By snoadmin
After three days and three close games at Blair Field, the No. 17 Dirtbags managed only one win, and two very tough losses against their rival, No. 13 Cal State Fullerton.
“We hate losing to them,” said Dirtbag pitcher and designated hitter Shane Peterson. “It’s always tough [losing], but especially against these guys.”
After losing 7-4 on Friday night, the Dirtbags (13-9) came back Saturday night and battled the Titans (15-10) until 12:45 a.m. when Steve Tinoco finally hit a walk-off single to drive in AJ Pinocchio for the winning run in the bottom of the 14th, as the 49ers won 4-3.
On Sunday, the final game of the series looked like it would go in favor of the Dirtbags which lead 5-3 until the ninth inning. But closer Bryan Shaw blew his third save in a row when he gave up the tying run to the Titans, before Dustin Rasco came on the mound and gave up two more, giving the Titans a 7-5 lead. The Dirtbags tried to come back and managed to get two men on base in the bottom of the ninth, but failed to send any home.
“We did a nice job of coming back. We’re very good at that and very seasoned at coming back,” said head coach Mike Weathers. “We did a good job getting in that position and they did a good job of taking it away from us.”
Several Dirtbag relievers were roughed up by Fullerton during the series, a bullpen that typically throws shutout ball. The same went for the fielders, as the normally solid Dirtbag defense was charged with six errors.
While the relief staff had seen better games, the Dirtbags’ starting rotation had career-high outings.
Omar Arif went a little over six innings, matching his career-high, and notched career-high six strikeouts, giving up only five hits and one run.
“Arif was awesome,” Weathers said. “I thought he was really good and I thought this was the best Peterson did today.”
Peterson not only had his best outing of the season, but had his best series. He pitched a career-high four and 2/3 innings on Sunday giving up only three hits and striking out one. Peterson also came out of his hitting slump going 2-for-5 with a homerun and double on Friday night, and went 2-for-3 with a double on Saturday night. Coming into the series, Peterson was hitting only .083 – a frustratingly low number for a previous all-conference selection.
“It’s hard with such high expectations, and when I set a high bar for myself. So when I don’t produce it’s tough,” Peterson said. “I’ve been feeling a lot better, but it’s just kind of a long process that started a couple weeks ago. Mostly it was just trying to get my confidence back up.”
The catching staff came out of their slumps as well. Kip Masuda got his first hit since early February on Friday night, and Travis Howell hit a homerun on Sunday, his first of the season.
Brandon Godfrey continued his hitting streak making him the Dirtbags’ hottest batter. A stand-up triple to left field in the bottom of the first Sunday. extended his streak to five games. Godfrey’s .323 average is the second highest on the team, and the highest of all the starters.
