Long Beach Rocks Titan Pitchers

FULLERTON — The roof fell in on Cal State Fullerton’s pitching Saturday night.

Long Beach State, held at bay a night earlier in the opener of a three-game Big West Conference series, hammered the Titans for three home runs in a 17-9 victory at Titan Field. It was the most runs scored by Long Beach against Fullerton in the Division I era for both teams.

The loss, in front of 1,478, was the first in eight conference games for Fullerton (19-8) this season and left the Titans and 49ers (15-9) each with 7-1 Big West records going into today’s 1 p.m. series-deciding third game.

Paul Day and Jason Berni each homered and drove in four runs to lead the Long Beach rout. Berni (4-3), who began the game as the designated hitter, also was the winning pitcher in relief.

“Berni was the key,” Long Beach Coach Dave Snow said. “We needed someone to come in and slow them down.”

The Titans were missing their regular second-game starter Jon Smith, sidelined because of a sore arm, and Long Beach battered his replacement, Kirk Saarloos, and two of three relief pitchers.

Saarloos ran into trouble from the start and lasted only three innings, giving up five runs. Reliever Adam Johnson, who had given up only two runs in 16 2/3 innings going into the game, was belted for eight runs, four of them unearned, in 2 1/3 innings. He dropped to 1-1 with the loss.

The Titans tied it on Kevin Duck’s two-run homer in the first and one run on David Bacani’s RBI bad-hop single in the second, but Saarloos gave up a two-run homer to Berni in the third.

Fullerton regained the lead at 6-5 in the bottom of the third on Aaron Rowand’s team-leading seventh home run of the season, a two-run shot to left. Duck had driven in a run earlier in the inning on a sacrifice fly.

Rowand ended Long Beach starter Caleb Balbuena’s night in the fourth with a two-run double down the right field line after Balbuena gave up a walk to Chris Beck and hit Duck after retiring the first two batters. That gave Fullerton an 8-5 lead.

Johnson, who replaced Saarloos in the fourth, gave up one run in the fifth on hits by Day and Berni, but Johnson found himself in big trouble in the sixth.

Two walks and third baseman Ryan Moore’s throwing error on a sacrifice bunt loaded the bases with no outs. Chuck Lopez’s ground-ball single up the middle drove in two runs and then Day hit a three-run homer to left-center.