June 4, 2010

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FULLERTON, CA - Minnesota's Seth Rosin scattered just three hits over eight innings of work and the fourth-seeded Golden Gophers scored all the runs they would need in the first inning en route to a 3-1 upset of top-seeded Cal State Fullerton to close out the first day of the 2010 NCAA Baseball Regionals at Goodwin Field.

Minnesota (31-28, 1-0 in NCAA Regional play) advances in the winners bracket to face third-seeded New Mexico, a 9-5 winner over No. 2 Stanford earlier in the day. First pitch is scheduled for 8 p.m. PDT or 50 minutes following the completion of the first game.

The Titans (41-16, 0-1) had their seven-game winning streak snapped with the loss, dropping a regional opener for the first time since 2002 when they fell to the Cardinal, 3-2 - the last time that Fullerton has failed to advance out of the regional round. The Titans and Stanford will meet in an elimination game on Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m., televised nationally on ESPN-U.

Rosin (9-4) baffled Fullerton's bats all night, allowing a single to Tyler Pill in the second before retiring 11 consecutive batters until a single by Corey Jones to lead-off the sixth. Rosin, who struck out seven without a walk in eight innings of work, carried a shutout into the eighth until the Titans finally broke through on a triple by Billy Marcoe and a sacrifice fly by Jones to finally break through.

Scott Matyas pitched a perfect ninth to nail down his eighth save of the year.

Freshman Dylan Floro (7-1) settled down after a rough first inning to pitch admirably over eight innings, but suffered his first loss of the year after allowing two earned on eight hits while striking out eight.

The Golden Gophers sent eight batters to the plate against Floro in the opening inning putting runners at the corners after A.J. Pettersen was hit by a pitch to lead-off the game and Andy Henkemeyer singled up the middle. After Floro's first strikeout of the night, Kyle Knudson singled through the left side to drive home the first run of the game and give Minnesota a 1-0 advantage.

Matt Puhl followed two batters later with an RBI single through the right side and a Titans' fielding error on Kyle Geason's ground ball plated another run as the Golden Gophers went up 3-0.

That was more than enough for Rosin, who faced the minimum through five until Jones' single in the sixth (which extended his hitting streak to 20 games), and threw 69 of his 94 pitches on the night for strikes.

Knudson finished 3-for-4 with an RBI to lead all players for Minnesota while Puhl added a pair of hits for the Golden Gophers, who outhit the Titans, 8-3, for the game. Three different players had hits for Fullerton, which committed four errors on the night after committing just two in its last 10 games combined.