Titans Top Cardinals in 10

By Howie Lindsey

Special to CollegeBaseballInsider.com

@howielindsey

 

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Call it luck, call it skill... either way, Cal-State Fullerton coach Rick Vanderhook will take it. 

 

The Titans beat No. 3 national seed Louisville 3-2 Saturday at Jim Patterson Stadium after Louisville's sophomore All-American closer Zack Burdi hit sophomore infielder Timmy Richards in the shoulder with a pitch with the bases loaded in the 10th inning. 

 

"Great game. And even if we would've lost, I still would say great baseball game," Vanderhook said. "Two pitchers going toe-to-toe and those guys attacked the hitters on both sides. I'll just say we got a little lucky. I said it yesterday: You've got to have a little luck, and I'll take all the luck we can get."

 

Fullerton took a 1-0 lead and a 2-1 lead only to see Louisville come back to tie the game on solo home runs each time. Then, after the Titans took a 3-2 in the top of the 10th, Louisville had the tying run on third and the winning run on first when the game ended on a strikeout. 

 

"I just want to congratulate Cal State Fullerton. They played well," Louisville coach Dan McDonnell said. "... It was a hard-fought game. We had opportunities. It was just tough to capitalize."

 

It was a complete pitchers' duel through the first five innings as two future first-round Major League Baseball draft picks went toe-to-toe in Louisville junior Kyle Funkhouser (7 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K) and Fullerton junior Thomas Eshelman (7 IP, 8 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K). 

 

In fact, the game was evenly matched in nearly every way. Both teams threw their ace, both left a lot of runners on base and neither team could break free for a big inning. The Titans (37-22) had three one-run innings, 10 hits and 12 runners left on base. The Cardinals (46-16) had two one-run innings with 12 hits and 11 left on base. 

 

Neither pitcher allowed a run through five innings. Funkhouser allowed just three hits and had four strikeouts, and Eshelman scattered six hits and had three strikeouts. 

 

Fullerton finally broke through in the sixth inning. Junior outfielder David Olmedo-Barrera popped a one-out single to right-center field and was pushed to second on a two-out screamer up the middle by Tanner Pinkston. A double-steal put runners on second and third for junior outfielder Dalton Blaser, who singled to right field to bring Olmedo-Barrera home. 

 

"I thought 'Get the job done,'" Blaser said. "I am not trying to do too much. We pride ourselves on that. We had a little conversation. We just tried not to get too big and stay within myself, and I was fortunate to get two in today."

 

Down 1-0, Louisville struck back quickly when Freshman All-American Brendan McKay slugged a solo homer over the 330-fence in right field. The beyond capacity crowd at Louisville's Jim Patterson Stadium stood and cheered as he rounded the bases and met his teammates after touching home. 

 

The pitchers’ duel resumed in the seventh inning as Funkhouser and Eshelman each held their foes scoreless. Funkhouser returned for the top of the eighth, and it proved costly. He walked the first batter he faced, Olmedo-Barrera, before being replaced by Freshman All-American reliever Lincoln Henzman. 

 

A sacrifice bunt pushed Olmedo-Barrera to second and he advanced to third on a wild pitch. In a case of odd déjà vu, Blaser knocked a two-out single to score Olmedo-Barrera from third to give the Titans the lead 2-1. 

 

"Today Funkhouser was just peppering that outside half," Vanderhook said. "It was 92, 94, and that's a hard pitch to hit down at the bottom there. I think we wore him out a little bit. We had him at 80-plus pitches and that's kind of what we do early – try to do, is get some pitch counts up. And then he went to the seventh, he was at 116 pitches before he walked DOB [Olmedo-Barrera].  ... We got a couple of hits afterward and got it going."

 

Fullerton senior reliever Tyler Peitzmeier (4-3, 3.0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K) replaced Eshelman in the eighth inning and got the win while Henzman took the loss (5-2, 2.1 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K).

 

Louisville tied the score in the bottom of the ninth. After a pop-fly first out by Zach Lucas, the Cardinals' seventh hitter Mike White powered a ball over the right-field fence to tie the score at 2. It was White's second homer of the season, and it came at a crucial time for the Cardinals. White came into the game hitting .254 and had just the one hit beyond a double in 126 at-bats this season.

 

"I just know he was frustrated from the last couple of weeks," McDonnell said of White. "... I am happy for Mike, he's had a great year, and he's another guy I think he's going to get a chance to play pro ball."

 

After Devin Hairston grounded out to the shortstop, Logan Taylor took a five-pitch walk and Sutton Whiting singled up the middle to put runners on first and second for pinch-hitter Ryan Summers. With runners on first and second and two outs, Summers just clobbered a pitch from Peitzmeier that would have been a homer, but it drifted left and bounced off a car and an RV in left field. Summers popped up to second base a pitch later and the game went into extra innings. 

 

Fullerton got to Henzman in the top of the 10th. The Louisville reliever left the game with the bases loaded and one out after giving up a walk and a pair of hits. It was a tough spot to bring in Burdi, and he made it tougher by plunking Richards to score Bravo from third. 

 

With the Cardinals now down 3-2, Burdi regained his form, striking out A.J. Kennedy and Taylor Bryant looking. After Bryant struck out looking to strand three runners to end the 10th, he turned and said "No Way" to the home plate umpire Doug Williams as the home crowd cheered. 

 

Most of the beyond-capacity crowd of 4,765 stood for the final inning. After sophomore outfielder Corey Ray hit a long pop-fly to right field for the first out of the 10th inning, McKay hit a single to right and was replaced on first by sophomore pinch-runner Colin Lyman. Sophomore catcher Will Smith singled to right and senior third baseman Zach Lucas reached on a fielder's choice. White, Louisville's hero that sent the game to extra innings with his ninth-inning homer, struck out swinging at a shoulder-high pitch to end the game. 

 

NOTES

 

·    The Titans are 17-10 (.629) in 12 Super Regional appearances dating to the tournament format change in 1999. This series in Louisville is just the third Super Regional the Titans have played on the road (at Ohio State in 1999 and at UCLA in 2010)

·    Eshelman issued his first walk in 35.2 innings (May 8 vs. UC Santa Barbara) to Devin Hairston in the bottom of the second inning.

·    Louisville was 3-0 this season in extra-inning games before losing Saturday's 10-inning game. 

·    Bravo reached base in his 42^nd straight game with a single to center in the second inning.

·    Louisville Freshman All-American Brendan McKay is expected to take the mound Sunday for the Cardinals. In 12 starts this season, the lefty two-way player is 8-3 with a 1.71 ERA with 108 strikeouts in 89.2 innings pitched. 

·    Fullerton freshman lefty John Gavin will throw Sunday. He is 7-2 on the season with a 3.55 ERA, notching 65 strikeouts in 83.2 innings.