Titans Fall to Gauchos

UC Santa Barbara moved into a tie for first place with Cal State Fullerton in Big West Conference baseball by defeating the Titans, 7-6, in 10 innings Saturday at Fullerton.

Donovan Warrecker, Santa Barbara’s No. 8 hitter, laced a two-out double to right to score Tyler Von Schell from first to break the 6-6 tie in the top of the 10th.

Gaucho closer Jamie Gonzales earned his eighth save by pitching a perfect 10th inning. Pinch-hitter Matt Belfanti struck out looking to end the game. Fullerton reliever Chad Cordero took the loss.

Santa Barbara (37-12, 11-3) is ranked 25th in the nation. Fullerton (38-14, 11-3) is ranked second.

The Titans trailed, 6-3, in the bottom of the sixth when Aaron Rifkin, who had three hits, delivered a run-scoring double and Mike Rouse hit a sacrifice fly for his second RBI to make it 6-5.

Fullerton tied it in the seventh, scoring when David Bacani, batting with runners at first and third and no outs, grounded into a double play, scoring Shane Costa.

In another Big West game:

Long Beach State 6, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo 5 (11)--Chris Wright had three hits and an RBI for host Long Beach State (33-18, 9-5). Cal Poly is 28-23, 6-8.

In the NCAA women’s water polo tournament semifinals:

UCLA 11, Loyola Marymount 1--After a scoreless first quarter, UCLA netted five unanswered goals in the second period at Palo Alto.

The Bruins (17-4) advanced to tonight’s championship match against top-ranked Stanford, which defeated Brown, 12-0. UCLA and Stanford will play for the fifth time this season. The Cardinal (27-0) has won the four previous meetings.

Kelly Heuchan led UCLA with three goals and Elaine Zivich had two. The Bruin defense held Loyola (22-7) to only 15 shots.

Coralie Simmons scored the first Bruin goal on a six-on-five power play with 5:40 remaining in the second quarter.