NCAA baseball regionals: Fresno State jumps on UC Santa Barbara early in win

Big West champion UC Santa Barbara, the No. 2 seed in the Stanford Regional, is on the brink of elimination after being blasted by Fresno State 9-2.

Fresno State (39-14-1) opened the game Friday with four straight singles to score its first run. The Bulldogs scored their second run on an error that kept the inning alive, allowing three more runs to score before Santa Barbara (45-10) could get the third out.

The Bulldogs got run-scoring doubles from Carter Bins and JT Arruda in the second inning and were never headed.

Fresno State right-hander Ryan Jensen did not give up a hit until there were two outs in the sixth inning. Jensen struck out eight in 72/3 innings, giving up four hits and two runs.

Santa Barbara will face Sacramento State in an elimination game at 1 p.m. Saturday.

— Shotgun Spratling

Stanford 11, Sacramento State 0

Will Matthiessen had two hits, drove in two runs and hit one of the four Stanford home runs in support of Brendan Beck’s three-hitter over seven innings in a regional opener.

Maverick Handley, Andrew Daschbach and Nick Oar also hit home runs for Stanford (42-11), hosting its third straight regional and 18th overall. Nick Bellafronto and Kyle Stowers each drove in a pair of runs.

Scott Randall (8-2) lasted 32/3 innings for the Hornets, giving up five runs, two earned, and seven hits.

Southern Mississippi 15, Arizona State 3

Storme Cooper and Matt Wallner each homered during a 12-run fifth inning,and Southern Mississippi racked up 17 hits en route to a victory in the opening game of the Baton Rouge (La.) regional.

North Carolina 7, UNC Wilmington 6

After a three-hour rain delay in the bottom of the ninth, the Tar Heels had runners on second and third in a 6-6 game. Danny Serretti got caught in a rundown between third and home and scored the winning run when third baseman Cole Weiss overthrew the catcher.