Garcia Wriggles Out of Trouble; Titans Win, 6-4

They dedicated the new stadium lights at UC Irvine Thursday night, officially welcoming an era of night baseball to the field the Anteaters call home. Then, as fast as you could say, “Let there be light,” Cal State Fullerton went out and threw a shadow over the festivities.

The Titans scored four runs in the sixth inning and used some imaginative pitching from Longo Garcia to gain a 6-4 Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. victory in front of an estimated crowd of 750.

Garcia gave up 11 hits, struck out 11 and walked 3 in pitching his sixth complete game to help the Titans to their eighth straight victory. The junior right-hander worked his way out of trouble several times and improved his record to 8-2.

Leading, 6-1, Garcia gave up three runs in the seventh and appeared on the verge of heading for the dugout before he struck out Doug Kline on three pitches for the final out of the inning.

In the eighth, third baseman Tony Trevino’s diving backhand catch stopped a sure double; Garcia put runners on first and second with two out before getting Jeff Oberdank to ground out.

Garcia retired the Anteaters in order in the ninth, and the first-place Titans had put some more distance between themselves and the rest of the PCAA pack by improving their record to 9-1 in conference play, 30-12 overall. Irvine, in second place, is 6-4, 19-20-1.

Irvine Coach Mike Gerakos came away impressed with Garcia’s ability to escape just when it looked as if the Anteaters had him cornered.

“Longo made some outstanding pitches when he had to,” Gerakos said. “We had some opportunities, but he just made some great pitches.”

The result was Irvine pitcher Craig Brink’s first loss since Valentine’s Day. After beginning the season at 0-3, Brink had won his next six decisions before Thursday night’s game, including three straight complete-game victories in PCAA play. He had given up just six earned runs in 27 innings of conference play.

But it didn’t take Fullerton long to begin inflating Brink’s once-dwindling earned-run average. Mark Baca led off the game by hitting a 1-2 pitch from Brink over the left-field fence, and Fullerton had a 1-0 lead before the new lights even had a chance to take full effect.

Fullerton added a run in the fourth on triples by Trevino and Ken Garcia.

In the sixth, Fullerton’s Keith Kaub hit a towering home run that traveled well beyond the left-field light standard. Andy Mota followed with a double and scored on Ken Garcia’s single. Mike Ham was hit by a Brink pitch, and Mark Razook’s sacrifice bunt brought Baca up with runners on second and third. Baca responded with one of his three hits, a two-run single that gave the Titans their 6-1 lead.

The Titans scored 46 runs in three games last weekend against Nevada Las Vegas, including a 24-10 win in the series opener in which they hit a school-record nine home runs.

“I knew we had more power than we were demonstrating during the first part of the season,” Fullerton Coach Augie Garrido said. “I just think it took awhile for us to develop confidence as a team and start hitting with power. It’s good to see it come, but I think it comes as a result of confidence.”

Garcia used this outing to help him forget his last one, a 2-inning stint at UNLV in which he was charged with 10 runs.

He gave up a run in the second, then settled down through the middle innings, retiring nine straight at one point.

In the sixth, he got Irvine pinch-hitter Osmar DeChavez to take a called third strike on the outside corner with two on and two out.

Baca’s two-base error and Chris Gallego’s double to the gap in right-center sparked Irvine’s rally in the seventh. Gallego finished the game with three hits.