Air Force gets first NCAA win in 55 years
Miami’s Morales hits three HRs; Coastal’s McDermott hits for cycle
AUSTIN, Texas — Air Force, playing in its first NCAA Tournament since 1969, beat Dallas Baptist 5-1 in an elimination game Saturday for the program’s first regional win since 1967.
Falcons starter Doyle Gehring allowed one run and three hits in seven innings. Gehring struck out seven and has 20 over his last 14⅓ innings.
Sam Kulasingam and Paul Skenes hit home runs in a fourrun third inning. His leadoff home run in the third put the Falcons up 2-0. Skenes, the Mountain West co-Pitcher of the Year, had a two-run shot after Blake Covin singled. Jay Thomason plated another run when his single drove in Jake Greiving.
That was plenty for Gehring, who limited the Huskies to three hits and a seventh-inning run. He struck out seven and walked two.
Two of the three hits for Dallas Baptist (34-24-1) came in the seventh with Cole Moore scoring on Luke Heefner’s sacrifice fly.
Air Force (31-28) plays again on Sunday against the loser of Louisiana Tech and Texas.
Elsewhere . . .
Five of the top eight seeds were unbeaten through two days of an NCAA baseball tournament marked by potent offenses and few surprises until Arkansas staged a dramatic comeback against No. 7 Oklahoma State on Saturday night.
No. 1 Tennessee, No. 4 Virginia Tech, No. 5 Texas A&M and No. 8 East Carolina advanced to regional finals, and No. 6 Miami can clinch a spot in its weatherdelayed regional with a win Sunday. Top-eight seeds that win regionals stay at home for the best-of-three super regionals next week.
No. 2 Stanford and No. 3 Oregon played late games Saturday night.
Arkansas was down 10-5 in Stillwater, Oklahoma, before exploding for 15 runs over the final three innings and beating the Cowboys 20-12. Oklahoma State had been 32-2 when taking a lead into the seventh.
Five teams scored at least 20 runs Saturday, and one or both teams scored in double digits in 14 of the 30 games.
Miami opened its regional with an 11-6 win over Canisius. Yohandy Morales became the first Miami player to homer three times in a game since 2015, and he finished 4 for 4 with five RBIs.
WAC DONE: Along with Western Athletic Conference tournament champion New Mexico State losing 21-1 to Vanderbilt to be eliminated, WAC regular season champion Grand Canyon University was also eliminated in just two games with an 8-7 loss to Missouri State.
SCARY SITUATION: Campbell’s Waldy Arias left the game against Tennessee in the seventh inning after getting hit in the head by Chase Burns’ 96-mph fastball. Arias was flat on his stomach while athletic trainers tended to him, and then he was helped to the clubhouse.
Campbell’s Cade Kuehler had plunked Trey Lipscomb in the upper body with a breaking ball two innings earlier, right after Drew Gilbert hit a three-run homer.
COMPLETE DOMINATION: Ty Fisher carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning and finished with a four-hitter for his first career shutout in Georgia Southern’s 8-0 win over UNC Greensboro.
It was the Eagles’ first shutout since 2018 and first in the postseason since 2014.
HITTING FOR CYCLE: Coastal Carolina’s Matt McDermott hit for the cycle in a 10-8 win over Coppin State. McDermott had a single in the third inning, a double in the fourth, a solo home run in the sixth and a triple in the seventh.
He became the first Chanticleers player to hit for the cycle since Tommy La Stella at Charleston Southern in March 2010.
JUST DUCKY: Oregon set a school record with 26 hits in an 18-6 victory over Southeast Missouri State.
BULLDOGS’ BAKER’S DOZEN: Georgia tied a school record for runs in an inning when it scored 13 in the third in a 24-1 win over Hofstra.
THAT’S WILD: After surrendering the winning run against Notre Dame on a wild pitch Friday, Texas Tech scored both of its runs on one wild pitch in a 2-0 victory over UNC Greensboro.