NCAA Baseball South Regional : Fullerton Beats Mississippi State; Now One Win Away From Series

Cal State Fullerton won its first two games here with such apparent ease that it seemed strange to see the Titans in a bind Sunday.

But Fullerton played Mississippi State, the host team of the NCAA South Regional, in a game in which a loss meant elimination for the Bulldogs.

Trust that not even a handful among the 6,109 at Dudy Noble Field were clapping for the Titans.

Mississippi State, clinging to its season, took Fullerton to 12 innings, but the Titans pulled out a 5-3 victory and now stand just one victory away from making their fifth trip to the College World Series.

Greg Mannion scored the winning run on a single by Rex Peters in the 12th inning, and Fullerton added another run when Mike Ross doubled, scoring Peters.

Mannion had led off the inning with a single and moved to second when Mississippi State center fielder Jody Hurst bobbled the ball. He went to third on a wild pitch and then scored easily on Peters’ hit.

Fullerton (40-16) plays Texas A&M; at 12 p.m. (PDT) today.

Fullerton went to the College World Series in 1975, 1979, 1982 and 1984, and won the championship in 1979 and 1984.

Titan Coach Larry Cochell, who is in his first year as Fullerton coach, has taken one team to the College World Series before, going in 1978 with Oral Roberts.

Should Fullerton lose the first game today, the teams would meet again at 7:30 for the regional championship.

Texas A&M; (52-14) is the top-seeded team in the regional, but was upset in its first game by Middle Tennessee State, which has since been eliminated.

“We’re in good position now,” Cochell said. “But you still have to go out and win . . . We need that first ballgame. We don’t want to lose the advantage we’ve built.”

Fullerton had taken a 3-1 lead in the fifth inning, with two of the runs coming on a single by catcher Brent Mayne, who extended his school-record hitting streak to 38 games.

But Mississippi State, which had led, 1-0, after two innings, scored a run in the fifth and another in the seventh to tie it.

Both sides were retired in order in the ninth.

That Mannion scored the winning run seemed appropriate, considering that he had made two brilliant defensive plays that had kept Fullerton in the game.

He saved what would have been a two-run homer with an over-the-fence catch in the fifth inning, when the Titans were hanging onto a 3-1 lead.

And he likely saved the game in the eighth inning, when his throw from left cut down Todd Nace at home plate, as Nace was trying to score from second on Jody Hurst’s two-out single.

Nace had reached on a fielder’s choice and stolen second.

Fullerton got complete-game victories from its pitchers in the first two games, but this time starter Danny DeVille faltered by the fifth inning, allowing a run in that inning before he was relieved with the bases loaded.

Paul Johnson, Fullerton’s middle reliever, came on and earned the victory, going 7 innings and striking out 12. He allowed one run on five hits.

“I don’t know if he could have done any better,” Cochell said.

Johnson faced only one batter more than the minimum in the final four innings, striking out 7 of those 13.

“I was really comfortable,” Johnson said. “That was definitely my best performance yet.”

For the Titans, it was the most demanding performance yet.

“It was a do-or-die situation,” said Mannion, although, in truth, Fullerton could have lost and not been eliminated.

Said Mayne: “When it gets intense, you just have to stick together.”