In a wild game highlighted with fielding errors, walks, and clutch hits, the Hornets were able to prevail and come out on top to defeat the Vikings 12-9 at Hornet Field on Feb. 5, 2026. The Fullerton offense got off to a slow start in the first two innings, but the bats woke up from the third inning on. Nate Pone set the tone on the basepaths, while Diego Vasquez continued his onslaught at the plate.
With Fullerton trailing 9-5 in the bottom of the sixth inning and one out, Pone started the rally with a walk. Two batters later, Vasquez came to the plate with a 1-1 count and 2 outs, thinking he would get a fastball; instead, he chased a breaking pitch. Vasquez, with a smile on his face, went back to the plate dialed in, trying to find a way to get on base and continue the rally.
He did more than keep the rally going, as Long Beach relief pitcher Will DeBlanc left a fastball out and over the plate. Vasquez did not miss, as he torched it over the left field wall for a 2-run homer to cut the deficit to 9-7.
“I thought they were gonna come back with it for sure. I didn’t want to be late for the heater, but I have been really early and just got a pitch to drive,” said Vasquez.
The play got the fans and players fired up as they kept grinding after every at-bat, and the players encouraged each other after being down 7-0 through one inning.
“You don’t want to get down by a touchdown before you swing the bats. We stayed the course. Our culture and our program is to grind, and obviously, we didn’t want to do that, but it was what we had to do today,” said Head Coach Chad Baum.
In the seventh inning, after two walks to start the inning off, Pone continued his performance at the plate, as he ripped a 2-1 pitch into left field, loading the bases. Two batters later and one out, Vasquez delivered another clutch hit. As he hit a slow roller to Vikings shortstop Seth Dahlenburg, who came up charging after the ball, but was unable to throw out Vasquez.
Two runs scored after an errant throw by Dahlenburg that sailed to the backstop and out of play gave Fullerton the lead for good at 10-9.
In the eighth inning, Fullerton added insurance runs, as Carlos Barrios drove in Sean Green with an RBI double to right-center field, giving them an 11-9 lead. Two batters later, Jake Starr came up to the plate with runners on first and third, and smoked a single up the middle for an RBI to make it 12-9. That was more than enough for the bullpen to close out the game.
Back in the third inning, trailing 8-0 Hornet leadoff hitter Pone began the rally with one out, as he surveyed the infield before stepping into the batter’s box. Pone placed a perfect bunt down the third base line as Long Beach hitter Aaron Mingo was playing behind the bag, unable to get to the ball in time to make a throw.
“I saw the third baseman back. I picked up on that first at-bat after I took the first strike. I saw him move back. He knew I wasn’t bunting,” said Pone. “I was thinking of bunting, and then Baum put on the bunt sign. So I knew it was 100%. I am gonna get that down.”
Three batters later, cleanup hitter Viola drew a bases-loaded walk to put Fullerton on the board, making it 8-1. After an RBI flyout by Green, Hunter Billingsley drove in a run with an RBI single to left. That was followed by Barrios RBI single to right, going past the first baseman. Vinny Hudson drove in the fifth run, roping a ball into left field to cut the deficit to 8-5.
The highlight of the game was the Fullerton bullpen, after starting pitcher Enrique Hernandez was unable to get through the first inning without recording an out. Long Beach put seven runs on the board, highlighted by Mingo, who cleared the bases with a triple into right-center field to make it 3-0. Hornets relief pitcher Brenton Wirthgen came in with runners on first and second, trailing 5-0, and limited the damage by giving up the two runs inherited by Hernandez.
Wirthgen gave up one run in his three innings of work. The MVP in the bullpen was Landen Pulsifer, who threw three innings of one-run baseball. He came out in the fourth inning after trailing 8-5 and threw the hitters timing off with change-ups, curveballs and fastballs. Vikings clean-up hitter Mingo came up to the plate, and Pulsifier kept throwing his change-up and curveball in the lower part of the strike zone.
On a 3-2 pitch, he froze Mingo on an inside curveball that caught the plate for a strikeout.
Pulsifer followed by striking out Eshua Desai on a change-up that dropped into the lower half of the strike zone. Then Greg Prophet fouled out to third to end the inning.
“Just trying to get [hitters] to swing at it, and then keep the fastball down,” said Pulsifer. “I just wanted to come out, do my job, and put up some zeros.”
Pulsifer got out of the fifth inning unscathed, after a base running mistake by Vikings catcher Dylan Mayorga on second base with one out. The ball got past Fullerton catcher Kai Hopfel on a wild pitch, as he went to his right while chasing after the ball. Hopfel rifled a throw over to third baseman Billingsley, who tagged out Mayorga. Pulsifer was able to get Dahlenburg out on a flyout to center field for the third out.
“Landen’s been here for 3 years and didn’t get a ton of innings last year. He came in and threw strikes and used what he’s really good at and took it to them and executed pitches,” said Baum.
In the sixth inning, Pulsifer had to work around two fielding errors. With two outs, Vikings clean-up hitter Mingo grounded a ball over to Luke Viola on a few hops. Viola was unable to corral it, as the ball hit off the top of his glove and trickled into center field, which put runners on the corners. Then Desai came up to the plate and smoked a ball in between third and short.
Hornets shortstop Vasquez made an incredible play, with a full extension dive to his right.
Vasquez was unable to record the out, as his throw went wide of the first base bag and out of play, which led to a run. That made it 9-5 Long Beach. Vasquez made up for his mistake by recording the third out with a flyout to shallow center field.
The Hornets brought in Matthew McCliman, who threw two shutout innings in the seventh and eighth innings. That was followed by their closer Murdoch Taylor, who recorded two strikeouts and a flyout to right field to end the game.
The Hornets (4-3) will host Palomar on Friday, Feb. 6, at Hornet Field for another non-conference matchup. Game time is at 1 p.m.