NCAA Baseball : Fresno St. Defeats USC Twice, Advances to Series

Fresno State scored six runs in the seventh inning Monday night and routed USC, 14-3, in the championship game of the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. West I Regional at Fresno.

The Bulldogs, who defeated the Trojans earlier in the day, 17-12, advanced to the College World Series, which starts Friday in Omaha. It will be Fresno State’s first appearance in the World Series since 1959.

A record crowd of 5,673 at Beiden Field watched Fresno State (56-10) hit five home runs in the second game, including consecutive home runs by Steve Pearse, Steve Vondran and Jeff Mott in the seventh.

Winning pitcher Ken Baker (2-1) limited the Trojans (36-26) to 1 run on 4 hits in 5 innings of relief.

In the first game between the Trojans and Bulldogs, Mike Burton went 4 for 5 with a pair of home runs and 5 RBIs to lead Fresno State. Fresno State scored 4 times in the fifth and ninth innings and had 18 hits against 5 USC pitchers.

The Trojans had 20 hits, including five by John Jackson and four by Jim Campanis. Campanis, who hit two home runs Sunday in an 18-17 victory over the Bulldogs, hit two more to give him 23 this year, and drove in three runs.

Murph Proctor also hit a pair of home runs for the Trojans.

USC shortstop Bret Barberie twisted his ankle and knee while crossing the first base bag in the first inning of the first game and was sidelined the rest of the day.

Cal State Fullerton 6, Texas A&M; 3--Mike Ross hit a three-run home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to cap a five-run rally that gave the Titans (41-16) the victory in the championship game of the South Regional at Starkville, Miss.

Fullerton trailed, 3-0, going into the bottom of the eighth when Keith Kaub hit his 19th home run to cut the Aggies’ lead to 3-1.

With two out in the bottom of the ninth, Fullerton tied the score on RBI singles by Rex Peters and Shane Flores before Ross hit his 14th home run to give the Titans the victory.

Paul Johnson (7-3) pitched the final five innings to pick up the win. Scott Centala (5-1) pitched the final two innings for Texas A&M; (52-15) and took the loss.

Arizona State 11, Pepperdine 4--Tim Spehr hit a pair of home runs and drove in five runs as the Sun Devils handed the Waves their first loss in the West II Regional at Tempe, Ariz. Arizona State and Pepperdine played a second game Monday night for the regional championship.

Linty Ingram allowed 10 hits over 9 innings in improving his record to 17-4. Doug Simons (11-3) gave up 6 runs in 5 innings and took the loss.

Spehr hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning and a three-run home run in the fifth as the Pac-10 Southern Division champion Sun Devils improved their record to 55-11. Mike Truschke hit a two-run home run for Pepperdine (37-23-1).

California 6, Texas 5--Mike Mathews gave up four runs over seven innings as the Golden Bears (40-23) held on to defeat the top-seeded Longhorns (58-11) in the championship game of the Central Regional at Austin, Tex., and earn their first College World Series berth since 1980.

Mathews scattered 11 hits in improving his record to 7-1 as California beat Texas for the second straight time. On Sunday, the Golden Bears edged the Longhorns, 8-7.

Stanford 6, Kentucky 5--Frank Carey singled home a run in the eighth inning to give the Cardinal the victory and set up a rematch against the Wildcats today at noon in the championship game of the Northeast Regional at New Britain, Conn.

Troy Paulsen led defending national champion Stanford with three hits, and Rob Whitmeyer had two, including a three-run home run.