Originally published here by the Daily Titan when I was an assistant Sports Editor. It won the California Newspaper Publisher's Association award for "Best Sports Game Story" in 2017.
Tanner Pinkston’s walk-up song is “Stayin’ Alive,” which is exactly what he helped Titan baseball do over the weekend to keep them at the top of the Big West Conference standings.
After a series loss to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in which it failed to generate substantial offense, Cal State Fullerton baseball belted its way to a sweep of the UC Davis Aggies, outscoring them 26-5.
Pinkston was the primary aggressor in the series, going 3-4 Friday and Saturday night. He ended the weekend with nine hits, including a home run and five RBIs.
“I have more confidence every time I get a hit like that,” Pinkston said. “The baseball is definitely a lot bigger than it was in the beginning of the year.”
With the wins, the Titans improved to 21-13 overall and 7-2 in conference, second in the Big West standings behind UC Santa Barbara. Fullerton won 10-0 on Friday, its largest margin of victory this season.
In addition to Pinkston’s heroics, right-hander Connor Seabold contributed a scoreless, four-hit outing in six innings pitched. Seabold’s 1.97 overall ERA places him at third in the Big West.
The pitching prowess continued into Saturday as left-handed starter John Gavin allowed no earned runs and only three hits.
“It feels good that I’m helping contribute runs because we desperately need that, especially with our pitching staff the way they are,” Pinkston said. “John and Connor, they pitched their hearts out.”
Saturday was not the slugfest Friday was, but the Titans won 3-2 and secured the series win.
Gavin was relieved in the sixth by Scott Serigstad, who struck out five in three-and -a-third innings pitched and earned his first win of the season. A stalwart of the
Titan bullpen, Serigstad has only allowed four earned runs and struck out 38 in 16 relief outings this season.
On Sunday, the Titans celebrated Armed Forces day at Goodwin Field, as well as a 13-3 win and series sweep.
Aggie pitching languished against the Titans, as CSUF amassed 11 runs on 10 hits by the fifth inning. In comparison, Blake Quinn put up a solid four-hit performance in five innings pitched, allowing only one earned run — the first of the series by Fullerton pitching.
By the end of Sunday’s game, the Titans looked unconcerned about staying alive. Instead, they enjoyed their success, firing up a bubble machine in the dugout, Seabold enthusiastically headbanging to Chad Hockin’s walk-up song.
“We’re having a lot of fun,” Blaser said. “Individually, we all know we’re good hitters, we just have to stick with our plan and when we do, we have a lot of success.”
Whereas the Aggies allowed 22 earned runs in the series, the Titan pitching staff only allowed three.
Fullerton faces a similarly tame pitching staff next weekend in a nonconference matchup with UN Las Vegas, which owns a team 5.77 ERA–but not before taking on a 7-26 overall CSU Bakersfield team in a one-game road matchup on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
“UNLV, I mean any given day baseball can kind of turn on you, so I’m definitely not taking them too lightly, or anyone in that sense,” Stieb said. “So if we can keep doing this and have our confidence up it’s going to help all the more.”