LA State Wins Summer Baseball Tournament at Irvine

Los Angeles State scored on a hit batsman and a double in the eighth inning to beat Cypress, 13-12, in the championship game of the Collegiate Summer Baseball Assn.’s western regional Sunday at UC Irvine.

The Eagles advance to the national championships next week in Cincinnati. Cypress, which also lost to LA State on Friday, will be playing in a tournament in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Cypress relief pitcher Tony Tubbs hit the first batter he faced, Tony Benitez, to start the bottom of the eighth with the score tied at 12. Two outs later, Rex DeLaNuez’s double scored Benitez with the winning run.

The hit was DeLaNuez’s third double and third RBI. Teammate Guy Cataldo, the tournament’s most valuable player, had a double, one RBI and scored twice.

The losing pitcher was starter Kevin Bumgarner, who allowed 12 runs and 14 hits in 6-plus innings.

Cypress catcher Frank Appice, a graduate of El Toro High School who attends Northwestern University, had two doubles and three RBIs. First baseman Rod Clark added three doubles and one RBI.