The powerhouse Southeastern Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference each were dealt setbacks Saturday in the NCAA baseball regionals, but No. 1 seed Florida and No. 2 Louisville took care of business.
The Gators survived for a 6-5 victory over Connecticut on the strength of Jonathan India's tiebreaking home run to lead off the eighth and terrific relief pitching from Dane Dunning and Shaun Anderson.
Louisville flexed its muscles with a 15-3 thumping of Ohio State in a game twice delayed by weather. The ACC's Boston College also beat Utah at Oxford, Miss., to make its first regional championship game since 1967.
Clemson, another national seed from the ACC, fell 12-2 to Oklahoma State after scoring 24 points -- er, runs -- in the regional opener.
Vanderbilt was routed by a team it dominated in the regular season, then eliminated 9-8 by Washington. Mississippi and Duke were both eliminated after going 0-2, and defending national champion Virginia also lost.
Host Ole Miss was knocked out with a 6-5 loss to Tulane. South Carolina bounced Duke, in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 55 years, 4-2 in an ACC-SEC matchup.
Then, East Carolina scored five runs in the bottom of the ninth to knock Virginia into the loser's bracket. Travis Watkins' three-run home run completed the comeback.
Xavier hammered the Commodores 15-1 after losing the three regular-season games in March by a combined 26-5. The loss came two days after freshman pitcher Donny Everett drowned while on a fishing trip.
In other NCAA Regional games Saturday, Nick Brown pitched seven strong innings and William & Mary scored three times in the third inning to beat Bryant 4-3 in the Charlottesville Regional's elimination game. Brown allowed 3 hits, 2 of them home runs, with 3 walks and 3 strikeouts. ... Travis Blue doubled in the go-ahead run in the top of the 13th inning as Navy eliminated Saint Mary's with an 8-5 victory in the Raleigh Regional. ... Darick Hall gave up 3 runs over 71/3 innings and hit 2 home runs to help Dallas Baptist eliminate Fairfield with an 8-5 victory in the Lubbock Regional. ... Brett Lashley's two-run double in the eighth inning gave Florida Atlantic the lead for good as the Owls eliminated Stetson with an 8-4 victory in the Coral Gables Regional. Jacob Heyward narrowly scored on Carl Chester's two-out single in the 11th and Miami beat Long Beach State 4-3 in a wild back-and-forth winner's bracket game. Chester had three hits and two RBI for Miami, which was one strike away from winning in the ninth. That changed when Jeff Nellis, an .095 hitter whose only two hits of the season came against UCLA on Feb. 23, hit a home run off Miami closer Bryan Garcia. ... Cal State Fullerton broke a scoreless tie with a single in the eighth inning to edge Louisiana Tech 1-0 in the Starkville Regional. Louisiana Tech scored six runs in the fourth inning, including a grand slam by Cody Daigle, to push past Southeast Missouri State 9-4 in the regional's elimination game. Austin Sexton threw 61/3 innings to lead Mississippi State past Cal State Fullerton 4-1 in a winner's bracket game. Sexton gave up 1 run on 5 hits with 4 strikeouts. ... Jordan Smith went 3 for 3 with a home run and 3 runs scored, helping Minnesota eliminate Binghamton with an 8-5 victory in the College Station Regional. ... Western Carolina bounced back from Friday's blowout loss to eliminate Nebraska 4-1 in the Clemson Regional. Three Catamounts pitchers held the Cornhuskers to five hits. Tyler Buffett scattered seven hits over seven innings as Oklahoma State took control of the regional with a 12-2 victory over Clemson. The Cowboys grabbed an 8-0 lead after three innings and finished with 17 hits. ... Wright State scored in all but three innings to eliminate Western Michigan with a 10-3 victory in the Louisville Regional. ... Tristin English drove in five runs, Brandon Gold pitched seven solid innings and Georgia Tech stayed alive in the Gainesville Regional with a 12-3 victory over Bethune-Cookman. Jonathan India's home run in the eighth inning helped No. 1 overall seed Florida beat Connecticut 6-5 in the regional's winner's bracket game. ... Brian Serven drove in three runs, including a two-run home run, and Jordan Aboites threw his first career complete game as Arizona State eliminated Oral Roberts with a 4-1 victory in the Fort Worth Regional. Elliott Barzilli had a two-run single in the eighth inning as TCU beat Gonzaga 4-1 in the winner's bracket game. ... Randy Bell threw a complete game to lead South Alabama to a 6-3 victory over Alabama State in an elimination game at the Tallahassee Regional. Steven Wells Jr. and Jackon Lueck hit home runs as Florida State advanced to the regional championship with a 7-2 victory over Southern Miss. ... Kennard McDowell and Zack Canada each had three-run home runs as UNC Wilmington moved to the Columbia Regional final with an 11-7 victory over Rhode Island. ... Boston College bounced back from an early deficit to beat Utah 4-3 in the Oxford Regional.
Sports on 06/05/2016