May 25, 2001
Stanford, CA - - No. 3 seed Texas defeated No. 2 seed Long Beach State, 11-2, in a first round game of the NCAA Regional at Sunken Diamond. The Longhorns advance into the winner's bracket of the four-team Regional, and will face the winner of the Stanford-Marist game Saturday at 3 p.m. PST at Sunken Diamond. Prior to that game, Long Beach State will face the Stanford-Marist loser in an elimination game at 11:00am, PST.
Gerrit Simpson pitched a complete game to earn the win for the Longhorns, improving his record to 6-5. Simpson tied a career-high with 12 strikeouts and scattered nine hits while walking none and giving up just two runs. Paz took the loss for the Dirtbags, giving up seven runs, all of them earned, on eight hits in 4.2 innings pitched. He walked two and struck out four.
Texas head coach Augie Garrido commented on Simpson's performance, "The pitching has been the cornerstone of our team throughout the season, and Gerrit has been the leading pitcher on the team and his competitiveness and his talent prevailed today. It is to Gerrit's credit that we make it look easy. We were able to take away the momentum and keep the game under control."
After neither team could manage a run in the first three innings, the Longhorns struck for two in the top of the fourth off of losing pitcher Paz (8-8). Matt Rosenberg singled home Ben King from second base and eventually scored on a balk by Paz.
After making two consecutive outs to start the fifth, Texas's Ryan Hubele singled to left and then advanced to second on a throwaway by Paz during a pickoff attempt. King brought in Hubele with an RBI single, and after Rosenberg singled to center Sam Anderson doubled to right center to drive both runners in. Jeff Ontiveros followed Rosenberg with a home run to left field to make the score 7-0 in favor of Texas.
Anderson led the Longhorn attack with a 3-for-4 day, compiling two doubles and three RBI, while King (2-for-5) and Rosenberg (2-for-4) each had a pair of hits and an RBI apiece.
Long Beach State got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the sixth after Jeremy Reed singled to right, then advanced to second on an infield hit by Jeff Jones. Bryan Kennedy singled to right center to score Reed and make the score 7-1. Paul Macaluso added a solo home run to left field in the bottom of the seventh for the Dirtbags.
Jeff Jones and Edgar Varela were the only Long Beach State players with more than one hit, each going 2-for-4.