Patience Pays for Fullerton in 5-3 Victory

Cal State Fullerton used a bit of patience Saturday night to get past Fresno State, 5-3, in a nonconference game at Titan Field.

The Titans (4-1) got the tying and go-ahead runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, driven in on back-to-back, bases-loaded walks to Jeremy Giambi and Brian Loyd.

After the Bulldogs (3-4) took a 3-2 lead in the top of the fifth, highlighted by Matt Curtis’ two-run home run, Cal State Fullerton’s Aaron Rowand and C.J. Ankrum each singled and advanced on a wild pitch by Fresno State’s Brad Tucker. Mark Kotsay was intentionally walked, loading the bases for Giambi and Loyd.

Jerome Alviso added a bases-empty home run, his first of the season, in the sixth inning for Cal State Fullerton.

Brent Billingsley struck out eight in 5 1/3 innings of work, giving up three runs on six hits, to earn his second victory of the season. Kotsay came in from center field and worked a perfect ninth, with one strikeout, to record his first save.

Ankrum went two for four with a home run, his first of the season, and two runs batted in for the Titans.

Since losing its opener to Stanford, Cal State Fullerton, ranked No. 1 nationally, has won four consecutive games.

The series finale will be played at 1 p.m. today, with Jeff Weaver (1-0, 1.15) scheduled to oppose the Titans’ Matt Wise (1-0, 0.00), who is making his first start of the season.

In nonconference baseball:

California 6-6, Long Beach State 5-4 (13)--Dan Cey scored on Jaime Quiroga’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 13th as California defeated 17th-ranked Long Beach State in the completion of a game suspended Friday because of darkness. Casey Snow has two hits and four RBIs for the 49ers (1-4).

Ryan Drese pitched eight no-hit innings for the fifth-ranked Bears (6-2) in the second game.