NCAA Baseball : Garcia’s Pitching Helps Titans Stay Unbeaten

Longo Garcia yielded only 7 hits and struck out 13 as Cal State Fullerton defeated Mississippi State, 5-1, in the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. South Regional Saturday at Starkville, Miss.

The victory left the Titans (39-16) as the only unbeaten team among the five teams remaining in the double-elimination tournament. The regional winners advance to the College World Series, Friday at Omaha.

Garcia, a senior right-hander, allowed the Bulldogs only a third-inning run. He walked one and allowed only one extra base hit. His 13 strikeouts equaled his career high.

Fullerton sent eight men to the plate in the fourth inning and scored three runs on an infield out, Mark Razook’s single and a sacrifice fly. The Titans added a run in the sixth on Greg Mannion’s single and another in the eighth on Razook’s double.

Titan catcher Brent Mayne went 2 for 4 with an RBI and extended his hitting streak to 37 games.

USC 10, Washington St. 9--Rodney Peete hit a three-run home run in the eighth inning to lead the Trojans past the Cougars in the third round of the West I Regional at Fresno State.

Peete’s homer, his 12th of the season, came after Bret Barberie singled home the tying run. The Trojans (35-24) hit six homers, including two by catcher Jim Campanis. Washington State (51-13), the Pacific 10 Northern Division champion, had four, including John Olerud 23rd of the season.

Tim Quintanilla came on in the ninth inning and got the final two outs after Washington State’s Jim Connor hit a home run to move the Cougars to within a run.

The Trojans meet Fresno State today at 3:30 p.m. in a matchup of the tournament’s only unbeaten teams.

Fresno State 9, Brigham Young 4--The Bulldogs played long ball as they remained undefeated. Lance Shebelut and Brandon Mitchell hit consecutive homers in the first inning to give Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. champions a 2-0 lead. Steve Vondran’s two-run homer in the third made it 6-1. Mike Burton hit a solo homer in the fifth inning for the Bulldogs (53-9).

Steve Buckholz (3-2) pitched 4 innings of scoreless relief to pick up the victory. The loss eliminated WAC champion BYU (41-18-1).

Pepperdine 11, Central Michigan 8--Catcher Mike Truschke’s three-run homer in the seventh inning proved to be the game-winning hit and enabled the Waves to remain the only unbeaten team in the West II Regional at Tempe, Ariz.

Rick Hirtensteiner, who went 4 for 5 and drove in three runs, hit a solo homer in the eighth inning for Pepperdine (36-22-1), the West Coast Athletic Conference champion. Wave starter Dennis Burbank allowed 12 hits in 7 innings but pitched well enough to earn his 11th victory in 12 decisions.

Nevada Las Vegas 2, Evansville 1--Scott Childress drove in both runs as the Rebels, who lost to Central Michigan, 10-7, Friday night, kept their title hopes alive in the West II Regional. Childress singled home a run in the sixth inning and drove in another with a sacrifice fly in the eighth.

Loyola Marymount 12, McNeese St. 4--Don Sparks drove in 5 runs, Travis Tarchione had 3 RBIs and Mike Jones went the distance, yielding just 5 hits and striking out 10 as the Lions (47-17) staved off elimination in the Midwest Regional at Stillwater, Okla. In an earlier game, Wichita State took advantage of some generous pitching to beat Loyola, 10-6, handing the Lions their first loss. Loyola pitchers walked 13 and 7 scored. Starter Scott Neill (5-4) allowed 6 walks, 7 hits and 6 runs in 4 innings.