Fullerton dashes Bruins’ hopes for return to Omaha

FULLERTON – Seventeen runs off 37 hits.

Those were the Bruin offensive numbers in the Long Beach Regional two weeks ago at Blair Field. During their three games at the spacious pitcher’s park, the Bruins hit the ball extremely well, moving runners with success and having quality at bats, resulting in a lot of Bruin runs.

This past weekend in the Bruins’ Super Regional against Cal State Fullerton, the Bruin offense from Long Beach was nowhere to be found. The numbers paled in comparison – three runs off 16 hits – and the result was not as sweet. Instead of traveling to Omaha, Neb., the Bruins were forced to watch the Titans celebrate at Goodwin Field as Fullerton won the Super Regional two games to none with a 12-2 victory on Saturday and a 2-1 victory on Sunday.

The story of the Bruin demise this past weekend was their inability to get the big hit to drive in crucial runs against one of the most pitching staffs in the nation.

"You have to give credit where credit is due," catcher Ryan Babineau said. "Their pitchers threw the ball real well. All you can ask for is to get the opportunity, and we didn’t get it done when we did have the opportunity."

The team did have ample opportunities to score runs and extend the series to a final game in Sunday’s bitter 2-1 loss but came up empty in the end. The Bruins led off the fifth, sixth, seventh, and ninth innings with a double, yet mustered only one run. After Babineau’s one-out single drove in the Bruins’ only run and loaded the bases, third basemen Jermaine Curtis grounded into an inning ending double play.

In the ninth, down 2-1, the Bruins had a man on third with one out, but the runner was thrown out at the plate on Babineau’s grounder to third.

In all, on Sunday the Bruins stranded 10 men on base.

"Obviously that’s the difference in the game," Babineau said. "When you get into a situation like this, in a Super Regional, and you’re playing a team like Cal State Fullerton, those seem to be the separators in the game. Obviously that showed. We had quite a few opportunities to drive runs in – man on second and third – and we didn’t get it done. We had at least three or four (potential runs) and we lost by one. That was obviously the deciding factor."

Sunday’s deciding loss proved to be a tough one to swallow for the team. The team knows that it had the opportunity to travel to Omaha for the first time since 1997 and yet, when the moment came, could not get it done.

"We had plenty of opportunities," Coach John Savage said. "We left 10 guys on base. We just could not come up with the big hit. We didn’t move the guy over and it is just a very frustrating night because we had plenty of opportunities and we just didn’t get it done tonight when we had the chance."

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