Long Beach to Play at Least One More Day

Long Beach State saved Mike Gallo to pitch its third game of the NCAA West Regional baseball tournament, and the choice paid off.

“His performance was awesome,” 49er Coach Dave Snow said after Gallo shut down top-seeded Stanford on six hits, eliminating the Cardinal, 5-1, and sending Long Beach into today’s championship round at Palo Alto.

Gallo struck out only three but walked none and retired 16 Stanford hitters on ground balls.

Long Beach left fielder Jaron Madison, a senior who had never hit a collegiate home run, hit two.

Today, Long Beach State plays North Carolina State, which lost to Alabama, 9-2. Alabama eliminated Loyola Marymount, 13-5, before beating the Wolfpack.

In other regionals:

EAST--Seth Etherton struck out 15 in USC’s 8-5 win over host Clemson. The Trojans also used three pitchers in beating South Alabama, 3-2. Virginia Commonwealth eliminated Citadel, 3-2, in 11 innings and advanced to a game today against South Alabama. The winner plays USC for the title.

SOUTH II--Cedrick Harris had a two-run double in a four-run eighth-inning rally that gave top-seeded and twice defending NCAA champion Louisiana State a 13-11 win over Cal State Fullerton at Baton Rouge. The Titans later eliminated Harvard, 11-7, and must beat LSU twice today to advance to the College World Series.

SOUTH I--Top-seeded Florida staved off elimination at Gainesville, Fla., by beating Richmond, 15-3, with the help of two homers each by Derek Nicholson and Jason Dill, and Wake Forest, 12-9. Illinois beat Baylor, 8-7, in 13 innings and plays an elimination game against Wake Forest.

MIDWEST--Arizona State advanced to the championship game at Wichita, Kan., when Willie Bloomquist doubled and scored the go-ahead run of a 6-4 win that eliminated top-seeded Wichita State and the Sun Devils beat Oklahoma State, 13-5. Arizona State plays the winner of the Oklahoma State-Georgia Tech game.

CENTRAL--Mississippi State used a 10-run sixth inning in beating top-seeded Rice, 15-14, at College Station, Texas. The Bulldogs also beat host Texas A&M;, 10-9, and play the winner of the game between the Aggies and Washington, a 13-6 winner over Oral Roberts, for the region title.

ATLANTIC I--German Alvarez had two home runs in each game for Miami, which beat Texas Tech, 13-0, and South Carolina, 14-3, to stave off elimination at home. The Hurricanes play the winner of the North Carolina-South Carolina game for the title.