Baton Rouge Regional:

Dillon Bell’s pinch-hit single plated Cusick, who had doubled and Bell scored from first when, one out later, Deragisch’s looping single to left bounced off left fielder Jared Mitchell’s glove for an error.

After Cusick drove in a run with a groundout in the eighth, junior Brock Bardeen hammered his fourth pinch-hit homer of the season, this one a two-run shot, to make it 11-2.

LSU, which had come from behind 17 times to win during the winning streak and 28 times this season, scored three in the eighth, capped by a two-run homer by LeMahiue.

But sophomore Christian Bergman worked a perfect ninth to preserve Gorgen’s win.

“I thought we got a very, very, very good performance from Scott Gorgen again,” UCI Coach Mike Gillespie said. “We capitalized, exploited some opportunities, got some base on balls. We got a clutch base hit by Asaro early, Jeff Cusick gave us a big hit (RBI). And the three-run home run by Sean Madigan was giant, as was every other run we got. Bardeen, of course, hits a big two-run home run. We also got a big play in right field [a diving catch by Madigan].

“So, for us, it was a little bit of a lot of things and a lot of guys took part in this and sparked us. We felt like we had a lot of heroes. Obviously, it was a great, huge win.”

Perhaps even a statement.

UCI, which had 53 fewer homers than the Tigers coming in, hit two of the game’s three homers.

The ’Eaters also had six of the game’s 10 extra-base hits.

“To come out and thundermash the baseball against these guys was something,” Madigan said.

NCAA Super Regional

Game 1

UC Irvine 11, LSU 5

SCORE BY INNINGS

Gorgen, Calahan (7), Necke (8), Avison (8) and Lowenstein; Verdugo, Bertuccini (6), Bradshaw (6) and Gibbs. W – Gorgen, 12-3. L – Verdugo, 9-3. 2B – Cusick (UCI) 2, Clark (LSU), Schimpf (LSU), Lowenstein (UCI), Stevenson (UCI). 3B – Schimpf (LSU). HR – Madigan (UCI), Bardeen (UCI), LeMahieu (LSU).