Barre’s Home Run Leads Trojans Past BYU in 12th

Failing to drive in the winning run in the ninth inning was on USC center fielder Brian Barre’s mind as he strode to the plate in the 12th inning.

Barre didn’t take long to atone for his missed opportunity. He led off the 12th by hitting the first pitch from Sam Fernley over the center-field wall to give the Trojans a 5-4 victory over Brigham Young in the opening game of an NCAA baseball regional Friday at Dedeaux Field.

The victory sent USC into the winner’s bracket where it will face Cal State Northridge today in a 3 p.m. game. The Trojans (35-22) won despite making a number of mental and physical errors on defense and their potent offense being held in check most of the game.

“We lose this game and we have to come back with a doubleheader [today] and a doubleheader on Sunday,” Barre said. “For us to win today was huge.”

Barre could have won the game in the ninth inning after the Trojans tied it at 4-4 on a sacrifice fly by Jon Brewster. But with the winning run at third base and one out, the senior struck out on a changeup by Cougar reliever James Ray.

“I was pretty upset after the ninth because I didn’t want to let the team down,” said Barre, who has 12 home runs this season.

“I’m glad I had a second chance.”

BYU (29-30-1), which upset San Diego State to win the Mountain West Conference tournament, never trailed until Barre’s hit. Jeff Mousser limited USC to three runs and five hits over that stretch as he continually frustrated the Trojans with his off-speed pitches.

“Mousser did a great job of mixing his pitches,” USC Coach Mike Gillespie said. “He made it tough for guys to get on balance and get some great swings.”

BYU Coach Vance Law let Mousser pitch the ninth and it cost him. With the Cougars leading, 4-3, Anthony Lunetta worked the count and drew a leadoff walk. Travis McAndrews then flashed a bunt attempt and bounced a double down the right-field line over first baseman Dave Jensen.

Law then replaced Mousser with Tyler Dabo, who walked Kris Cox to load the bases. Brewster, who had a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning, then hit Dabo’s first pitch deep to center field to score Lunetta with the tying run.

“I second-guessed myself for letting Jeff Mousser go out there in the ninth,” Law said. “He was getting tired and we had a fresh bullpen available.”

Gillespie said McAndrews’ hit keyed the inning. “It’s called a slash and run play and it’s mostly about getting your pitch,” Gillespie said. “We practice that to hit over third base unless you get a pitch inside. It’s a great play when it works.”

USC won despite a so-so effort from ace Anthony Reyes and a defense that made two errors and blew a rundown behind him.

Brett Bannister had another stellar outing in relief as he threw six shutout innings and struck out six.

Since being knocked out in the first inning of a May 19 loss at Arizona State, the freshman has allowed one run in his last 15 innings.

“I love it when the game is on the line,” Bannister said. “To be able to be in that situation has been fun.”

Cal State Northridge 7, Maine 4--Third baseman Ryan Haag hit a grand slam and Kameron Loe struck out 10 in 82/3 innings as the Matadors showed no ill effects from a 12-day layoff in beating the Black Bears in the second regional game at USC.

Northridge (41-15) has won six in a row and 16 of 18. The Matadors will play USC for the first time since a three-game series in 1999.

Haag ripped a double to lead off the first and continued to third when Mike Livulpi bobbled the ball in center field. The sophomore then scored on a passed ball for a 1-0 lead.

In the second, Northridge’s Tim Arroyo singled and Jason Allec and Adam Nikolic added consecutive bunt singles. Haag provided the long ball two outs later with a shot over the right-field wall.

Loe (5-3) gave up four runs and eight hits but tired in the ninth, when Maine (40-16) scored its final run and Andy Davidson came in to get the last out.

Long Beach State 6, San Jose State 3--Paul McAnulty doubled twice and drove in three runs and Daniel Eisentrager pitched six solid innings as 49ers won at Stanford.

Brad Davis, Jeremy Reed and Mike Hofius also had two hits each as the second-seeded 49ers (38-19) won their eighth straight and 10 of 12 overall.

Gabe Lopez and Hector Zamora hit home runs on consecutive pitches from Eisentrager to give the third-seeded Spartans (45-16) a 2-0 lead. But Eisentrager (10-3) did not allow a runner past first base after that.

Stanford 3, Cal State Fullerton 2--Scott Dragicevich singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 13th inning to give the Cardinal (40-17) the victory at home over the Titans (36-21). Jeremy Guthrie (11-1) pitched all 13 innings, allowing nine hits in his fifth complete game of the season.

The Stanford regional is the only one of the 16 four-team tournaments across the country to feature four nationally ranked teams.

Arizona State 6, San Diego 3-- Rod Allen homered and Dustin Pedroia had four hits including the go-ahead single in the sixth inning as the Sun Devils won at Mesa, Ariz.

The Sun Devils (36-19) rallied from a 3-1 deficit after four.

San Diego (28-22) plays New Mexico State in an elimination game today. Arizona State plays Houston, a 9-0 winner over New Mexico State.

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In the NCAA Division II Championships at Montgomery, Ala., Chico State defeated Massachusetts-Lowell, 8-4, to advance to Sunday’s national title game. Ryan Tash homered for Chico St.