College Baseball : Beck Struggles as Titans Lose to USC

Mark Beck of Cal State Fullerton walked six batters in two-thirds of an inning, helping USC to six first-inning runs as the Trojans easily beat the Titans, 7-3, at Dedeaux Field Wednesday.

Beck, a preseason All-American who has been troubled by back spasms, also allowed one hit. Four Fullerton pitchers combined to hold USC to one run--scored on a suicide squeeze in the fifth inning--over the next eight innings.

Beck (0-2), who entered the game with an earned-run average of 15 after a bad first outing in a loss to Chapman last week, now has pitched three innings and walked 11 and has an ERA of 30.0.

Randy Powers (2-0) was the winning pitcher for USC (4-0).

Fullerton (2-3) scored three runs in the fourth inning on a single by Mark Razook, a hit batter, a double by Keith Kaub and a single by Shane Flores.

Kaub, who was 2 for 3 with an RBI, was the Titans’ leading hitter. Kaub is batting .588 after five games.

In another game:

Chapman 6, Cal Baptist 4--Dave Mayhall had a pinch-hit two-run homer and Jeff Mooney gave up only four hits in 7 innings at Hart Park in Orange. Mooney (1-1) walked four and struck out five. Matt Patuano struck out two and earned the save for the Panthers (3-1). Cal Baptist is 0-1.