COLLEGE BASEBALL WORLD SERIES : Creighton Eliminates CS Long Beach, 13-4

Inconsistency has dogged Cal State Long Beach all season, and Tuesday night it drove the 49ers right out of the College World Series.

Long Beach had taken a 3-0 lead before Creighton scored nine runs in the second inning en route to a 13-4 victory.

Creighton (51-21) will play Wichita State (65-12) Thursday night.

The Bluejays must beat the Shockers, who handed them a 3-2, 12-inning loss Monday night, Thursday and Friday to advance to Saturday’s championship game.

“The game got away from us really early,” Long Beach Coach Dave Snow said.

“I think Creighton came in a little flat coming off the big loss last night.

“But the big inning got them back into the game and got the crowd into the game, too.”

A crowd of 14,608 rocked Rosenblatt Stadium, cheering on the hometown Bluejays, whose campus is three miles away.

After coming back to defeat Clemson, 12-11, in a second-round game Monday, the 49ers appeared headed to a rematch with Wichita State after 1 1/2 innings.

Todd Pridy drove in two runs with a first-inning double, Rudy Rodriguez scored on a second-inning wild pitch and Creighton starter Eric Maloney seemed perilously close todisaster.

Instead, 49er starter Dennis Gray (3-3) caved in. The second-round selection of the TorontoBlue Jays in Monday’s amateur draft faced eight Bluejays in the second and retired one.

Gray walked four, and Snow wasn’t quite sure what happened.

“It was just a little here, a little there,” Snow said.

“It wasn’t like he was throwing wildly all over the place. It’s hard to say what happened to Gray.”

Gray left with the bases loaded and Creighton ahead, 4-3. Bluejay All-American third basemanScott Stahoviak greeted reliever Andy Croghan with a chopper that tipped off the Croghan’s glove. Two runs scored, and Creighton had runners on the corners.

Croghan got ahead of Steve Hinton 0 and 2, and tried to waste a pitch up in the strike zone. He didn’t get it high enough, and Hinton hit it into the left-field bleachers for a three-run home run and a 9-3 lead.

Creighton might have tied the series record of 11 runs in an inning, but a fan reached over the fence to catch Ryan Martindale’s drive to left. The drive initially was ruled a two-run home run, but was changed to a double.

The Bluejays, who lead Division I with a .356 batting average, settled for nine runs. That total proved more than enough as Maloney settled down and pitched into the seventh.

Long Beach finished with four hits, its fewest of the season. The 49ers finished 45-22 and tied for fifth place.

Snow remained fairly upbeat, however.

“It was kind of an up-and-down year for our ballclub,” he said.

“I really liked our team, our personnel, our attitude. We were a little inconsistent all season, and we really looked at going to a regional as a second life.

“I was really proud the way we capitalized on our opportunity to make it to the College World Series.”