HAAG SPARKS CSUN CSUN 7, MAINE 4.Byline: Chris Cocoles Staff Writer Ryan Haag is a typical Cal State Northridge story: the dedicated kid who sweats himself into something. The Matadors, coaches and players alike, swear they've outworked the college baseball College baseball is baseball as played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education, predominantly in the United States. Compared to American football and basketball in the United States, college competition plays a less significant contribution to cultivating world to where they were Friday night: beating Maine 7-4 in an NCAA NCAA abbr. National Collegiate Athletic Association Regional opener at USC's Dedeaux Field Dedeaux Field is a college baseball stadium in Los Angeles, California, and the home field of the University of Southern California Trojans baseball team. The stadium holds 2,500 people and was built in 1974, the year USC won its record fifth consecutive College World Series title. . Haag, the 5-foot-something (the Hart High of Newhall graduate goes 5-9 on the roster) All-Big West Conference third baseman began the season platooning for and eventually winning the everyday job and becoming a .346 hitter. And second-seeded CSUN CSUN California State University Northridge (41-15) might not be advancing into today's 3 p.m. winner's bracket game against host USC An abbreviation for U.S. Code. without Haag, whose first two at-bats provided CSUN with enough of a cushion to hold off the Black Bears (40-16). Haag led off the game with a double to left-center, went to third on an error by Black Bears center fielder Mike Livulpi and scored on a passed ball. An inning later, the Matadors were on the verge On the Verge (or The Geography of Yearning) is a play written by Eric Overmyer. It makes extensive use of esoteric language and pop culture references from the late nineteenth century to 1955. of wasting a bases-loaded, no-outs rally with two feeble at-bats when Haag crushed Mike MacDonald's 3-1 pitch over the right-field wall for a 5-0 lead. Haag's contributions complemented junior Kameron Loe (5-3), who threw 8 2/3 valuable innings. Bullpen specialist Andy Davidson got the final out with the tying run at the plate for his first save after his move from starter to reliever thrust CSUN to the Big West title. The Matadors increased their lead to 6-0 when Shaun Larkin scored on Eric Verbryke's fourth-inning double. Larkin was ruled tagged out by Black Bears catcher Alain Picard. But home-plate umpire Dennis McComb, conferred with the umpiring crew and reversed his call after Maine players left the field. The Black Bears pulled to within 6-3, but Aaron McKenzie's eighth-inning sacrifice fly provided Loe with an insurance run. |
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