Irvine, Virginia win in regional

To prepare for San Diego State’s Stephen Strasburg, Virginia hitters this week cranked up their pitching machine to full power.

From as close as 40 feet, the Cavaliers tracked offerings that approximated Strasburg’s fastball, which ranges in velocity from the mid-90s to upward of 100 mph.

The practice paid off Friday, the Cavaliers touching the probable No. 1 pick in the major league draft for two early runs en route to a 5-1 victory in the opening game of the NCAA Division I baseball regional at UC Irvine.

Virginia will play top-seeded UC Irvine, a 4-2 winner over Fresno State, tonight at 8.

San Diego State plays Fresno State in an elimination game at 4 p.m.

After watching Virginia beat a pitcher who had been enjoying one of the most dominant seasons in college baseball history, Irvine Coach Mike Gillespie said the Cavaliers were “clearly on the shortest list of best teams we’ve seen in either of the last two years.”

Irvine (44-13) also impressed, advancing on the strength of another outstanding performance by left-hander Daniel Bibona, who struck out a career-high 14 in 7 2/3 innings as the Anteaters overcame an early deficit against the defending national champion.

“He paints his spots really well -- that’s what keeps you off balance,” Fresno State outfielder Dusty Robinson said.

Robinson’s fourth-inning solo homer had given Fresno State the lead, but the Anteaters answered with four runs on Jeff Cusick’s bases-loaded walk, DJ Crumlich’s sacrifice fly and Jordan Fox’s two-run double.

Fresno State (32-29) pulled to within two runs on Jake Johnson’s fifth-inning double, but that was all the Bulldogs could muster against Bibona, relievers Kyle Necke and Eric Pettis and an Anteaters defense that played error-free.

Bibona gave up five hits and walked two on a night that featured several outstanding starting pitching performances.

With scouts and agent Scott Boras among the overflow crowd at Anteater Ballpark, Strasburg struck out 15 and did not walk a batter in seven innings.

But he acknowledged that with San Diego State appearing in a regional for the first time since 1991, “everybody had the jitters” at the outset.

Virginia (44-12-1), making its sixth consecutive regional appearance, took advantage.

After Strasburg struck out the first batter in the home half of the first inning, designated hitter Phil Gosselin blasted the first pitch he saw from the 6-foot-4 junior into the netting that covers the scoreboard in left field for a home run.

“He supplied most of the power,” Gosselin said. “I just had to put my bat on it.”

Strasburg (13-1) gave up a run-scoring infield single in the second inning before settling in.

The two early runs, though, proved to be enough.

Virginia pitcher Robert Morey (3-0) shut out the Aztecs and struck out nine in six innings before giving way to Tyler Wilson, who surrendered an eighth-inning sacrifice fly to Chris Wilson that pulled the Aztecs to within a run.

But Steven Proscia’s two-run homer and Jarrett Parker’s second run-scoring single pushed the lead to 5-1.

“We left some balls right there to be hit and they were,” said San Diego State Coach Tony Gwynn, whose team fell to 40-22.

--

At the Cal State Fullerton regional:

Cal State Fullerton 18, Utah 2 -- Fullerton pounded out a season-high 24 hits and Noe Ramirez pitched seven strong innings to lead the top-seeded Titans over Utah.

Jared Clark’s two-run, bases-loaded double sparked the Titans’ four-run second inning. The first five batters in the lineup for Fullerton combined for 15 hits and 11 RBIs and scored eight runs. Khris Davis hit a three-run home run for the Titans (43-14).

Ramirez (8-1) struck out eight and held the Utes to two runs.

Gonzaga 19, Georgia Southern 10 -- The West Coast Conference champions led 7-0 after the first inning and still had to rally. Georgia Southern scored six times on four home runs in the third to tie the score, 8-8.

But Gonzaga scored in every inning thereafter, and reliever Reedy Berg, a sophomore left-hander, gave up only two runs and six hits in six strong innings to earn the win.