BASEBALL COLLEGE WORLD SERIES : Fontana Lifts CS Long Beach

Mike Fontana’s preparation for his start Sunday against Kansas did not go exactly according to plan.

Fontana, a junior right-hander for Cal State Long Beach, was hit in the eye by a foul ball during practice Saturday. The impact knocked out a contact lens and left Fontana with a purplish half-moon bruise and cut below his right eye.

Looking more like a boxer than a pitcher, Fontana knocked the Jayhawks out of the College World Series. He pitched a two-hitter as Long Beach beat Kansas, 6-1, before 12,000 at Rosenblatt Stadium.

Fourth-seeded Long Beach (44-18) will play top-seeded Texas A&M;, a 13-8 loser Sunday to fifth-seeded Louisiana State, in an elimination game Tuesday.

“The only thing I was really worried about was my contact (lens),” Fontana said. “But that didn’t give me any trouble once I got out there.”

Neither, for the most part, did Kansas.

Catcher Jeff Niemeier had both Jayhawk hits, including a solo home run to lead off the bottom of the fifth inning that gave Kansas a short-lived 1-0 lead.

Long Beach answered with three runs in the sixth, one in the seventh and two in the ninth. Fontana (9-3) did the rest, striking out four and walking three in his first complete game since May 7.

“Our club was in control, even when the catcher (Niemeier) hit the homer,” Long Beach Coach Dave Snow said. “We had a sense of confidence in the dugout, which was not the case against Louisiana State.”

Designated hitter Jeff Liefer had three of Long Beach’s nine hits. Outfielder Kevin Curtis had two hits and drove in three runs, two with a home run in the ninth.

Long Beach stole four bases and took advantage of four errors.

“The atmosphere and the situation made our kids try a little too hard,” said Kansas Coach Dave Bingham, whose team finished (45-18). “We’ve done those kinds of things this year, but we’ve always been able to come back. Today, Fontana didn’t give us a chance.”

Fontana, who transferred to Long Beach this season from Rancho Santiago College, did not give up a hit until Niemeier homered.

“I had struggled during the fifth and sixth innings in my last two outings, and I was wondering if I could get past that point. . . ,” Fontana said. “When he hit that homer, I couldn’t believe it.”

Long Beach hit several line drives and hard ground balls against right-hander Jamie Splittorff (7-2) during the first six innings, but had nothing to show for it. The 49ers left the bases loaded in the third, stranded two in the fourth and one in the fifth.

“Even though we were stranding runners, we were confident because we were hitting the ball on the nose,” Curtis said.

Liefer started Long Beach’s first run-scoring inning when he singled with one out in the sixth. One out later, Splittorff walked Brian Smith and was replaced by Jimmy Walker. Brian Whatley drove in Liefer with a single to right field. Tim Falsken then hit a chopper to short. Dan Rude fielded the ball on the run, but bounced his throw past first base, allowing Smith and Whatley to score.

The 49ers took a 4-1 lead in the seventh when John Swanson hit a one-out triple into the right-field gap, then scored on a single by Curtis.

Curtis, who transferred to Long Beach this season from Hawaii, finished the scoring in the ninth with his 11th homer.

Long Beach, making its third World Series appearance in five years under Snow, is 2-5 at Rosenblatt Stadium. The 49ers only other victory was against Clemson, 12-11, in 1991.

“If this is a sign that we have our motor running, then we’re in for a good tournament,” Fontana said.

In the day’s other game, LSU (51-16-1) overcame a 7-2 deficit to beat Texas A&M; (53-10).

College World Series Notes

Arizona State plays Oklahoma State today in an elimination game. Texas plays Wichita State tonight in a winner’s bracket game.