Long Beach rallies, then loses in 11th

Jacob Heyward scored on Carl Chester's two-out single in the 11th, and Miami beat Long Beach State, 4-3, in a wild back-and-forth game Saturday night at the NCAA's Coral Gables Regional.

Chester had three hits and two RBIs for Miami (4711), which was one strike from winning in the ninth when Jeff Nellis — an .095 hitter with two hits all season, both against UCLA on Feb. 23 — tied it with a solo homer off Miami closer Bryan Garcia.

Heyward led off the top of the 11th with a walk, moved to second on a bunt and scored on Chester's single off Austin McGeorge (1-1).

Brandon Lopez had two hits and Andrew Cabezas (3-1) got the final five outs for the Hurricanes. Jarren Duran homered for Long Beach State (37-21), which faces Florida Atlantic on Sunday afternoon in an elimination game. That winner faces Miami on Sunday night in the championship round.

Fullerton splits

Austin Sexton threw 61⁄3 impressive innings to lead Mississippi State past Cal State Fullerton, 4-1, in the NCAA’s Starkville Regional.

The Titans (36-22) continued to have trouble scoring. They won their raindelayed first game of the regional, 1-0, against Louisiana Tech earlier Saturday and will face Louisiana Tech in an elimination game Sunday.

Regional host Mississippi State (43-16-1) jumped out to a 3-0 lead while Sexton held Cal State Fullerton’s offense in check. Sexton, a right-hander, gave up just one run on five hits and struck out four. Blake Smith threw 22⁄3 innings of scoreless relief to earn his fifth save.

The Bulldogs advance to Sunday’s championship game. The Fullerton-Louisiana Tech winner would have to beat Mississippi State twice to win the regional championship.

Louisiana Tech (40-19) had only two hits in the first game. Cal State Fullerton’s John Gavin, Scott Serigstad and Dylan Prohoroff combined to throw 42⁄3 innings of shutout relief. Serigstad (2-1) earned the win, with Prohoroff getting his third save.

Louisiana Tech’s Adam Atkins (6-1) took the loss.

At Nashville

Jack Meggs hit a two-run home run in the eighth inning, and Washington rallied to oust No. 1 seed Vanderbilt, 9-8, from the Nashville Regional.

Because of the length of the game, the winner’s bracket game between UC Santa Barbara and Xavier was pushed to Sunday.