Box Score

Riverside, Calif. - Wilson Ashford stifled one of the nation's top lineups and Steven Moon went 2-for-3 with a homerun and three RBI as #2-seed Fresno Pacific toppled top-seed California Baptist 4-0 on Friday at the NCCAA West Regional, hosted by CBU.

The win puts the Sunbirds (32-20) into tomorrow's championship game, as the team will have two chances to punch its ticket to the NCCAA World Series in Ohio. The Sunbirds remained undefeated in the double-elimination tournament, while CBU (34-18) was forced to play an elimination game with #3-seed Arizona Christian later on in the day (CBU def. ACU 10-0 to advance and will play FPU at noon on Saturday).

CBU came in with the PacWest's top offense and a lineup loaded with high-profile players, but Ashford was up to the challenge, throwing seven shutout innings, scattering six hits and walking just one while striking out four.

"Ashford was the story of the game," said head coach Oscar Hirschkorn. "You can't pitch a better game than he did against the lineup he had to face. He executed his pitches really well. That's a good a game as I've seen pitched."

With Ashford holding the Lancer hitters at bay, the Sunbird lineup still faced the tall task of getting to CBU starter David Herd.

"Herd is a really good pitcher and we knew it was going to come down to somebody in our lineup stepping up," said Hirschkorn. "The energy, focus and playoff mentality from yesterday was still there in all the guys today and Steven Moon really stepped up and was a difference-maker."

Moon connected on a 3-2 pitch with one on and two out in the bottom of the second, sending the ball over the left-field fence to give FPU the 2-0 lead. The Sunbirds added another run in the fourth as Moon took a two-strike pitch into left field for an RBI single making the score 3-0.

FPU then added an insurance run in the sixth inning, started off by singles from Kyle Coppom and Kaohu Gaspar. John Koretoff drew a walk to load the bases and Steven Lozier was hit by a pitch to bring the fourth run across.

The Sunbirds take on California Baptist again at noon tomorrow. Should the Sunbirds lose, they'll get another chance at 3 pm to punch their ticket to the World Series. Hirschkorn says that, as of now, he's undecided on what pitchers the team will throw.

"We're going to sit down as a coaching staff and figure out who gives us the best shot and go from there," said Hirschkorn. "The big thing is that we have a bullpen full of fresh arms because of the way our starters have pitched the last two days."