FAYETTEVILLE -- Central Connecticut State picked up a program milestone at the expense of No. 2 seed California on Saturday in an elimination game at the NCAA Fayetteville Regional.
The Blue Devils (31-22) hit a pair of home runs Saturday and rode seven strong innings from right-hander Tom Curtin to notch a 7-4 victory, the first NCAA Tournament victory in school history.
"Obviously, it's a special day for our program," CCSU Coach Charlie Hickey said. "First NCAA win in a very well-played, hard-nosed baseball game."
The Blue Devils will face the loser of Saturday night's game between Arkansas and TCU in an elimination game today at 2 p.m.
Cal (32-20) seized two leads, with two runs in the second inning and a single run in the third, but each time the Blue Devils matched those runs.
Curtin (6-3), the Northeast Conference Tournament MVP after starting in the championship game on two days' rest, gave his club another big performance in an elimination game.
He gave up 3 runs, 2 of them earned, on 4 hits and 2 walks while striking out 2 in 106 pitches. The CCSU offense rallied for him both times after the Golden Bears grabbed leads.
"It was amazing," Curtin said. "Any time I'd get down, these guys would come and pick me up every inning. I was just trying to give them a chance, and even when we weren't succeeding, they had my back the entire time."
The big blow came from junior outfielder Dave Matthews, who broke a 3-3 tie in the fifth inning with a three-run home run, his seventh of the season, off Sam Stoutenborough (8-5). Matthews went 3 for 4 with 4 RBI and 2 runs scored.
"It was a fastball up and in," Matthews said of the home run pitch. "I elevated it enough to get it out of here, thankfully."
Chandler Debrosse and Buddy Dewaine had two hits each for CCSU.
Cal was led by Darren Baker, Cameron Eden and Grant Holman with two hits each.
Golden Bears' first baseman Andrew Vaughn, who is projected as a top-10 pick in Monday's MLB Draft, went 0 for 3 with an RBI to make him 0 for 6 in the regional.
Cal put together a mild rally in the ninth inning against lefty Jared Gallagher, who notched his 10th save. The Golden Bears had a run in and two on base when Quentin Selma popped up to end the game with Vaughn on deck.
"Obviously, they made it interesting in the ninth inning," Hickey said. "Fortunately we were able to get out of there, especially ... with somebody on deck. I really didn't want to go down that road."
The Golden Bears were the first team eliminated from the regional.
"I'm proud of the way our guys played all year, but disappointed in the weekend obviously," Cal Coach Mike Neu said. "It's tough to lose when you come in with some expectations to put on a little better weekend."
Sports on 06/02/2019