USC, Fresno State Is One for Books : College baseball: Records fall and so do Bulldogs, who are eliminated by Trojans, 22-17.

Explanations about what happened during the NCAA West Regional playoff baseball game between USC and Fresno State were hard to come by after the teams finally completed it Friday night.

The scoreboard offered little help, because it was not designed to handle the runs and hits the teams heaped upon it.

“A game like that defies any explanation,” USC Coach Mike Gillespie said after a 22-17 victory over Fresno State that allowed his top-seeded Trojans to improve to 2-0 in the regional.

USC (43-18) and Fresno State (41-22) established an NCAA postseason mark for most runs in a game, eclipsing the record of 37 set with the help of a Gillespie-coached Trojan team that beat Houston, 26-11, in the 1990 South Regional at Baton Rouge, La.

Gillespie was also USC’s coach when the Trojans beat Fresno State, 18-17, in the 1988 playoffs at Fresno.

Friday night’s game included several noteworthy numbers, including:

--40 hits. USC had a season-high 21, Fresno State 19. The record for hits in a playoff game is 44, set by La Salle and Rider in 1985 and Arizona State and Nevada Las Vegas in 1988.

--11 pitchers. Five for USC, six for Fresno State.

--Seven errors. The Trojans committed three, all of which led to runs. Fresno State’s four errors were also costly--especially shortstop Ben Reynoso’s in the eighth inning on a ground ball that would have started an inning-ending double play. USC went on to score four runs to take a 19-15 lead.

--Four hours nine minutes. A record for a game that did not require extra innings.

--Three home runs, all by Fresno State.

--Two brothers. Senior right-hander Ben Tucker, a Fresno native, started for the Trojans and pitched four innings. He gave 10 runs and struck out six. Brad Tucker, a freshman right-hander, pitched two-thirds of an inning for Fresno State.

“Some days you play a game and all it takes is one big hit to end it,” Geoff Jenkins said. “Today, there just happened to be a hundred thousand hits.”

It only seemed that way as both teams’ pitching staffs were abused. Fresno State needn’t worry because the Bulldogs were eliminated. USC will play today against Long Beach State, a 14-3 winner over Pepperdine Friday night.

USC trailed, 11-7, after six innings before scoring eight runs in the seventh, four in the eighth and three in the ninth.

Paul Cruz had four hits for USC, and Gabe Alvarez and Jenkins each had three.

USC relief ace Jason Garner, who had a 2.12 earned-run average and 15 saves, improved to 5-1 despite giving up four runs and six hits in 1 1/3 innings.

Long Beach State 14, Pepperdine 3--Sophomore Will Skett drove in eight runs and freshman Rocky Biddle (6-1) gave up five hits and struck out 10 in his fifth complete game as the second-seeded 49ers (37-23-1) advanced to play USC today in the winners’ bracket.

Skett hit a grand slam to highlight a five-run third inning and also had a two-run double and two-run single. Jeff Leifer hit his 11th homer for the 49ers, who had 19 hits. Tim Falsken had five hits and drove in two runs.

Pepperdine (35-18-1) plays an elimination game today against Middle Tennessee State (36-26), a 5-3 winner Friday over Southwest Missouri State (37-21).

SOUTH REGIONAL

When everything is going well for top-ranked Cal State Fullerton, it looks easy.

That was the case in Baton Rouge, La., in a 9-1 victory that eliminated James Madison (42-17) from the NCAA South Regional. Fullerton (51-9) moved into today’s game against Rice (42-17), a 15-7 winner over Louisiana State (46-17) and the tournament’s only other unbeaten team.

The winner of that game advances to the championship round Sunday with the loser going into an elimination game later tonight.

Outfielder Tony Miranda sparked a 16-hit Fullerton attack with four of his own, including a two-run homer; and pitcher Jon Ward yielded only one hit in 6 1/3 innings before fading in the 90-degree heat and 55% humidity of LSU’s Alex Box Stadium.

“The heat definitely got to me,” said Ward, who did not give up a hit until the sixth inning, but gave up six walks, including the two in a row in the seventh that gave him the rest of the afternoon off.

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Outbreak

Friday’s game between USC and Fresno State set a record for the most combined runs in a Division I postseason college baseball game:

Runs Teams Date 39 USC (22) vs. Fresno State (17) May 26, 1995 37 USC (26) vs. Houston (11) May 25, 1990 35 Arizona State (23) vs. Oklahoma State (12) June 5, 1984