FULLERTON, Calif. — It was a close game on paper, but in the end for the No. 2 seed Georgia Southern Eagles, it didn’t feel like it.

The No. 4 Utah Utes (27-30) trailed 9-3 with nine outs remaining in the NCAA regionals, but battled back to take a 10-9 lead.

Georgia Southern tied it at 10 in the top of the ninth, but a two-out, walk-off single by Michael Beltran drove in the winning run and ended the GSU season as the Utes (27-30) won 11-10 and advanced to live another day at Goodwin Field in the Fullerton regional Saturday.

“Right now I’m disappointed with the loss and how we played. I’m thinking about today more than I’m thinking about the season,” said GSU catcher Griffin Benedict. “We did a lot of things wrong. We made a couple bad plays defensively, myself included. When we had a chance to put runners on base and score them, we didn’t do it. In the end, when we needed to put them away, we didn’t do it. It was a team loss.”

The Eagles trailed 10-9 heading into the top of the ninth, but did what they had to in order to stay in the game.

Eric Phillips drew a walk to lead off the inning. Brian Bierce laid down a hard bunt to relief pitcher Greg Krause, who muffed it and allowed Pierce to reach safely.

Kevin Bowles got them to second and third with a sacrifice bunt, and pinch runner Jake Ware knotted it at 10 when he scored on a Ty Wright (3-for-5, HR, 3 RBI) sacrifice fly.

After the Eagles had vaulted ahead to a 9-3 lead through seven, Utah turned the tables.

Trailing by six in the bottom of the seventh, Cooper Blank hit the Utes’ third solo homer of the game to bring it to 9-4, and back-to-back, two-out singles ended GSU starter Jake Brown’s evening. The three solo shots were the only earned runs Brown allowed.

He went 6 2-3 innings, struck out six and didn’t walk any in the start.

“He did a nice job out there getting ahead in the count,” said GSU coach Rodney Hennon. “It wasn’t until the fourth or fifth inning when (Utah) got the leadoff man on. He gave us a great outing.”

Dexter Bobo walked the first batter he faced in relief but got out of the bases-loaded jam by forcing a popout.

Georgia Southern reliever Kyle Kamppi entered in the eighth. The Utes pounded out six hits in the inning, and with the help of the second GSU error of the game, scored six runs to take their first lead of the contest.

“It’s baseball,” said Wright. “It’s college baseball with aluminum bats, and you can come back at any time. We left a lot of runners on base and just didn’t come through down in the stretch.”

Utah saw RBI singles from Cooper Blanc, Tyler Yagi and Nuck Kuroczko in the frame.

“The thing that’s hurt us in these last two games was the big inning,” Hennon said. “We had control of the game, but you’ve got to pitch and make plays, especially at this time of the year.”

The Eagles jumped all over Utah starter Brian Budrow in the top of the first, putting together three runs on six hits before the Utes had a chance to bat.

Wright led off the game with a single to centerfield and Benedict drove him in with a double down the third base line. Benedict crossed the plate when Phillip Porter dropped an RBI single into shallow center.

Kyle Blackburn (3-for-4) singled to put runners on the corners, and Porter touched the dish on a sacrifice fly by A.J. Wirnsberger to make it 3-0.

Benedict added another run with a solo shot in the second. It was his third home run in the regionals.

Utah leadoff hitter Corey Shimada got one back in the top of the third with a solo home run that cleared the fence in the right-field corner, but the Eagles answered with three more in the top of the fourth.

Benedict scored for the third time when a fielding error on a Blackburn single allowed him to cross the plate. Blackburn scored on an RBI double by Phillips and Phillips made it 7-1 when he scored on a Pierce single.

Bowles bounced a single into left field, and that was the end of the day for Budrow. He pitched 3 2-3 innings, allowed 13 hits and seven runs while striking out four.

The Utes grinded across another run in the bottom of the fifth to cut the GSU lead to 7-2. Blanc singled to lead things off and took second on a Brown balk. He stole third, and Benedict’s throw got past Wirnsberger into left and allowed Blanc to score.

An opposite-field solo shot by Utah cleanup hitter C.J. Cron made it 7-3 in the sixth, but Brown struck out the next two batters to get out of the inning.

It was a two-run bomb by Wright in the seventh that put GSU ahead 9-3

Utah will advance to take on the loser of Saturday’s matchup between No. 1 Cal State Fullerton and No. 3 Gonzaga today at 5 p.m.

Notes: Wright and Porter each ended the season on an 18-game hitting streak. … When Benedict was hit by a pitch in the fourth, it marked the 24th time this season — a new Georgia Southern record. … The 42 wins by GSU were the most since it won 42 in 2001. The Eagles won 46 in 1996 and a school-high 50 in 1990, which was the last GSU appearance in the College World Series.



Matt Yogus can be reached at (912) 489-9404.