NMSU drops regional opener
Aggies now face an elimination game after loss to Texas Tech
LUBBOCK, Texas — Zach Rheams homered in the first inning, Michael Davis drove in three runs and Texas Tech opened NCAA regional baseball with a 9-2 win over New Mexico State on Friday.
With game time temperatures around 105 degrees, the Red Raiders (40-17) went ahead to stay with a threerun first, when Grant Little had an RBI double before Rheams hit his 14th homer of the season. Rheams had also homered in his previous at-bat against New Mexico State, a game-ending solo shot in a 2-1 win two months ago.
Michael Davis had a sacrifice fly, then added a tworun double in a four-run seventh for Tech, the ninth seed nationally.
Joey Ortiz homered for WAC tournament champion New Mexico State (4021), which returns to action today in losers bracket play against Kent State.
Louisville beat Kent State 13-6 Friday.
Ryan Shetter (5-0) struck out five and allowed one run in five innings. Aggies starter Jonathan Groff (113) also had five strikeouts, but allowed eight hits and five runs over four innings.
Defending national champion Florida shook off Columbia for an easy win in its NCAA Tournament opener Friday. While there were no major upsets in the early games on the first day of regionals, there was some drama.
UCLA, the No. 2 seed in the Minneapolis Regional, scored four times in the bottom of the ninth inning for a 6-5 walk-off win over No. 3 Gonzaga. South Carolina, No. 2 seed in Greenville, N.C., wiped out a two-run deficit with a five-run seventh and beat No. 3 Ohio State 8-3.
Florida, the No. 1 national seed, had entered the tournament off losses in six of seven games, and Columbia led 3-2 after three innings.
Jonathan India doubled in two runs in a six-run fourth and the Gators went on to win 13-5 in Gainesville, Florida.
The wildest game was in Tallahassee, Florida, where No. 3 regional seed Oklahoma overcame deficits of 5-0 and 10-7 in a 20-10 victory over No. 2 Mississippi State. The teams combined for 34 hits in a 4-hour, 42-minute game that the Sooners broke open with a nine-run seventh inning. The Sooners tacked on four more runs in the ninth to score 20 in a postseason game for the first time since 1986.
Brandon Zaragoza had his first career four-hit game, and six other Sooners finished with at least two hits. OU tied its season high with 22.
Before Friday, Mississippi State hadn’t given up so many runs since a 20-9 loss to Arkansas in March 2009.
GAME OF THE DAY: Gonzaga’s Daniel Bies held the UCLA to two runs on five hits, and he struck out nine before turning the game over to closer Casey Legumina with two outs in the eighth and a 5-2 lead.
UCLA used a hit batter, two singles and a double to tie it 5-all with one out and a man on third in the bottom of the ninth. Jake Pries then lifted a sacrifice fly to left to bring in Chase Strumpf for the winning run. MARVELOUS ON THE
MOUND: Drake Fellows allowed three hits, walked two and struck out eight in seven shutout innings in Vanderbilt’s 2-0 win over St. John’s.
North Carolina’s Cooper Criswell and three relievers combined to strike out 10, walk none and limit North Carolina A&T to five hits in an 11-0 win.
WEATHER ISSUE: The start of the Oxford (Mississippi) Regional was pushed back to today because of heavy rain. Tennessee Tech plays Missouri State and Ole Miss meets Saint Louis.