NCAA Baseball Regionals Roundup : LSU Eliminates Fullerton; UCLA Stays Alive

Greg Patterson restricted Cal State Fullerton to five hits and LSU took advantage of two balks and some sloppy fielding to beat the Titans, 7-3, Sunday and win the NCAA South II Regional at New Orleans.

Fullerton jumped on Patterson early as Mark Baca led off the game with a single. With two out, Andy Mota homered to left, giving the Titans a 2-0 lead.

But Patterson, who threw 24 of his 94 pitches in the first inning, faced only six batters in the final two innings to improve his record to 9-2 and send LSU to the College World Series for the second straight year. Fullerton, the top-seeded team in the double-elimination tournament, finished the season at 42-17.

LSU (47-17) took the lead in the fifth. Craig Faulkner got the Tigers’ first hit off Longo Garcia, a single, and was balked to second. With one out, Richie Vasquez singled and pinch-hitter Joe Lewis walked to load the bases.

Mike Papajohn’s sacrifice fly scored Faulkner. Rob Hartwig tapped back to the mound, but Garcia was unable to get the ball out of his glove and Hartwig was safe at first as Vasquez scored. Andy Gailey’s fly to shallow right kicked off right fielder Ken Garcia’s glove, allowing Lewis to score. Garcia threw out Hartwig in a close play at the plate.

Fullerton, which had 17 hits in Saturday’s 11-0 victory over Louisiana Tech, had not been scored on in 26 innings. Southern University scored the only run of Thursday’s first-round game in the fifth inning.

With two out in the seventh, Hartwig walked and was apparently picked off. But Garcia was called for his second balk and Hartwig scored on Gailey’s single.

Faulkner’s single leading off the eighth chased Garcia, who lost for the fifth time in 15 decisions. Larry Casian, Saturday’s winning pitcher, came in to face Pete Bush, who sacrificed Faulkner to second. Vasquez doubled in Faulkner and took third on pinch-hitter Wayne Stofsky’s fly ball to right.

With two out, Papajohn singled, scoring Vasquez. Casian then attempted to pick off Papajohn but threw the ball into right field, allowing Papajohn to take third. Hartwig then singled in Papajohn.

UCLA 16, Hawaii 7--The Bruins, who blew the game open by scoring nine runs in the sixth inning, kept alive their hopes of winning the West II Regional at Tempe, Ariz. The Rainbows, who lost to UCLA, 12-11, Friday in the first round, were eliminated from the tournament.

Sophomore third baseman Scott Cline had 4 of UCLA’s 15 hits and drove in 4 runs. Bill Haselman hit two homers and also drove in four runs. Charlie Fiacco and Steve Hisey both homered and had three RBIs. Hisey and Haselman hit three-run homers in the sixth inning.

UCLA (39-24-1), which lost to Arizona State, 9-3, Saturday night, played Pepperdine in an elimination game later Sunday night.

Arizona St. 4, Pepperdine 2--Mike Benjamin’s two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning broke a 2-2 tie and enabled the Sun Devils to remain unbeaten in the West II Regional.

John Finn reached first on an error by Wave shortstop Paul Faries. Benjamin then hit the first pitch by Doug Simons for the game-winner.

Pepperdine (48-11-3) led, 2-0, on Steve Erickson’s RBI single and a sacrifice fly by Chris Sloniger. But Mike Burrola tied the game in the bottom of the second with a two-run homer.

Wright State 5, CS Dominguez Hills 2--The defeat was the second of the day for the Toros and eliminated them from the Division II World Series at Montgomery, Ala. Dominguez Hills (43-15) lost earlier in the day to defending champion Troy State, 6-2.