Littlewood, Johnson homer in DSC Regional win over UCSD

Storm open playoff run with 7-3 victory

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KEIZER, Ore. – Senior first baseman Tyson Littlewood (St. George. UT/Pine View HS) provided the biggest offensive spark with a grand slam and Mike Dedrick (Cedar City, UT/Canyon View) tossed a quality start as Dixie State College defeated UC San Diego 7-3 in the opening game of the NCAA West Baseball Regional at Volcanoes Stadium.

The Red Storm (33-18) advance in the no-loss bracket to face the winner of the Western Oregon and Chico State game Thursday night.

“We played a clean game,” said Mike Littlewood, Dixie State head coach. “The purpose was to win and we did a good job against a good-hitting team.”

The Storm picked up a run in the first inning without a base hit. A pair of walks and a UCSD error on a sacrifice bunt attempt set up the run. Joe Andrade (Yuma, AZ/San Luis ) hit a deep sacrifce fly to center to plate Jordan Hanley (Las Vegas. NV/Bonanza) for the early lead.

Another Triton miscue in the third allowed Garrett Nash (Draper, UT/Jordan) to score. A foul pop-up to the first base side travelled far enough for Nash to tag from second and Cedric Johnson (Thatcher, AZ/Thatcher) to follow from first. The throw from foul territory toward second base struck Johnson and scooted into shallow left field. Nash rounded third and came home on the error.

Littlewood's blast (6) to left field in the home half of the fifth inning pushed the lead to 6-0.

“He threw me a changeup first,” Tyson said. “I knew he was coming back with fastball and I got a good swing on it.”

UCSD got a solo home run from Nick La Face with two outs in the sixth and got to Dedrick for a run in the seventh before lading the bags. Kyle DiMartino (Las Vegas, NV/Durango) came into the game and struck out Garrett Tuck to stymie the threat.

Johnson lifted a solo shot (6) to right field in the seventh inning put the Storm up 7-2.

Daniel Zapata (Mesa, AZ/Westwood) allowed an earned run to the Tritons in the ninth, but induced La Face to fly out into the glove of Hanley in left field to close the game.

Dedrick earned the victory after allowing two runs on hits over 6.2 innings. He struck out one and walked two.

The Tritons outhit the Red Storm eight to seven, but DSC scored a pair of unearned runs thanks to two UCSD errors.

Dixie State 7, UC San Diego 3 (May 17, 2012 at Keizer, OR)
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UC San Diego........ 000 001 101 - 3 8 2 (32-23)
Dixie State......... 101 040 10X - 7 7 0 (33-18)
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Pitchers: UC San Diego - Trevor Scott; Justin Burns(7) and Nick La Face. Dixie State -
Mike Dedrick (Cedar City, UT/Canyon View); Kyle DiMartino (Las Vegas, NV/Durango)(7); Daniel Zapata (Mesa, AZ/Westwood)(9) and Joe Andrade (Yuma, AZ/San Luis ).
Win-Mike Dedrick (Cedar City, UT/Canyon View)(6-4) Loss-Trevor Scott(5-6) T-2:40 A-288
HR UCSD - Nick La Face (5).
HR DSC - Cedric Johnson (Thatcher, AZ/Thatcher) (6); Tyson Littlewood (St. George. UT/Pine View HS) (6).
Weather: 61 F, sunny, 9 mph WSW
Game notes:
2012 NCAA Division II West Region Baseball Championship -- Game #1

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