CWS: Beavers bring down Titans

OMAHA, Neb. – Scott Santschi hit his first homer of the season and had two RBIs, and defending champion Oregon State survived some nervous moments to defeat Cal State Fullerton 3-2 in the College World Series on Saturday night.

OSU pitchers Jorge Reyes, Joe Paterson and Eddie Kunz combined to allow six hits as the Beavers began their bid to become the first repeat champion since LSU in 1996-97.

Fullerton’s Wes Roemer struck out seven to become the school’s career leader. Otherwise, it was another disappointing CWS start for the Arizona Diamondbacks’ first-round draft pick.

Oregon State (45-18) moves to a Monday game against Arizona State (49-13), which defeated UC Irvine 5-4. The Titans (38-24) will play UC Irvine (45-16-1) in an elimination game Monday.

Mike Lissman homered in the first and Santschi singled in a run in the second for the Beavers.

Arizona State 5, UC Irvine 4: Ike Davis hit a tie-breaking home run in the eighth inning and Mike Leake and Jason Jarvis held the Anteaters scoreless the last five innings to lead the Sun Devils to a victory.

Arizona State (49-13), which came in with 75 home runs in 61 games, scored all its runs on long balls against UC Irvine (45-16-1). Matt Spencer hit a three-run homer in the second and CJ Retherford had a solo homer in the fifth.

Davis’s eighth homer of the season landed in the right-field bleachers and ended the day for UC Irvine starter Scott Gorgen (12-3), who was bidding for his fifth straight complete game.