University of Minnesota Athletics
Baseball Loses to Cal State Fullerton 10-2
3/14/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Cal State Fullerton jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Sergio Pedroza singled to lead off the inning, and Ronnie Prettyman followed with a double to make it second and third with nobody out. Kurt Suzuki brought home Pedroza on a sacrifice fly to give the Titans a 1-0 lead. Prettyman tagged up and went to third, but was ruled out on the appeal on the same play. The Golden Gophers got the last out to hold the Titans to one run in the inning.
Minnesota scored a single run in the top of the fifth inning to tie the score at 1-1. John Arlt (Lakeville, Minn.) walked on four pitches to lead off the inning. Arlt moved up to second base on a balk, and stole third base in front of a pickoff attempt to second base by the Cal State Fullerton catcher. Sophomore shortstop Matt Fornasiere (Maple Grove, Minn.) delivered a sacrifice fly to left field to tie the game.
The Golden Gophers followed up with a run in the top of the sixth to take a 2-1 lead over Cal State Fullerton. With one out Mike Mee (Richfield, Minn.) beat out an infield single. The next batter, Jake Elder (Delta, British Columbia), reached on an error by the Titan rightfielder to make it first and second. Kevin Carlson (Edina, Minn.) followed with an RBI single that brought home Mee to make it 2- 1. Two batters later Fornasiere walked to load the bases. However, Cal State Fullerton reliever Vinnie Pestano got the next out to hold the Golden Gophers to one run in the inning.
Cal State Fullerton reclaimed the lead with five runs in the bottom of the sixth to go up 6-2, as it sent nine batters to the plate in the inning. Minnesota starter Matt Loberg (Anoka, Minn.) got the first two outs of the inning. However, Clark Hardman started things for the Titans with a two-out single. Pinch-hitter Felipe Garcia reached on an error to keep the inning alive. After Garcia and Hardman each moved up a base on a wild pitch, Blake Davis drove them both home with an RBI double to put the Titans up 3-2. Cal State Fullerton added three more runs to go up 6-2, highlighted by a pair of RBI doubles by Pedroza and Prettyman.
The Titans added four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to push their lead out to 10-2.
Loberg took the loss to fall to 1-1 as he pitched five and two thirds innings, gave up nine hits, five runs, one earned run and struck out five batters. Vinnie Pestano pitched two and a third scoreless innings of relief for Cal State Fullerton to pick up the win to move him to 1-2.
Minnesota was led offensively by Carlson who was two-for-three with an RBI. Fornasiere had the other Golden Gopher RBI on the day.
Cal State Fullerton was led offensively by Prettyman who was four-for- five with an RBI. Justin Turner had three RBI and was two-for-four.
The Golden Gophers will play a midweek game on Wednesday, Mar. 17 at Cal State Northridge at 4 p.m. Minnesota will wrap up its seven-game California trip with a three game series at UC Irvine. That series will begin on Thursday, Mar. 18 at 8 p.m. Minnesota will also play the Anteaters on Friday, Mar. 19 at 8 p.m. and Saturday, Mar. 20 at 3 p.m.
