COLLEGE BASEBALL : Pepperdine, UCLA and Northridge Lose

On a day when defending national champion Pepperdine, UCLA and Cal State Northridge were eliminated from the NCAA tournament, Cal State Long Beach took a major step toward its third College World Series appearance.

St. John’s eliminated Pepperdine with a 4-1 victory Saturday in the West Regional at Tempe, Ariz.

Pepperdine, which had lost to Northridge on Friday night, finished the season 41-17.

“I refuse to believe we were flat,” Pepperdine Coach Andy Lopez said. “We just came up short. They (Pepperdine players) didn’t come through today, but they are all going home with (1992) national championship rings on their fingers.”

St. John’s pitcher Mike Maerten (3-1) gave up seven hits and struck out four en route to the victory.

Trailing, 4-0, in the eighth inning, Pepperdine’s David Lovell led off with a double and scored on Eric Ekdahl’s double. Matt McElreath drew a walk and the momentum appeared to shift to the Waves. But Maerten stranded both runners, striking out Ryan Radmanovich, getting Mark Wasikowski to line out and inducing a popout by Scott Vollmer.

Jason Loscalzo hit a home run and a triple for St. John’s, which scored one run in the second, one in the fifth and two in the seventh.

Northridge lost to Arizona State, 9-0, then blew a seven-run lead and lost to St. John’s, 11-10, Saturday night. St. John’s (28-19), which qualified for the regionals by winning the Big East Conference tournament, must defeat Arizona State twice today to advance to the World Series.

That is going to be a difficult task, especially if Arizona State plays the way it has throughout the regional.

On Saturday, the Sun Devils beat Northridge behind right-hander Marc Barcelo (12-3), who limited the Matadors to four hits. Barcelo struck out seven and walked two in his ninth complete game and first shutout.

Arizona State had 15 hits against Northridge starter John Bushart (10-4) and Evan Howland.

In the second inning, sophomore Antone Williamson, a sophomore from Torrance, hit a home run against Bushart that cleared the 30-foot fence in center field. It was Williamson’s 14th home run and only the 12th hit over the center field fence in the 19-year history of Arizona State’s Packard Stadium.

Todd Cady, the next batter, then hit his 17th homer.

Northridge, which finished 36-20, simply ran out of pitching against St. John’s.

Howland, who pitched five innings against Arizona State, was brought in against the Redmen in the eighth inning in relief of Johnny Najar.

Howland walked eight batters, including four with the bases loaded. With two out in the ninth, he walked in the game-tying run and the go-ahead run. Howland was replaced by first baseman Jason Shanahan who induced a pop out.

In the bottom of the ninth, Chris Olsen and Andy Small struck out, Mike Sims walked, Andy Hodgins reached on an error and Joey Arnold grounded out, ending the Matadors’ hopes.

EAST

Long Beach improved to 3-0 in the East Regional at Tallahassee, Fla., with a 4-1 victory over Florida State.

Long Beach, which has a 14-game winning streak, plays Notre Dame today. Notre Dame would have to defeat the 49ers twice to keep them from advancing to Omaha for the third time in five seasons.

All-American Daniel Choi (16-1), a sophomore right-hander, gave up eight hits against Florida State and won his 14th consecutive decision.

Florida State had runners in scoring position in each of the first three innings, but the Seminoles were unable to capitalize.

“It had been awhile since (Choi) had pitched and I think he was trying to throw too hard early,” Long Beach Coach Dave Snow said. “We were fortunate to keep their run production down early.”

Kevin Curtis of Long Beach hit a home run against Paul Wilson (11-5) during the fourth inning to give the 49ers a 1-0 lead.

The Seminoles tied the score in the home half of the fourth with consecutive doubles by Scott Schroeffel and Kevin McCray.

Long Beach regained the lead during the fifth when Cobi Cradle reached on a force play, stole second and scored on a single by John Swanson, who also hit a two-run homer during the seventh.

Swanson has five hits in 11 at-bats in the regional, including two homers and five runs batted in.

Choi had six strikeouts and walked two.

“He’s a composed pitcher,” Florida State Coach Mike Martin said. “He was in the zone all day.”

CENTRAL I

UCLA entered the day 2-0, but the Bruins were eliminated after losing to Texas A&M;, 11-4, and North Carolina, 8-5, at College Station, Tex.

UCLA finished 37-23.

Lee Fedora hit a grand slam in the eighth inning that helped Texas A&M; seal its victory over the Bruins Saturday morning.

The Aggies knocked out Bruin starter Gabe Sollecito in the fourth and had 11 hits against four Bruin pitchers.

Mike Mitchell had three hits and drove in two runs for UCLA, which had nine hits and committed three errors.

UCLA first baseman Ryan McGuire hit his 26th homer against North Carolina, but the Tar Heels broke a 5-5 tie with three runs during the seventh.

Mitchell drove in two runs and Chris Lohman had four hits and two runs batted in for the Bruins.