Kaplan and the Titans are headed to the Super Regionals.
Tournament Most Outstanding Player Brian Wilson allowed just three runs on four hits to earn his second win of the NCAA regionals and help lift top-seeded Cal State Fullerton to a 5-4 victory over second-seeded UCLA. The victory gave the Titans a trip to the super regional round for the sixth consecutive season.
The Titans bats were firing on all cylinders, especially early, as Christian Colon and Erik Komatsu capped off the second inning with back-to-back RBI singles to give Fullerton the early 2-0 lead. UCLA would fire right back as Blair Dunlap hit his second home run of the year to lead off the third and Ryan Babineau added a sacrifice fly to tie the game at 2-2.
The Titans then took the lead for good in the fourth as Wilson and Gary Brown scored to make it 4-2 ballgame.
An RBI single by UCLA’s Brent Dean in the fifth closed the gap to 4-3, but Fullerton answered yet again in its half of the inning, as Garneau drew a four-pitch walk to drive home Wilson and make it 5-3. The Bruins would score an additional run to cut the lead to 5-4, but senior reliever Jeff Kaplan earned his first save of the year and sent the Bruins home early for the second consecutive year.
Fullerton will host Stanford in the best-of-three super regional round beginning on Friday June 6 at Goodwin Field in Fullerton, California. Game times are set for 7:30 p.m. PST on Friday, 4:30 p.m. PST on Saturday, and 4 p.m. PST on Sunday. Games one and three will be shown on ESPN2 and game two will be televised on ESPN.