Controversial Homer Sends Fullerton 'Home'

By Howie Lindsey

Special to CollegeBaseballInsider.com

@howielindsey

(photo by Patrick Green)

 

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Cal State Fullerton came back from a two-run deficit in the seventh inning to beat Louisville 4-3 in 11 innings Monday night. The Titans (39-23) got a pair of home runs from slugger David Olmedo-Barrera, including the game-winner in the top of the 11th to knock off the No. 3 national seed Cardinals (47-18).

 

Monday night's win gives Fullerton its 17th trip to the College World Series but first since 2009. 

 

"I feel like the Titans are going home, that's what I feel," Olmedo-Barrera said. "I feel like that's home. I feel like we belong there. I knew it all along despite what people say about us or what happened at the beginning of the season. We're going there now and that is what matters. We're going home."

 

Fullerton opened the season with just two wins in its first seven games and went on to lose three games against Indiana, two games against Long Beach State, two games against UCLA and two more against Maryland. They lost one starting pitcher to transfer and another to Tommy John. 

 

"We did not think we were going to be here, honestly," junior Jerrod Bravo said. "After a couple of big losses we just looked ourselves in the mirror and just started competing."

 

Even in this Game 3, it appeared like Fullerton didn't have enough, but it came roaring back to tie the game in the eighth and win it in the 11th in dramatic fashion. 

 

Olmedo-Barrera's game-winner was ruled fair, an extremely unpopular call with the home crowd, especially those in the left field overflow area who loudly booed when the call was upheld after a lengthy video review. 

 

And, though Fullerton threatened to score more runs in the top of the 11th, Louisville closer Zack Burdi got out of a jam, stranding three Titans. Olmedo-Barrera's homer turned out to be the difference after Louisville could only muster a single in the bottom of the 11th. 

 

After the game, a Louisville player screamed at the umpires as they left the field. The fans screamed at the group of the officials as they left the field, but Louisville coach Dan McDonnell said he won't be blaming an umpire's call for Louisville's loss. 

 

"I wouldn't have walked out there if I didn't think it was foul," McDonnell said. "I'm not going to waste everyone's time. But like I told our guys in the outfield [after the game], we're not going to blame an umpire."

 

McDonnell noted that while the home run call was important, there were many other moments in the game that could have been just as crucial. Both teams had chances throughout the game to put up bigger numbers, but each time good pitching and defense would stem the scoring effort. Both coaches noted how intense and hard-fought the game was in the post-game press conference. 

 

"Shew, that was like a war from – that was a war," Fullerton coach Rick Vanderhook said. "Saturday was a war, tonight was a war. We got down by two late by making a couple of mistakes then we got a couple of hits and got some guys on, Jerrod [Bravo] got some hits and then as we went into those extra innings it was knock-down, drag out. I don't think you could make a better game."

 

"There's no shame in losing to a great program," McDonnell said. "I made it clear to them how much fun they are to coach. If you love college baseball, that was a great game. It's a shame someone had to lose, but tonight it was the Cardinals."

 

Game 3 was a return to the pitchers' duel of Game 1 with Fullerton freshman righty Connor Seabold and Louisville sophomore lefty Josh Rogers going to-to-toe. The series opened with Fullerton winning a pitchers’ duel Saturday with Major League Baseball first-round pick Kyle Funkhouser of Louisville and second-round pick Thomas Eshelman of Fullerton battling it out. Saturday's game was a 9-3 win by Louisville that Fullerton coach Rick Vanderhook described as an "ass-whoopin." 

 

Through the first five innings, each team could only muster one run, each a solo homer. Seabold scattered three Louisville hits with one strikeout while Rogers allowed four hits but had four strikeouts. Rogers' lone blemish came in the first inning when Olmedo-Barrera launched a homer over the right field fence. Seabold's came from Will Smith in the fourth inning, a 370-foot shot over left-center. 

 

Louisville finally chased Seabold in the sixth inning as the Titans brought in senior lefty Tyler Peitzmeier after Louisville's Nick Solak singled to start the inning. Peitzmeier, who entered with a 2-2 count on Corey Ray, hit Ray with a pitch, and Solak and Ray advanced on a throwing error by Fullerton catcher A.J. Kennedy. Brendan McKay hit a long fly to right, where Dustin Vaught made a leaping catch and crashed into the wall, scored Solak from third to give Louisville a 2-1 lead. 

 

Cardinals senior third baseman Zach Lucas singled to start the seventh inning, stole second and took third on a wild pitch. Then he took home on another wild pitch to push Louisville's lead to 3-1, but Fullerton wasn't done yet. 

 

Rogers was replaced after throwing a pair of wild pitches to start the eighth inning and reliever Lincoln Henzman got an out, but walked Taylor Bryant and allowed a single to Josh Vargas. Henzman struck out pinch-hitter Jake Jeffries for the second out of the inning, and was replaced by Drew Harrington, who threw a ball into the dirt that resulted in a passed ball and sent Bryant and Vargas forward a base. Harrington then walked Fullerton's top hitter, Olmedo-Barrera. 

 

With two outs and the bases loaded, Louisville brought in triple-digit closer Burdi. Burdi blew the first pitch by Bravo at 99 mph. After a pair of foul balls, Burdi threw a breaking ball and Bravo slapped it into left field to score Bryant and Vargas and tie the game at 3. 

 

Peitzmeier (4-3) got the win, throwing five innings and giving up just four hits and one earned run. He had three strikeouts. Thomas Eshelman, the starter from Game 1 of the series, got the save, throwing the 11^th inning with one strikeout – the game ended when pinch-runner Ryan Summers was caught trying to steal second by Chris Hudgins, who entered the game in the eighth inning.

 

Burdi (6-1) took the loss. He allowed three hits in 3.1 innings with one earned run and two strikeouts. 

 

NOTES 

 

·        Bravo reached base in his 44^th straight game on Monday with his clutch single to left. He broke Tyler Pill's school record set in 2010. Interestingly, Bravo's streak began on Feb. 15 against Louisville in a non-conference match-up at the Opening Weekend Challenge in Clearwater, Fla.

·        This was Louisville's fifth Super Regional since Dan McDonnell arrived in 2007. The Cardinals have been to Omaha in 2007, 2013 and 2014. 

·        This will be Rick Vanderhook's first College World Series as a head coach but his 12^th trip to Omaha as a Div. I coach. He's made 10 trips with the Titans (1990, 1992, 1994-95, 1999, 2001, 2003-04, 2006-07) and one with UCLA (2010).

·        Vanderhook is a three-time national champion for Cal State Fullerton – once as a player in 1984, and twice as an assistant coach in 1995 (under Augie Garrido) and 2004 (under George Horton). The Titans were also the national runners-up in 1992, losing the final game to the champion Pepperdine Waves coached by recently retired Andy Lopez.

·        The Titans are 18-11 (.621) in 12 Super Regional appearances dating to the tournament format change in 1999. This series in Louisville was just the third Super Regional the Titans had played on the road (at Ohio State in 1999 and at UCLA in 2010).