Fullerton, Pepperdine win openers

Cal State Fullerton proved you don’t need a hit to drive in three runs and you don’t need to start to be the pitching star as the Titans defeated Indiana State, 9-5, Friday in a first-round NCAA playoff baseball game at Oregon’s PK Park.

Ivory Thomas drove in runs with a squeeze bunt, sacrifice fly and by being hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, and freshman Koby Gauna gave up only one hit in 31⁄ innings of scoreless relief.

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Fullerton (36-19) will play Oregon on Saturday night. The Ducks (42-17) rallied for two runs in the ninth inning to defeat Austin Peay, 6-5.

The Titans, champions of the Big West Conference, led 5-1 after three innings before Indiana State (41-18) rallied with a run in the fourth and three in the sixth off Fullerton starter Grahamm Wiest.

Thomas’ sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth, which scored Anthony Trajano, put the Titans back in the lead for good. Fullerton added three more runs in the eighth when Thomas was hit with the bases loaded and Carlos Lopez and Michael Lorenzen followed with runscoring singles.

Pepperdine 6, Michigan State 2 — At the Stanford Regional, Matt Gelalich drove in three runs and Jon Moscot scattered 10 hits in his second consecutive complete game as the Waves (3521) won for the ninth time in their last 11games.

Moscot, a junior righthander, improved to 7-5, striking out four and walking two. Miles Silverstein had three hits for Pepperdine, which will play Stanford on Saturday. The host Cardinal (38-16) rolled over Fresno State, 9-1. Elsewhere

Florida’s Jonathan Crawford threw the seventh nohitter in NCAA tournament history, shutting down Bethune-Cookman in a 4-0 victory in the opener of the Gainesville Regional. Crawford was nearly perfect and faced the minimum 27 batters. The only player to reach base was Bethune-Cookman’s Jake Welch on a walk in the third inning. . . . Alex Miklos hit a go-ahead RBI triple in the 21st inning as Kent State outlasted Kentucky, 7-6, at Gary, Ind., in the second-longest game in NCAA tournament history. . . . Jace Fry gave up one run through five innings and Oregon State’s bullpen pitched a shutout the rest of the way as the Beavers opened the NCAA tournament with a 2-1 victory over Belmont at the Baton Rouge (La.) Regional. . . . Maxx Tissenbaum had three hits and drove in three runs, and Willie Carmona hit a threerun homer to power Stony Brook to a 10-2 victory over host Miami in the Coral Gables Regional.