Fullerton baseball splits home-and-home with Palomar

Following in the footsteps of the Hornet football team last fall, Fullerton's baseball team lost in its second meeting with Palomar College, an 8-6 setback in which two late inning errors gave the Comets a comfortable lead.
 

After winning their first meeting at Palomar, 5-2 Friday, Fullerton fell behind at home and never held the lead, but kept the game managable until the eighth inning, when two errors allowed three runs to score, increasing its deficit to six runs.
 

"It's great to get a win on the road and it's great to get a win versus a team in the Orange Empire Conference at their place," said Buck Taylor, Palomar head coach. "We still have to get better, we didn't play great, we made some errors."
 

Fullerton starter Nick Cervantes took the loss, giving up four earned runs and eight hits in five innings. He struck out four batters, walked three and also balked in the first run in the second inning with the bases loaded.
 

Designated hitter Eddie Sturm went 1-for-3 with a double and two runs batted in and Eric Down, who pinch hit for Sturm in the eighth inning, doubled and drove in two more runs.
 

The Hornet batters stayed patient at the plate as well, causing Palomar to go to the bullpen in the fourth inning.
 

However, the patience didn't turn into extra hits as Palomar doubled Fullerton's total, 15-7.
 

Five Palomar players had multiple hits, including outfielder Victor Martinez, who went 3-for-5 with a double and a run scored. Designated hitter Anthony Meza and outfielder Jeremy Cline each had two hits and drove in two runs.
 

Aside from the balk, the Comets opened up the scoring in the fourth inning when leadoff hitter Cline smashed a triple over the head of center fielder Cory McCloskey, which drove in two runs and gave Palomar an early 3-0 lead.
 

In the bottom half, after consecutive singles by outfielder J.P. LaMunyon and second baseman Allen Rodarte off of relief pitcher Adam Mott, Sturm singled to left center, driving both home and bringing deficit back to one.
 

Cervantes would give up his fourth run in the next inning when Meza singled home Martinez, who doubled to lead off the inning.
 

Both bullpens took over until the eighth inning when, with two outs, the Hornets committed two consecutive errors, both of which allowed runs to score. Palomar took advantage by tacking one more on an RBI single by pinch hitter B.K. Santy, which extended the lead to 8-2.
 

"We had too many strikeouts today and credit to their pitchers, they did a good job," Taylor said. "I think late in the game, I don't know if they ran out of gas or ran out of arms, but I think we were able to catch up a little bit."
 

Besides the eighth inning mishaps, relief pitchers Matt Haney, Sean Michel and Mark McClelland allowed only one earned run through four innings. Haney struck out the side in the sixth frame.
 

"We kicked the ball around too much, we missed a fly ball in center field, missed a ball up the hold, we made some mistakes today and we didn't [at Palomar]," Fuscardo said. "Michel had some tough luck because...outs should have been mad, we gave them five outs [in the eighth] inning."
 

Dow responded in the bottom half by driving a Tim Hill pitch into the left-center gap, bringing two runs home. In the ninth, an error and a fielder's choice led to two more runs before Comets' pitcher Ryan Wilkins put the game away by getting Rodarte to ground out.
 

"I think our bullpen is our strength," Taylor said. "It's only our third game so we needed to get our guys' feet wet. They have good stuff, we just need to get them experience."
 

The Hornets will continue their two-week long home stand against Western Nevada College Thursday. Fuscardo believes that the time at home should really help get the team ready for Orange Empire Conference competition.
 

"We've been getting better as a team," Fuscardo said. "We had a few defensive glitches, but we need to have success in the next two weeks and we need to establish ourselves, play the game the right way and get ready to go back into conference."