Harvard’s Hogan Handles Bruins

UCLA, ranked in the nation’s Top 10 all season in any poll you can find, ran into a hot pitcher Thursday in the first round of the NCAA Midwest Regional, and now the Bruins are looking uphill in Stillwater, Okla.

Frank Hogan, Harvard’s (33-14) ace and the Ivy League’s pitcher of the year, gave up six hits--all singles--in eight-plus innings in chilling top-seeded UCLA, 7-2, on a mixed day for Southern California teams in the NCAA tournament.

USC, second-seeded in South II, lost to Virginia Tech, 3-2; Long Beach State beat Oklahoma, 1-0, in South I and Cal State Fullerton was shut out by Santa Clara, 5-0, in the West.

Hogan (8-2) handled the Bruins (40-19-1) with guile.

“Today, I was just able to change speeds and throw strikes and that was the key,” he said. “If I’d thrown the ball 88 [mph] today, I’d have gotten beat, 15-0.”

The Bruins play Ohio (43-17) in an elimination game today. The Bobcats were 5-2 losers to Tennessee on Thursday. Harvard plays Stetson, an 8-1 loser to host team Oklahoma State.

SOUTH II--At Tuscaloosa, Ala., Virginia Tech (34-26) pitcher Denny Wagner (10-4) used 140 pitches and beat USC (39-19) when Matt Reynolds hit his second solo homer of the game in the ninth inning off Scott Henderson (8-4).

The Hokies advance to a game against North Carolina State--a 10-9 winner over Wichita State in 10 innings--today, and USC plays Troy State, an 8-5 loser to Alabama.

SOUTH I--Marcus Jones gave up only two hits for Long Beach State (38-24) in its shutout of Oklahoma at Baton Rouge, La. Brandon Hyde’s fifth-inning homer was the game’s only run.

Jones did not walk a Sooner (39-19) and retired 23 in a row in a game that lasted only 1 hour 59 minutes. He led the 49ers to a game against South Alabama (41-17), a 12-6 winner over Houston (40-21).

In the region’s other game, Louisiana State led North Carolina-Greensboro, 6-0, in the fifth inning when the game was postponed because of lightning.

WEST--Mike Frank pitched a three-hit shutout over eight innings and hit a three-run home run for Santa Clara (40-18) in its win over second-seeded Cal State Fullerton (38-23-1) at Palo Alto.

Frank (11-0) struck out three and walked three to send fifth-seeded Santa Clara into a winners-bracket game against Fresno State. The Titans play Northeastern (33-18), a 12-3 loser to Stanford, in an elimination game.

MIDEAST--Kris Wilson pitched the first NCAA tournament one-hitter since Yale’s Ron Darling did it in a 12-inning, 1-0, loss to St. John’s and Frank Viola in 1981, and sent Georgia Tech (46-13) to a 5-0 win over Tennessee Tech (38-22) at Starkville, Miss.

Georgia Tech advanced to a game against Southwestern Louisiana, a 5-4 loser to Washington, which meets Ohio State, an 8-5 winner over Mississippi State.

CENTRAL--Brad Eubanks’ single in the top of the 11th inning scored Chad Spear and gave Southwest Texas a 7-6 win over the top-seeded host team, Texas Tech, at Lubbock, Texas. In other games, Kirk Bultmann went three for five for Clemson in a 13-9 win over Nevada, and Rice beat Southwest Missouri State, 5-2.

ATLANTIC--Dan McKinley’s two-run double in the fifth inning--one of his three--broke open a close game and led Arizona State past Florida International, 10-2, at Coral Gables, Fla. Arizona State advanced to a game against Florida, a 4-3 winner over St. John’s. The third game, Richmond at Miami, was rained out.

EAST--At Tallahassee, Fla., Adam Sullivan had five hits and three RBIs for Auburn in an 11-3 win over Western Carolina. Auburn advanced to a game against South Florida, which was a 5-4 winner over Central Florida. In the third game, J.D. Drew, college baseball’s player of the year, hit his 29th homer in leading Florida State to a a 4-2 win over Marist.