Virginia beats Strasburg in San Diego State’s first NCAA regional appearance since 1991

Virginia beats Strasburg, San Diego State 5-1

IRVINE, Calif. — San Diego State ace Stephen Strasburg lost for the first time this season as Robert Morey pitched six shutout innings and Steven Proscia hit a two-run homer in Virginia’s 5-1 victory in an NCAA regional Friday night.

Strasburg (13-1), the probable No. 1 overall pick in the draft next month, struck out 15 in seven innings. But San Diego State’s first tournament appearance in 18 years was spoiled by Morey (3-0), who allowed five hits and struck out nine for Virginia (44-12-1). The Cavaliers have won six straight.

San Diego State coach Tony Gwynn announced earlier in the day that Strasburg would start the game after being coy all week about who would pitch the opener for the Aztecs. Strasburg’s electrifying fastball, which has topped 100 mph, helped carry him to the top of the draft board and is expected to be selected by Washington with the first pick.

Phil Gosselin took the first pitch he saw against Strasburg with one out in the first inning and smacked it over the 380-foot sign in left-center field to give the Cavaliers a quick 1-0 lead over the Aztecs (40-22).

Morey, a sophomore, who only had six starts this season, got the run support he needed from his teammates early on Gosselin’s homer and Jarrett Parker’s RBI groundout in the second.

Cory Vaughn scored on Chris Wilson’s sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to 2-1 in the eighth, but Virginia’s Matt Parker closed out the inning by getting Easton Gust to flyout.

Virginia tacked on three more runs in the bottom of the inning to put the game out of reach.

Proscia, who finished 3 for 4, hit a 2-run homer off Aztecs reliever Andrew Leary over the left-field wall to make it 4-1. Parker hit an RBI single three batters later.

The third-seeded Aztecs left nine on base through the first six innings and stranded runners in scoring position in both the first and fourth.