June 11, 2005
FULLERTON, Calif. -- Defending national champion Cal State Fullerton scored twice in the bottom of the ninth to beat 17th-ranked Arizona State, 3-2, with the final run scoring when a balk was called on sophomore closer Zechry Zinicola for not coming to a set position as he delivered the final pitch of an intentional walk to Bobby Andrews.
Brett Pill led off the ninth inning with a double, and Danny Dorn reached first on a bunt single to put runners on the corners. Pill scored to tie the game when Zinicola threw wildly to first base on a pick off attempt, allowing Dorn to reach third. Arizona State elected to walk the next two batters to load the bases, and the balk came on the final pitch to Andrews.
"It's disappointing for our kids," Arizona State head coach Pat Murphy said. "They deserve to win or lose it on the field, not to have it happen like that."
The Sun Devils had their season-high seven-game win streak snapped to fall to 37-23 overall. Cal State Fullerton improved to 46-16 with their fourth straight victory.
Junior left-handed pitcher Ricky Romero, the top pitcher selected in Tuesday's MLB Draft at No. 6 overall by the Toronto Blue Jays, earned the win, allowing two runs on three hits while striking out seven batters in a complete game victory. He struck out seven and walked one to improve to 13-5 on the season.
Arizona State's Travis Buck (Richland, Wash.) collected two of ASU's three hits, including a two-run home run to right field in the fourth inning. Freshman J.J. Sferra (Phoenix, Ariz.) collected a double for ASU's only other hit.
Sun Devils starter Jason Urquidez (Simi Valley, Calif.) held the Titans to a run on two hits over 7 2/3 innings, but did not get a decision. He struck out six and walked four to remain 9-4 on the season.
Fullerton took the early lead in the second inning on a solo home run to right field by third baseman Ronnie Prettyman.
Game Notes: Travis Buck belted his fifth home run of the season and 18th of his career... Buck extended his hitting streak to nine games and has hits in 23 of his last 24 games... he now has 102 hits on the season and is hitting .391... he tabbed his 34th multi-hit game, 23rd double and 25th steal of the season... freshman J.J. Sferra extended his hitting streak to six games, including hitting his first extra base hit (double) since April 23 (vs. UCLA)... junior LHP Brett Bordes made his 33rd appearance of the year and 73 of his career, to rank tied for third in both the ASU single-season and career record books... Buck and CSF starting pitcher Ricky Romero were teammates on the 2004 USA Baseball National Team that won the gold medal in the FISU World University Baseball Championships in Tainan, Taiwan... when Cal State Fullerton was on defense, it featured a lineup of all nine position that were selected in the MLB Draft.
CS Fullerton 3, Arizona State 2 (Jun 10, 2005 at Fullerton, Calif.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Arizona State....... 000 200 000 - 2 3 1 (37-23) CS Fullerton........ 010 000 002 - 3 4 0 (46-16) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Pitchers: Arizona State - Urquidez; Bordes, B.(8); Zinicola(9). CS Fullerton - Romero. Win-Romero(13-5) Loss-Bordes, B.(5-6) T-2:51 A-3654 HR ASU - Buck (5). HR CSF - Prettyman (8).