USC, Long Beach State Advance

USC and Long Beach State ensured the Southland will be represented at the College World Series by winning regional championship games on Sunday.

USC, which won the last of its NCAA-record 11 championships in 1978, earned the trip to Omaha, Neb., by defeating South Alabama, 4-3, to win the East Regional at Clemson, S.C.

Long Beach State, in quest of its first national championship, advanced by defeating Alabama, 5-3, in the West Regional at Stanford.

Two-time defending champion Louisiana State (46-17), Miami (49-10), Florida (45-16), Florida State (53-18) and Mississippi State (41-21) also advanced to the eight-team double-elimination tournament that will be played May 29-June 6 at Rosenblatt Stadium. The winner of today’s Midwest Regional championship game between Arizona State (37-22) and Georgia Tech (41-21), which was postponed Sunday because of severe weather, will complete the field.

USC (44-16) will be making its 19th World Series appearance.

Junior left-hander Jason Lane, who earned a victory in relief against South Alabama on Saturday night, started on Sunday and gave up one run and four hits in 5 1/3 innings. Senior right-hander Jack Krawczyk pitched 3 2/3 innings to pick up his 21st save.

USC took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on Morgan Ensberg’s run-scoring ground-out and a run-scoring single by shortstop Seth Davidson.

The Trojans increased their lead to 3-0 in the third on an RBI-single by catcher Eric Munson, who was named most valuable player of the tournament after going 10 for 18 with two doubles, two home runs and eight RBIs. Munson missed 16 games during the regular season because of a stress fracture in his right foot. He returned for the Trojans’ last two games before the playoffs.

USC beat Fordham, lost to Virginia Commonwealth, then defeated Clemson and South Alabama twice to win the regional.

Long Beach State (41-21-1) won four consecutive games after losing its tournament opener to North Carolina State.

Termell Sledge led Long Beach to two victories on Sunday and helped the 49ers reach the World Series for the fourth time in Dave Snow’s 10 seasons as coach.

Sledge had four hits--including a two-run homer--in Long Beach’s 10-6 victory over North Carolina State in an elimination game, then hit a grand slam in the championship game against Alabama.

Alabama (46-18) trailed, 5-1, entering the ninth before scoring two runs and loading the bases with one out. Caleb Balbuena (7-3) held Alabama to eight hits and one run before being relieved by Mike Gallo.

Gallo, who had pitched a complete-game six-hitter to beat Stanford 5-1 the day before, faced three hitters and walked two.

Darren Merrill, who pitched 4 1/3 innings in relief Friday, relieved Gallo and struck out No. 3 hitter Andy Phillips, then retired G.W. Keller on a line drive to second.

Sledge, voted the tournament’s most outstanding player, hit a grand slam in the fourth inning to give Long Beach a 5-0 lead.

Long Beach will be going to the College World Series for the first time since 1993. Alabama, which finished second to LSU in Omaha last year, was denied a third straight trip to the series.

In other regionals:

ATLANTIC I--Pat Burrell and Aubrey Huff each hit a two-run homer and top-ranked Miami (49-10) advanced to the World Series for the fifth time in as many seasons under Coach Jim Morris with a 7-4 victory over North Carolina at Coral Gables, Fla.

ATLANTIC II--Matt Diaz had four hits and six RBIs to lead Florida State (53-18) to a 16-10 victory over Auburn at Tallahassee, Fla.

SOUTH I--Derek Nicholson’s RBI-single capped a two-run rally in the bottom of the 11th inning to give Florida a 7-6 victory over Illinois.

CENTRAL--Mississippi State reliever Chris Reinike pitched 6 2/3 scoreless innings at College Station, Texas, as the Bulldogs defeated Texas A&M;, 11-5, to earn their seventh World Series appearance.

MIDWEST--Stephen Donaghey and Jay Hood homered with two out in the ninth inning to give Georgia Tech a 6-5 victory over Oklahoma State in an elimination game at Wichita, Kan.

*

In the Division III World Series at Salem, Va., Wisconsin Oshkosh eliminated Cal Lutheran with a 5-3 victory.

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College World Series at a Glance

At Rosenblatt Stadium, Omaha, Neb.

* When: May 29-June 6

* Teams: USC, Long Beach State, Miami, Florida State, Florida, Louisiana State, Mississippi State, Arizona State-Georgia Tech winner.