal State Fullerton 8, Oklahoma State 4

In a battle of top-flight pitchers, Cal State Fullerton was able to prevail largely because Daniel Renken played Houdini during his 5+ innings - working out of some very tight jams with minimal damage - while his teammates were able to come up with clutch hits against the very formidable left-hander Andy Oliver. (That guy threw some gas on a very cold night and was consistently around the corners - I thought he was the best starting pitcher we've yet to face this year.) The Cowboys stranded thirteen runners, to just six for the Titans.

After a scoreless first inning in which both pitchers looked sharp, the Titans scored a run in the top of the second on a Jared Clark double and a clutch two-out RBI single by Tony Harkey, making his first start of the season in left-field in order to get another potent right-handed batter in the line-up against a tough southpaw.

Daniel Renken pitched into and out of his first big jam in the bottom of the second. Oklahoma State loaded the bases with nobody out on a Doug Kroll walk and singles by Neil Medchill and Dean Green. This is when Renken got tough: he struck out Tyrone Hambly and Michael Dabbs and retired Dusty Harvard on a grounder to Scott.

After Oliver pitched a dominant 1-2-3 third inning, the Cowboys got Renken back on the ropes in their half of the inning. Davis Duren led off with a walk and went to third on a single by Kevin David (their catcher can stroke the ball): runners at the corners with nobody out. Cleanup hitter Tom Belza lifted a short fly ball to left field - brought back even closer to infield by the wind, which made it too short to tag up. Renken got Kroll to pop up to Colon and Medchill grounded to Scott to end the inning harmlessly - but with a mounting pitch count.

The Titans scored thrice in the fourth inning, including two situations where attempted bunts were unsuccessful and were followed by two-strike hits. After singles by Felly and Clark, Nick Ramirez bunted foul and then sliced an opposite field double to drive in the game's second run. After Tony Harkey fouled off a bunt on an attempted squeeze play, he delivered a solid two-run single to give Fullerton a 4-0 advantage.

Oklahoma State has an excellent team and they weren't going down without a fight. Renken started the fourth inning with two strikeouts; unfortunately, the second K was a wild pitch that allowed Hambly to reach base and trot around when the ninth batter in the lineup, Dabbs, hit a home run to right field to make it a 4-2 game. Renken seemed temporarily flustered and worked into another jam following the homer: he allowed two walks and two wild pitches, putting the tying run at second base with just one out - go ahead run at the plate. One of the game's most critical plays followed: David smashed a ball down the third base line, which Brown fielded cleanly with a nice backhand stop. Rather than take the out at first and allow the third run to score, he threw home, where Garneau tagged out Harvard.

After both Oliver and Renken pitched unblemished fifth innings, the Titans scored two more runs to extend their lead to 6-2. The Titans loaded the bases with one out on a Felly double, a Clark single and a walk by Khris Davis (after spoiling a bunch of tough pitches). Harkey's squeeze bunt drove in Fellhauer; when Harkey got tangled up with the second-baseman covering first, Clark alertly came around to score the inning's second tally.

Renken's night came to a close in the sixth inning following a home run by Hambly and a beautiful drag bunt single by Dabbs. Nick Ramirez came in from the bullpen and continued his recent success on the mound for the Titans. Ramirez got out of the inning with the 6-3 lead intact on the strength of a strikeout and a nice diving stab by Joe Scott.

Ramirez escaped another bases-load-one-out situation in the seventh inning with a strikeout and pop-out to catcher Dustin Garneau.

The Titans added a couple insurance runs in the top of the ninth. Garneau was hit by a pitch, advanced on a passed ball and a Scott sacrifice and scored on Gary Brown's single through a drawn-in infield. Brown stole second and scored on an RBI single by Felly, who also stole third. With the score 8-3 (hardly a blowout), the Cowboys coaching staff was not thrilled with the stolen base attempts and were totally pissed when Felly attempted to steal the plate. (The catcher had the ball in time and stuck his mitt out in front of the plate and hoped Felly slid into it. The call was "out", but they still haven't tagged him yet.)

With a five-run lead, Nick took the hill again in the bottom of the ninth and was touched for a solo homer by Medchill. Michael Morrison entered the game and induced a popout to Garneau and a strikeout to end the game: his sixth consecutive scoreless outing.

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So what did we learn today?

First, we learned just how cold it can be but still have the game played well. It was too cold for me to push the button on my camera, so how do these guys snap off sharp breaking balls or hit line drives - in some cases without even wearing batting gloves? I love the psychological advantage gained by the Titans when their opponents are all bundled up, but our base coaches aren't even wearing jackets: Bergy wasn't even wearing sleeves!

This has been a remarkable road trip: these guys have written a new chapter in Titans history which will be long remembered. The question has to be asked: when is their success described by "they are on a red hot streak" become "this is a great team"? Winning on the road against quality opponents is a great indicator just how good this team can be - but this is still March.

Several guys had great days at the plate on Friday. Jared Clark was 7-9 with 5 runs and 4 RBI: he even stole two bases! Felly was 5-8 with 2 runs and 4 RBI, while Brown was 4-9 with 4 runs and 4 RBI.

Perhaps the day's unsung hero was Tony Harkey, who went 3-3 with 6 RBI. With Oklahoma State starting two outstanding lefties, it made sense to try to find a big right-handed bat, particularly to provide protection in the seventh spot batting behind Davis. Teams have recently seemed willing to pitch around Davis and take their chances with Jeff Newman: Harkey takes away the appeal of that option. Siddons has yet to hit much, so it appears that Harkey will be the right-handed half of the left-field platoon.

Speaking of Newman, he made a couple more highlight reel catches today. Not only does he get a great jump on fly balls, but he also "closes" on balls hit away from him as well as any outfielder in recent memory. The defense made zero errors in the double-header: I think the fielders welcomed the ball being hit to them just so they could stay warm.

Renken was uncharacteristically wild pitching in the frigid weather: in 5+ innings, he gave up four walks and had three wild pitches, in addition to seven hits. It wasn't one of his better outings, but give him credit for coming up with some huge pitches to an excellent team in their home environment. With the win, his record goes to 3-0. It seemed the weather affected the pitchers more than the hitters, especially on breaking balls.

Nick Ramirez gave the pitching staff a shot in the arm with his 3 1/3 innings of stellar relief pitching. Not only did he nullify Oklahoma State's lefthanded oriented line-up, he triggered switches to righthanded pitchers that were easily retired: you try sitting around a windy 38 degree stadium all day and then come off the bench and try to get a hit.

Between the weather and Oklahoma State playing a Big 12 Conference basketball game on Friday night, the crowd tonight at the big showdown game was just 823. It wasn't much, but it was a far cry better than the crowd at the afternoon game against URI: 111.

I'm interested in how URI coach Jim Foster will allign his pitching the rest of the tournament. Today he started Tim Boyce - his #3 weekend starter - against Fullerton's #3 guy . Eric Smith and Nick Greenwood are their two best starters. As the underdog, Rhody has a big advantage in that they will not face a #1 or a #2 starter from either Oklahoma State or Fullerton. Foster is a sharp coach: don't be surprised if he can get one or two close games against these powerhouse opponents in the games pitched by Smith and Greenwood.

Tomorrow night's rematch with Oklahoma State could have some sparks. They weren't happy with the coaching staff have Felly attempting steals of third and home with the score 8-3. (I think they are full of crap - are you telling me a team with 19 CWS trips has never overcome a five run deficit at home? Cut me a break!) The weather is going to be a little warmer and the hoops team got eliminated, so I'd expect a bigger crowd and a little attitude. It is a great opportunity for Kyle Witten to match up with another nationally prominent pitching opponent - I can't wait!