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FAYETTEVILLE — Despite being the No. 2 seed, California’s stay in Fayetteville was brief.

After losing to TCU the night before, the Golden Bears fell to Central Connecticut State 7-4 in Saturday’s elimination game at Baum-Walker Stadium.

It is just the second time a team from the Northeast Conference has won an NCAA Tournament game. Ironically, the first was when Bryant knocked off Arkansas 4-1 in the opening game of the 2013 Manhattan Regional.

Both teams scored twice in the second and once in the third. It wasn’t until the fifth inning that the Blue Devils broke the 3-3 tie. With two outs, Dave Matthews crushed a three-run home run into the right field bullpen.

Buddy Dewaine added an insurance run with a two-out homer in the eighth, but Matthews was the star of the day for Central Connecticut. He went 3 for 4 with four RBIs and was a triple shy of the cycle.

The Blue Devils also got solid pitching, with starter Tom Curtin allowing three runs - two earned - on four hits and two walks in seven innings for the win and closer Jared Gallagher giving up one earned run on three hits to get the save.

They will now await Saturday night’s Arkansas-TCU loser for another elimination game at 2 p.m. Sunday.