Long Beach State Dirtbags falls to Miami in extra iings at NCAA Regional

Pinch hitter Jeff Nellis’ home run in the bottom of the ninth iing on Saturday night gave Long Beach State renewed life in the fourth game of the NCAA Regional at the University of Miami. However, the host Hurricanes came back to win in the 11th iing, 4-3, and hand the Dirtbags their first loss of the regional.

Miami (47-11) is the No. 3 national seed and needs just one more win to advance to the Super Regional. The Dirtbags (37-21) have to come back and play Florida Atlantic today at 10 a.m. in an elimination game. The wier will play Miami at 4 p.m. LBSU needs three straight wins to advance.

Big West Pitcher of the Year Darren McCaughan got the start for the Dirtbags, and the right-handed sophomore faced the minimum number of batters though the first four iings. He pitched 6 2/3 iings and allowed five hits, three runs, two eaed runs, five strikeouts and one walk. An error in the seventh iing gave Miami the lead and ended McCaughan’s night.

LBSU freshman Jarren Duran hit a solo more run in the third iing, his first as a Dirtbag, to give the designed home team a 1-0 lead. Miami tied the game in the top of the sixth iing when first baseman Chris Barr led off with a single to left field. After he was sacrificed to second, center fielder Carl Chester drove him in with his own single to right field on an 0-2 count.

The Dirtbags took the 2-1 lead in the bottom of the sixth when Zack Domingues led off with a walk and scored on Brock Lundquist’s double. LBSU loaded the bases, but Miami starting pitcher Michael Mediavilla struck out pinch hitter Alex Muzzi and David Banuelos to end the threat. Mediavilla gave up seven hits and three walks in seven iings pitched while he struck out six.

The Hurricanes started the seventh iing with back-to-back hits and left fielder Jacob Heyward tied the game 2-2 with a sacrifice fly. It looked like McCaughan had pitched his way out of the jam when he induced a ground ball to third base with two outs, however, Domingues’ throw wasn’t handed by Duran and the error gave Miami a 3-2 lead.

In the bottom of the ninth with two outs and two strikes on him, Nellis blasted his solo home run over the left-center field fence to force extra iings. The Dirtbags had a ruer in scoring position in the 10th iing, but couldn’t cash in the opportunity. Miami scored the game-wiing run in the 11th when Heyward led off with a walk, took second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on Chester’s single to left field off Dirtbags reliever Austin McGeorge. The junior took his first loss of the season after pitching 2 1/3 iings and striking out two. Miami freshman reliever Andrew Cabezas picked up the win after 1 2/3 iings.

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— JJ Fiddler