LSU rallies to edge Southern Miss
HATTIESBURG – No. 2 seed LSU scored four times in the ninth and then scored on a fielder's choice in the 10th to lead the Tigers to a 7-6 victory over top-seed and No. 11 national seed Southern Miss Saturday night at Pete Taylor Park/ Hill Denson Field.
The Golden Eagles (44-17) fell to the loser's bracket with the setback and will play Kennesaw State at 1 p.m., today, after the Owls eliminated Army 9-8 earlier in the day. The Tigers (40-20) meet the winner of that contest at 6 p.m., to try and capture the regional.
With the score tied at 6-6 in the 10th, the Tigers loaded the bases with no outs. After a groundout to get a runner at home, Jacob Berry followed with a grounder up the middle of his own that Dustin Dickerson did not deliver to the plate in time to allow Josh Stevenson to score the game-winning run.
Hurtston Waldrep gave the Golden Eagles – the designated visiting team by NCAA Tournament rules – a quality start, giving up just two runs on five hits with two walks and 11 strikeouts. He fanned six in a row at one point tying the school's NCAA record for most strikeouts in a game.
After falling behind on a Tre' Morgan single in the bottom of the first, the Golden Eagles took their first lead of the game on a two-run home run by Will Mcgillis to left center for his 16th of the year. After the Tigers tied the score on a solo shot from Tyler Mcmanus' 10th homer in the bottom of the frame.
Southern Miss scored solo runs in four more innings – coming in the fourth, fifth, seventh and eighth – to take a 6-2 advantage. An RBI single by Danny Lynch started things in the fourth, and Carson Paetow blasted his 14th homer of the year in the fifth. An infield RBI groundout by Rodrigo Montenegro added to the lead in the seventh while Christopher Sargent added to his team-high total for home runs with his 21st in the eighth.
Reliever Dalton Rogers came on for Waldrep in the seventh with a runner on and two outs getting Berry to strikeout in ending the threat.
Reliever Landon Harper came in and got out of bases loaded jam an inning later, but the Golden Eagles could not stop the Tigers in the ninth.
After a flyout to left to open the ninth, Dylan Crews homered to left center for his 22nd long ball to cut the gap to 6-3. A two-run homer three batters later by Cade Doughty, his 13th, cut the deficit to one run. Morgan then singled to end Harper's night. After a stolen base by Drew Bianco, Jordan
Thompson singled up the middle to tie the game and send it into extra innings.
LSU reliver Paul Gervase threw a perfect 10th frame with a strikeout to earn the victory and improve to 4-1.
Sargent led the Golden Eagles with three of their seven hits, while four different Tigers had two hits apiece.
Texas A&M 9, Louisiana 6
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Austin Bost and Kole Kaler hit late home runs to rally No. 5 overall seed Texas A&M to a win over Louisiana-lafayette
in the semifinals of the College Station Regional.
After scoring four runs in the first inning the Aggies fell behind 6-4. Troy Claunch had an RBI double and Brett Minnich followed with a run-scoring single to pull the Aggies even in the seventh.
Jack Moss opened the eighth with a single before Bost blasted his 10th home run over the left-field wall. Kaler added a two-out solo shot, his third, in the ninth.
Texas A&M (39-18) moves into the championship game tonight against the survivor of the Louisiana-lafayette-tcu game earlier in the day.
Jacob Palisch (5-3) pitched three scoreless innings in relief to get the win. Brad Rudis went 1 2/3 for his third save.
Moss had four hits for the Aggies and Minnich had three with three RBIS.
Carson Roccaforte had three hits and scored three runs for the Rajin' Cajuns (37-22) and Heath Hood drove in four runs.
Tennessee 12, Campbell 7
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Jorel Ortega hit two home runs, Cortland Lawson hit a threerun shot in a four-run ninth and No. 1 overall seed Tennessee
outlasted Campbell in the Knoxville Regional.
Tennessee (54-7) advances to today's title game. The Volunteers will play the winner of an elimination game between Campbell (41-18) and Georgia Tech on Sunday morning. A loss by Tennessee would force a Monday finale.
A two-run homer by Jarrod Belbin ignited a four-run third and the Fighting Camels grabbed 4-0 lead.
Ortega had a two-run homer in a three-run fourth and Drew Gilbert hit a three-run shot in the fifth, followed by an RBI single from Oretega, as Tennessee took a 7-4 lead and never trailed again.
Kirby Connell (4-0) got the win for the Volunteers with four innings of relief. Connell surrendered a two-run homer — the only runs he allowed — to Connor Denning before striking out Ty Babin for the second out. Chase Burns took the mound and beaned his first hitter, Waldy Arias, who was forced to leave the game for concussion protocol.
Bryce Arnold pinch ran for Arias, Tyler Halstead followed with a single and both runners moved up a base on a double steal. After an intentional walk to Belbin loaded the bases, Burns struck out Lawson Harrill to end the threat.
Campbell's Zach Neto went 3-for-5 and is batting .415 this season.
Tennessee leads the nation in homers with 150, while Campbell has the fifth-best total at 118. Tennessee also has the lowest ERA (2.35) in the country and is 36-3 at home this season.
Oklahoma 9, Florida 4
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Jimmy Crooks hit two of Oklahoma's four home runs and the No. 2 seed Sooners beat top-seeded Florida to advance to the championship of the Gainesville Regional.
Oklahoma (39-20) plays today against the winner of a loser-out game between the host Gators and No. 4 seed Central Michigan. Florida, the No. 13 national seed, beat the Broncos 7-3 Friday to send them to the loser's bracket.
Ty Evans and Jac Caglianone each hit a home run in the bottom of the second to give Florida (40-23) a 2-0 lead. Mac Guscette added a solo shot in the seventh.
Peyton Graham hit a two-run home run and Blake Robertson followed with a solo shot in the top of the third to make it 3-2 and the Sooners led the rest of the way.
Crooks finished 3-for-5 with a double and three RBIS and David Sandlin (8-3) gave up three runs on five hits and a walk with six strikeouts over 6 innings for Oklahoma.
Vanderbilt 21, New Mexico State 1
CORVALLIS, Ore. — Spencer Jones had seven RBIS, Chris Mcelvain allowed one run with 11 strikeouts over 7 innings pitched and No. 2 seed Vanderbilt beat fourth-seeded New Mexico State to avoid elimination at the Corvallis Regional.
Dominic Keegan hit a sacrifice fly that scored Enrique Bradfield Jr. to make it 1-0 in the top of the first and Vanderbilt (3722) led the rest of the way. Jones hit a three-run home run in the third and his two-rbi single in the fifth sparked a five-run inning that made it 9-1.
Vanderbilt plays either San Diego or host Oregon State, the national No. 3 seed, in the semifinals today.
Mcelvain (6-5) scattered six hits and a walk. Brett Hansen pitched two scoreless innings of one-hit relief for the Commodores.
Kevin Jimenez hit and RBI single for New Mexico State in the bottom of the third.
Vanderbilt finished with 18 hits, including five doubles and four home runs. Jones finished 4-for-6 with two doubles and four runs scored and Parker Noland had three hits, including two doubles, and three RBIS. Keegan — who was 1-for-2 with a tworun home run, two walks and was hit by a pitch — added four RBIS and scored three runs.
Jack Bulger and Tate Kolwyck each hit a homer for Vanderbilt.
Georgia 24, Hofstra 1
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — No. 9 batter Josh Mcallister had two of Georgia's seven home runs and the Bulldogs eliminated Hofstra in the Chapel Hill Regional.
Mcallister was 4-for-6 with five RBIS and four runs scored as the Bulldogs totaled 24 runs on just 16 hits, 11 for extra bases. Six Hofstra pitchers combined to walk 10 and hit two batters.
Georgia plays another elimination game today against the loser of North Carolina-vcu.
Mcallister and Ben Anderson hit back-to-back homers and Cole Tate also homered in the third inning when the Bulldogs (36-22) erupted for 13 run, 11 before recording an out. They had seven hits and seven walks, including three straight with the bases loaded. Mcallister also had an RBI single and Anderson added another bases-loaded walk later in the inning.
Cory Acton had a two-run homer and Parks Harber hit a three-run shot in the fifth inning that pushed the lead to 18-0. Luke Wagner's two-run shot in the sixth made it 20-0.