Titans’ lefty stops Cardinal

After Cal State Fullerton lefty John Gavin struck out the side in the top of the seventh, he beat his chest and kicked his left leg into the air.

“I’m playing in front of 20plus family and friends,” Gavin said after the Titans’ 4-1 win in the Stanford Regional at Sunken Diamond. “I grew up watching Stanford. I grew up in San Jose. It was a close game, and all these games have emotion to them.”

After the Titans broke a 1-1 tie with two runs in the fifth, Gavin, who played at St. Francis-Mountain View, found his second wind.

The 6-foot-6, 250-pound junior retired the next six men on 24 pitches, then handed the ball to the bullpen. Two innings later, Gavin had his seventh win, sophomore Brett Conine had his 13th save and Fullerton (36-21) had sent the Cardinal (41-15) to Saturday’s elimination game against BYU. It was the third loss for Stanford in its past 25 games.

Gavin relied on a high-70s slider that he was able to throw for strikes and on which he got out-of-the-zone swings, going seven innings and striking out 10, allowing two walks and three hits on 112 pitches.

“Just too much of him,” Stanford head coach Mark Marquess said. “We couldn’t do much with his stuff.”

After Cardinal starter Andrew Summerville issued a five-pitch walk to Taylor Bryant in the bottom of the second, he surrendered back-to-back twostrike singles by senior Hunter Cullen and junior Chris Hudgins, putting Fullerton up 1-0.

With two outs in the top of the fifth, Stanford third baseman Jesse Kuet tied the game and extended his hitting streak to 12 games with an RBI single.

In the bottom of the fifth, Fullerton second baseman Sahid Valenzuela hit a one-out triple past a diving Jack Klein in left-center. Valenzuela scored the go-ahead run on a Dillon Persinger jam shot over shortstop.

Persinger’s single spelled the end for Summerville, and reliever Tyler Thorne — in his 100th career appearance — couldn’t shut the door. After a two-out walk to Hank LoForte, Thorne got what looked to be the final out on a grounder to short, but Nico Hoerner threw low to first, off Matt Winaker’s leg, and Persinger scored to make it 3-1.

Fullerton added a run in the sixth on a two-out RBI single to right by Valenzuela, who went 3-for-4.

In Friday’s first game, the Cougars (38-20) got three hits and three RBIs from Tanner Chauncey as they eliminated Sacramento State (32-29) with a 6-1 decision.