49ers Stay Alive

Opportunity tapped on the door, and Long Beach State was asleep.

Then it knocked, but the 49ers weren’t home.

Undaunted, opportunity banged on the door and this time Scott Redfox answered.

Redfox, a reserve most of the season but Long Beach’s second baseman lately because he can hit a bit, hit a lot Sunday night, his three-run homer in the seventh inning giving the 49ers a 7-4 victory over Florida State in a College World Series game in which the announced attendance was a series record 24,740, at least 5,000 of whom must have stayed home to watch the Chicago Bulls and Indiana Pacers on television.

It was Redfox’s second homer in two seasons as a collegian, and it drove in Jason Yount and Justin Hall, both of whom had beaten out infield hits.

“Ol’ Redfox surprised us,” said Florida State Coach Mike Martin. “He really did. He only had one homer going in, but he really put a charge into it.”

Actually, Redfox made Seminole relief pitcher John Bentley (7-2) a victim by merely lofting the ball into a jet stream that blew out to right field all night. Redfox added a double and single and scored twice in keeping Long Beach alive in the double-elimination tournament.

Long Beach’s next opponent is Miami, which already has defeated the 49ers once in this tournament. But in Sunday’s first game, the Hurricanes dropped into the losers’ bracket by virtue of a 9-2 loss to Arizona State. The loser of Tuesday’s Long Beach-Miami game will go home, with the winner playing Arizona State on Wednesday.

The third-seeded Seminoles headed back to Tallahassee, two-games-and-out.

“Dad gum, I’ve been on that early flight so many times, I know where to go and what time to set the clock for,” Martin said.

Actually, it’s the first time in 10 years Florida State has exited Omaha in two games, but it has lasted only three in each of four trips since.

The Seminoles had a 4-0 lead in the fourth inning, three of the runs generated by Matt Diaz’s home run that was blown over the right field wall.

Yount’s solo homer--also wind-aided--cut into the margin in the fourth inning, and the 49ers tied it on a bases-loaded walk and Mike Hota’s two-run single in the fifth.

But they left the bases loaded in the fifth when Jaren Madison struck out and Hall bounced to the pitcher; and in the sixth inning, when Bryan Kennedy struck out and Hota flied out to center field.

Coach Dave Snow had started wondering how many opportunities could be squandered.

“But the dugout didn’t let us get frustrated,” he said of the enthusiasm that carried Long Beach through most of postseason play. “If we had gotten frustrated in that situation, it could have come out a lot different.”

Instead, Long Beach took heart from good fortune in the seventh inning when Darren Merrill came on in relief of starting pitcher Caleb Balbuena and picked Kevin Cash off second base before throwing a pitch.

“It was a huge play,” said Snow, who added that it also was a surprise because the 49ers were merely showing a defense in anticipation of a bunt by Brett Groves. But seeing Long Beach shortstop Hall break toward third base, Cash edged farther off second. Redfox, the second baseman, simply sneaked in behind the runner and took the throw from Merrill, tagging Cash out.

“It was a bonehead play on my part,” Cash said. “I saw the shortstop break toward third and thought I was all right.”

He wasn’t, and Merrill then struck out Groves and got Brooks Badeaux on a bouncer to first base to end the inning.

The 49ers also got a break in the third when Balbuena’s pitch sailed to the backstop, then bounced right back to Kennedy, who was waiting for Jose Zabala, who had broken from third on the play.

“We had a lot of things fall our way,” Snow said.

Long Beach also had a lot of pitching after the fourth inning, Merrill (7-0), Balbuena and Jason Marr holding Florida State to one hit over the last five innings.

Arizona State needed no such luck in the first game, and the Sun Devils, who finished third in the Southern Division of the Pacific 10 Conference, continued to stay hot.

They staked starting pitcher Ryan Mills to a 2-0 lead on Andrew Beinbrink’s home run in the first inning and stretched that to 6-0 with four runs in the second, scoring two runs on infield hits and getting two more on Jeff Phelps’ single.

“Having a cushion was good,” Mills said. “If you ask me how I pitched, I really don’t know.”

The answer is, well enough to have Arizona State in the driver’s seat, with two days off until it plays again. And well enough to send Miami into another matchup with Long Beach State.