NCAA COLLEGE BASEBALL REGIONALS : Long Wait Ends for Long Beach With Victory : West: After game finally starts, 49ers take their time in 14-3 rout of Pepperdine. USC is next.

Forced to start late through no fault of its own, Long Beach State wasted little time making a statement when it finally was allowed to play its second game of the West Regional. And its quick start was the last thing Pepperdine wanted.

Long Beach took control with a five-run third--highlighted by a grand slam by Will Skett--and Rocky Biddle showed folks here why he is one of the nation’s hottest freshman pitchers. The combination was more than Pepperdine could handle as Long Beach won easily, 14-3, Friday night at Fresno State’s Beiden Field.

Thus, the potential showdown has materialized: Second-seeded Long Beach (37-23-1) will play top-seeded USC (43-18) in the lone winners’ bracket game at noon today. USC advanced by eliminating Fresno, the regional host, by rallying for a 22-17 victory. USC won the series with Long Beach, 2-1.

Long Beach and Pepperdine (35-18-1) were scheduled to start the day’s final game at 7 p.m., but the USC-Fresno game ran long. The Long Beach-Pepperdine game didn’t get going until 8:30. From the outset Friday, the game belonged to the 49ers.

The 49ers, designated the visitor, led 3-1 entering the top of the third. Jason Hodges began the inning with a single off Pepperdine starter Matt Wise, (6-2), who was the loser. Wise struck out Jason Minici and then Jeff Tagliaferri singled.

Long Beach executed a double steal, with Hodges taking third and Tagliaferri second. Wise walked Kirk Pierce to load the bases and Pepperdine Coach Pat Harrison had seen enough.

Josh Oder came in to face Skett, who hit the second pitch over the the wall in left-center. The homer, which traveled approximately 390 feet, was Skett’s fourth and his second grand slam. He was two for four with a two-RBI double in the sixth and a career-high six RBIs.

Jason Knupfer followed with a single and he later scored on an RBI single by Tim Falsken. Falsken was five for six with two runs and two RBIs.

Long Beach took a 2-0 lead in the first on a two-run home run by Jeff Liefer. Falsken singled with one out in the inning and Liefer followed with a 380-foot homer to right-center. It was Liefer’s team-leading 11th homer of the season and his second in as many games.

The 49ers, though, failed to capitalize on another scoring opportunity that inning. With one out, Hodges hit a fly ball that Pepperdine left-fielder David Newhan misjudged. Hodges wound up at second on the error by Newhan but was stranded there when Wise struck out Minici and Tagliaferri.

Pepperdine appeared poised to score in the bottom half of the first. Biddle (6-1) walked Ryan Christenson and Newhan, Pepperdine’s Nos. 1 and 2 hitters, to open the inning. Christenson stole second and went to third on a wild pitch by Biddle, and Newhan stole second.

But Biddle settled down and struck out Dennis Konrady and Ruben Gamboa. Gerardo Gonzalez then caught up with a fastball and hit a line drive to center field that Nic Frank sprinted to catch on the warning track to end the inning.

The Waves scored in the next inning, thanks to an error by Knupfer. Mark Lopez singled with one out and stole second. Jason Cohen grounded out and Justin Hodgdon hit a line drive to short that Knupfer picked up and dropped, enabling Lopez to score from second. Biddle picked off Hodgdon at first for the third out.