Cal St.-Fullerton 11, Tulane 2
June 12, 2001 | Baseball
June 12, 2001
By DENNIS WASZAK Jr.
AP Sports Writer
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Freshman Darric Merrell scattered six hits over eight innings, and David Bacani homered twice and drove in five runs to lead Cal State-Fullerton to an 11-2 victory over Tulane in a College World Series elimination game Tuesday.
Merrell, a freshman right-hander, allowed two unearned runs, struck out four, walked three and lost a bid for the first College World Series shutout in five years in the eighth inning.
Bacani, who has hit three of his seven homers at the College World Series, went 3-for-4, and Louie Lamoure went 3-for-3 with an RBI for the Titans (48-17).
Cal State-Fullerton will play Stanford on Wednesday night in a rematch of Sunday's 5-2, 10-inning victory by the Cardinal.
The loss ended Tulane's first trip to the College World Series. The Green Wave (56-13) were the nation's winningest team and lost to Stanford in the series opener, but eliminated fellow first-timer Nebraska on Sunday to set up the matchup with Cal State-Fullerton.
Merrell (8-4) hadn't allowed a hit since the third inning when the Green Wave finally broke through against him.
Anthony Giarratano reached on third baseman Shawn Norris' fielding error. One out later, Jon Kaplan and Andy Cannizaro hit consecutive singles to load the bases. Jake Gautreau hit an RBI groundout, James Jurries walked and Michael Aubrey, who started on the mound and was the designated hitter, hit an RBI single to make it 8-2.
The Titans added three more runs against Barth Melius in the ninth. Aaron Rifkin hit an RBI double, Chris Stringfellow had a sacrifice fly and Matt Belfanti hit a pinch-hit RBI single to make it 11-2.
Cal State-Fullerton took a 2-0 lead in the second off Aubrey (3-1) on an RBI double by Stringfellow and an RBI single by Lamoure.
Brett Kay hit a one-out single, stole second and scored on Stringfellow's double one out later. Lamoure's blooper to center drove in Stringfellow to make it 2-0.
The Titans manufactured a run in the third to make it 3-0. Norris walked to lead off the inning and moved to second on Bacani's bunt single. Norris moved to third on Robert Guzman's sacrifice, and scored on Jason Corapci's sacrifice fly to center.
Bacani broke it open for Cal State-Fullerton in the fourth with a three-run homer. Stringfellow drew a one-out walk and moved to third on Lamoure's double. One out later, Bacani drove a 1-1 pitch into the bleachers in left-center field to make it 6-0.
Aubrey allowed six runs, eight hits, struck out five and walked four in 6 1-3 innings.
Bacani added a two-run homer off Melius in the eighth.
Cal State-Fullerton's Tim Dixon and Mark Chavez combined for the last shutout at the College World Series in the semifinals against Tennessee during the Titans' 1995 championship season.
