When you take on one of the nation?s top teams, either you surprise people or you lose as expected. Last weekend, Sac State baseball surprised no one.

Cal State Fullerton (26-10, 6-0), who is the winner of 12 straight games and ranked number nine nationally by Collegiate Baseball, defeated Sac State (17-22, 1-5) by a combined scored of 37-9 in the three games played over at Hornet Field over Spring Break.

The Hornets have dropped 11 of their last 13 but head coach John Smith is hoping the team can rebound out of the bad stretch soon.

“They?re (the players) getting down. We are trying a lot of things and we?re making progress,” Smith said. “It?s tough not to be down. Who would be happy with 2-11? This team?s doing pretty good with a positive attitude considering everything.”

In Saturday?s game, played before 346 fans, Cal State Fullerton won 8-2 behind the bat of right fielder Jason Corapci. He went four for four with a walk, a home run and four RBI. In the series he got seven hits in 12 at bats while driving in seven runs.

Titan senior Jon Smith (7-0) pitched seven innings, allowing four hits, three walks and one earned run. Senior Mike Miranda (6-3) threw for Sac State and he lasted 5 2/3 innings, giving up 11 base runners and seven runs, five of them earned.

After both teams scored in the first inning, Corapci put the Titans up 3-1 with a home run in the third inning and that proved to be enough for the win.

In the last of the fourth inning, with the Hornets trailing 4-1, they got a gift run when Titan catcher Brett Kay couldn?t find a wild pitch and Chris Kinsey scored from second base.

Tito Barba, the Sac State batter on the play, walked and reached second base, although it was as effective as if he got an RBI double.

But after that, the fun was over for the Hornets, as the Titans scored four more runs and completed the sweep of Sac State, who took two of three games from Cal State Fullerton last year.

Friday?s game put the Hornets up against one of the nation?s top pitchers, Kirk Saarloos (9-2), who entered the contest with a 1.26 ERA, fourth best in the country. In his previous start, Saarloos no-hit Pacific in a 28-0 victory over the Big West Conference opponent. Saarloos earned his ninth straight win but the Hornets tagged him with the most hits (eight) and runs (five) that he had given up all season. Saarloos pitched 7 2/3 innings in the win.Sac State?s Aurelio Jackson scored on a wild pitch in the first inning, after singling and stealing, tying the game at one. He is now Sac State?s career leader in at bats, runs and hits. Jackson is only two steals away from claiming that honor as well.

Fullerton jumped back in front in the top of the fourth inning, when David Bacani hit a RBI single of Sac State?s Kinsey, to give his team a 2-1 advantage. Kinsey, a freshman, worked 4 1/3, with 11 runners and three earned runs, after a rocky debut outing vs. UC Davis in the previous week.

“Since the outing vs. Davis, we needed to let him pitch and prepare for the future,” said Smith of Kinsey. “I was very pleased.”

Sac State pitching coach Jim Barr thought that Saarloos had a bigger strike zone than Kinsey, but he also understood why.

“It seemed like we were getting squeezed,” Barr said. ” But that happens when you walk 23 guys in two days (Thursday and Friday). Good hitting clubs are going to swing and we can?t walk them. We have to throw strikes and take what happens. We are trying to be cute.”

With the help of a home run by Robert Guzman, Fullerton led, 7-2, by the top of the sixth inning, but the Hornets had some fight left in them.

Tim Maghan hit a home run in the last of the eighth inning and Cory Williams slammed a two-run shot to cut the deficit to 7-5 later in the inning.

Fullerton added two runs in the ninth inning to take a 9-5 lead and that is how it ended.On Thursday, it was ugly at Hornet Field, and Sac State was forced to live through it for nine innings.

The Titans won, 20-2, scoring seven in the first three innings, five in the fifth, three in the sixth and five more runs in the top of the seventh. The Hornets on the other hand, committed four errors and walked 12 Titans.

Chris Stringfellow scored four times for Fullerton, and Bacani had four RBI to the lead the charge in the lopsided victory.

Jackson, a center fielder and a noted team leader, is worried about the Hornets.

“I think we are playing lackadaisical and we haven?t come out to really beat somebody. I see the losing rubbing off,” Jackson said. “You do have to lead but you also have to show and come out and play (referring to himself).”

Things don?t get any easier for the Hornets as they attempt to get back to their winning ways Friday as they host Santa Barbara, the nation?s top hitting team. The teams will also play at Hornet Field at 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

“Hopefully our pitching will be able to neutralize (Santa Barbara?s) hitting,” Smith said. “We showed some signs of hitting (Friday and Saturday) and we definitely saw the best three pitchers in the league (versus Fullerton).”