Long Beach Eliminated by Stanford

Danny Putnam hit a go-ahead, two-run single in the seventh inning and Carlos Quentin had four hits and a run batted in as Stanford beat Long Beach State, 4-2, Saturday at Stanford’s Sunken Diamond to win the NCAA Division I super regional and advance to the College World Series for the fifth consecutive season.

Mark Romanczuk (12-0), who gave up 10 hits in 8 1/3 innings, became the first Stanford freshman to win his first 12 decisions.

Stanford (46-15), which won the opener of the best of three series, 5-1, Friday night, has won nine in a row and 18 of 19.

Adam Heether hit a home run and drove in two runs for the 49ers (41-20), who were eliminated by the Cardinal in postseason play for the second consecutive season.

South Carolina 14, North Carolina 4 -- Brian Buscher homered twice and drove in six runs to lead the Gamecocks (44-20) to a sweep of the Tar Heels (42-23) in their best-of-three super regional series at Columbia, S.C., and a berth in the College World Series.

Louisiana State 6, Baylor 5 -- Clay Harris and Ivan Naccarata hit back-to-back homers in the eighth inning at Baton Rouge, La., enabling the Tigers to even the series with the Bears (45-22).

LSU (44-20-1) took a 3-0 lead in the first inning, but trailed, 5-4, in the seventh after RBI singles by Chris Durbin and David Murphy.

Miami 10, North Carolina State 9 -- Freshman Ryan Braun hit a game-winning home run with two out in the ninth inning to give the Hurricanes (43-15-1) a come-from-behind victory over the Wolfpack (45-17) in the first game of their super regional series at Coral Gables, Fla.

Braun went two for five with two homers and four RBIs for the Hurricanes, who rallied from a six-run deficit.

Houston 5, Rice 2 -- Cole Bruce hit a three-run homer to cap a four-run sixth inning and Danny Zell pitched seven strong innings to lead the Cougars (37-28) in the first game of their series at Houston.

Enrique Cruz, the brother of San Francisco Giant Jose Cruz Jr., and Austin Davis drove in runs for Rice (51-11).

Southwest Missouri State 13, Ohio State 8 -- Brooks Colvin and Rick Wilson hit RBI singles in a five-run eighth inning to give the Bears (39-24) the series-opening win at Columbus, Ohio.

Dant’e Brinkley’s three-run homer capped a seven-run third for the Bears (39-24), who led, 8-2, before Ohio State (44-20) tied it on Brett Garrard’s two-run homer in the top of the eighth.