June 12, 2005
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FULLERTON, Calif. -- Joe Persichina hit a tie-breaking homer in the seventh inning and Arizona State rallied from a five-run deficit and hung on to eliminate defending national champion Cal State Fullerton with a 9-8 win Sunday in front of 3,022 fans at Goodwin Field.
The Sun Devils, who lost the first game of the best-of-three super regional series when a balk was called during an intentional walk, advanced to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb., for the first time since 1998 and the 19th time in school history.
Persichina's solo shot gave Arizona State an 8-7 lead and J.J. Sferra drove in a run on a groundout in the top of the ninth.
Junior left-hander Brett Bordes gave up a solo homer to Brett Pill leading off the bottom of the inning, but retired the next three batters for his fourth save. Jason Urquidez (10-4) earned the win by not giving up a run in 3.2 innings. Just two days after throwing 109 pitches in the Super Regional opener on Friday, Urquidez came back and threw 45 pitches to pick up his 10th win of the year.
Tuffy Gosewisch had five hits and three RBIs to help the Sun Devils (39-23) come back from the 7-2 deficit.He drilled a run-scoring double in the fifth and had a two-run single to tie the game at 7-7 in the sixth.
Andrew Romine hit his first career homer to make it 7-5 in the sixth inning and added three hits. Sergio Pedroza homered in the fourth for the Titans (46-18).
Vinnie Pestano (3-4) took the loss.