GAME ONE – #2 SAN DIEGO VS. #3 CALIFORNIA
San Diego ace Brian Matusz pitched a complete game three-hit shutout in the opening game of the Long Beach Regional against 3-seed Cal on Friday afternoon. Matusz struck out ten Golden Bears and gave up just one walk. The Toreros and Bears were deadlocked in a scoreless game heading into the bottom of the sixth inning when Josh Romanski reached on a walk with two out. Sean Nicol came to the plate and doubled to center field scoring Romanski all the way from first to put the Toreros a 1-0 lead. The Toreros broke the game wide open in the bottom of the seventh inning scoring four runs, three of them unearned. Matusz retired six of the final seven batters he faced to complete the victory.
With the win Matusz improves to 12-2 on the season and improves his ERA to 1.58. Tyson Ross takes the loss for Cal giving up five runs on nine hits in 6.2 innings.
The Toreros advance to the winner’s bracket and will face 4-seed Fresno State.
GAME TWO – #1 LONG BEACH STATE VS. #4 FRESNO STATE
The lowest seed in the bracket Fresno State defeated the top seed and host Long Beach State 7-3 in the opening round of the Long Beach Regional sending the Dirtbags to the losers’ bracket and the Bulldogs to a date with 2-seed San Diego.
The Bulldogs struck early getting on the board with two runs in the top of the second inning to take a 2-0 lead. The Bulldogs added another run in the top of the third but the Dirtbags countered with two runs to cut the Bulldogs’ lead to 3-2 on a Brandon Godfrey single that scored Jason Corder and Jonathan Jones. The Bulldogs added a run in th etop of the fifth to give themselves a two run cushion at 4-2 and then plated three runs in the top of the eighth to give themselves a five run cushion at 7-2. The Dirtbags would get one run back in the bottom of the eighth to cut the lead to 7-3 but would get no closer.
Justin Wilson picked up the victory for the Bulldogs giving up two runs in seven innings pitched. Long Beach State ace Andrew Liebel gave up all seven runs and recorded the loss going 7.2 innings.
The 4-seed Bulldogs will face 2-seed San Diego while the 1-seed Long Beach State will face 3-seed Cal in the regional’s first elimination game.
