NCAA BASEBALL: PEPPERDINE OUSTED IN FINAL-DAY SWEEP CS FULLERTON 15-16, PEPPERDINE 1-3.

Byline: Heather Gripp Staff Writer

FULLERTON - The Pepperdine baseball team's dream-like postseason ended with a rude awakening by Cal State Fullerton on Sunday. The Titans swept Pepperdine 15-1 and 16-3 on the final day of the NCAA Regional at Cal State Fullerton's Goodwin Field to advance to the Super Regionals starting Saturday at home against Tulane.

The fourth-seeded Waves needed just one win after defeating top-seeded Arizona State and second-seeded Fullerton in the first two days of the four-team double-elimination regional. However, the nationally ranked Titans (40-21) quickly made Pepperdine (30-32) look like the sub-.500 team that it is.

Fullerton feasted on the Waves' shaky bullpen for a combined 41 hits, including five home runs to end Peppeperdine's season-high winning streak at five games and chance of advancing past the regionals for the first time since 1992.

After dropping to the loser's bracket when Pepperdine hit a walk-off home run in the 10th inning of Saturday's matchup between the two teams, the Titans won three consecutive elimination games by a combined 36-4.

``We were hoping to pull a rabbit out of a hat today,'' Pepperdine coach Steve Rodriguez said. ``And instead we got bit by a cobra. And the venom sunk real deep.''

Fullerton All-American catcher Kurt Suzuki did much of the damage, going 3 for 4 with three RBI in the first game and 4 for 5 with four RBI in the second. He homered in both games.

Teammate P.J. Pilittere added a combined five hits and six RBI.

Titans senior right-hander Jason Windsor earned tournament MVP honors for winning his second game of the tournament. Two days after pitching a complete game against Minnesota, Windsor (10-4) started the finale and held Pepperdine to two hits in six shutout innings.

The Waves, who used a combined seven pitchers, took their lone lead of the day on a solo home run by David Uribes in the third inning of the first game. The Titans took control of that game an inning later with six runs on four hits.

Fullerton's offense didn't cool during a nearly hour break between games. In the second game, the Titans scored in every inning but one.

Rodriguez consoled himself with the notion that few considered his team a threat in the tournament that it earned an automatic berth into by overcoming a seven-run deficit in the West Coast Conference final.

``We were the bad team in the tournament,'' Rodriguez said. ``You look at the tournament every year and there's someone you say, `What are they doing there?' That was us. I hope we opened some eyes.''

Heather Gripp, [phone]

heather.gripp(at)dailynews.com