Fullerton overcomes early deficit, beats Hawaii in ninth

Shortstop Jack Haley powered an RBI double to center to lead the Cal State Fullerton baseball team to a 7-6 victory over Hawaii tonight at Goodwin Field in Fullerton, Calif.

With one out and the score tied at 6 in the ninth, Moises Guzman hit a grounder to third. But Kyson Donahue had difficulty pulling the ball out of his glove, and his throw to first was too late to get Guzman. One out later, Haley smacked a pitch from left-hander Connor Harrison over the head of center fielder Matt Wong for the game-winner. It was the fifth time this season the Titans won a game in their final at-bat.

The Titans won their sixth in a row to improve to 13-8 overall and 6-1 in the Big West. In losing the opener of the three-game series, the ’Bows dropped to 12-9 and 2-2.

The ’Bows manufactured a small-ball run to tie it at 6 in the seventh inning. Jared Quandt, who had entered as a defensive replacement for right fielder Sean Rimmer an inning earlier, singled to center to open the seventh. Quandt went to second after Stone Miyao drew a 10-pitch walk. Both runners advanced on Naighel Ali‘i Calderon’s sacrifice. Quandt then scored on Jordan Donahue’s RBI groundout to short against an infield playing at medium depth.

The ’Bows had built a 5-1 lead on Jacob Igawa’s two-run double in the first and three runs in the fourth. But Maddox Latta’s RBI single closed the Titans to 5-2 in the fifth. Guzman’s solo home run started a four-run sixth to put the Titans ahead 6-5.