Top-ranked Mount Olive (N.C.) kept rolling and two-time defending champion Tampa was sent packing as the Division II Baseball Championships continued Tuesday at GCS Ballpark in Sauget, Ill.

Mount Olive scattered 19 hits and scored the game’s final 13 runs to rout No. 16 Ashland (Ohio) by a score of 18-7 and advance to the national semifinal. Erik Lovett knocked in five of those runs, going 3-for-6 and coming around to score once. David Cooper was 4-for-6 and scored three runs. Paul Novicki pitched 5 1/3 innings of relief and registered the win, allowing three hits and striking out five.

In the other bracket, No. 3 Tampa saw its hopes of a three-peat come to an end, as fourth-ranked Ouachita Baptist (Ark.) came from behind to win 12-10 and eliminate the Spartans from the tournament. [...] Continue Reading »

“I don’t think anyone can beat us twice in one day."

Twenty-four hours ago it was hard to argue with Trinity first baseman Kent Graham’s bold proclamation to the Hartford Courant that the Bantams couldn’t lose twice in one day to Johns Hopkins. Graham was correct, but by the end of Tuesday the previously unbeaten Bantams had been taken to the brink of elimination by a resilient Hopkins squad.

After failing to clinch the title in Tuesday’s first game, Trinity took home its first-ever D-III Baseball Championship with a 5-4 walk-off victory over Johns Hopkins in the afternoon’s deciding game.

Trinity trailed 4-3 heading into the bottom of the ninth and was three outs away from watching an undefeated season unravel on a chilly Wisconsin day. With one out in the bottom half of the ninth Trinity strung together back-to-back base hits, along with a stolen base, to put runners at second and third.

Hopkins sat one out away from a national title after reliever Matt Wiegand struck out Trinity shortstop Thomas DiBendetto. Choosing not to challenge Trinity’s DH Chandler Barnard, Wiegand intentionally walked him to load the bases, setting up a potential force out at any base to seal the championship.

Wiegand walked Bantam center fielder Matt Sullivan to tie the game, bringing up senior third baseman Guy Gogliettino. Gogliettino, who entered the game late as a defensive substitution, is not regarded for his hitting, batting only .259 on the season. He came to the plate in the ninth for the first time in the World Series.

Gogliettino wouldn’t need to get a hit as Wiegand ended the championship by issuing a bases-loaded walk. James Wood came home to a mob scene at home plate, representing the championship-winning run.

The fatigue of six games in five days clearly wore on the Blue Jays as they committed five errors in the second game of the day along with a litany of baserunning mistakes in both the first and second games of the day. Hopkins third baseman Todd Emr, one of the team’s leading hitters, struggled mightily in the deciding game, going 0-for-4 along with three errors in the field. Despite that, Hopkins became the first team to beat Trinity all year and nearly won a national championship.

Trinity propelled itself to an early lead with two runs in the second, a rally keyed by Mark Sullivan’s RBI triple. The Bantams led until the top of the eighth when Hopkins center fielder Rob Pietroforte’s two-run triple gave the Blue Jays a short-lived lead. Trinity answered back in the bottom of the inning when pitch-hitter Matt Stafford singled up the middle to drive in the tying run.

Hopkins first baseman Matt Benchener put the Blue Jays back ahead in the top of the ninth with a sacrifice fly scoring Tony Margve. Wiegand came out of the bullpen in the bottom of the ninth and take the loss, his first of the year.

Here at Baseball America, we’ve made it pretty clear how we feel about the Division I baseball committee’s egregious decision to send Oklahoma to a regional over College of Charleston, Oregon State and Missouri State. The blame for that falls on the entire committee, not just chairman Larry Templeton, so we’re not going to pile on Templeton for getting his facts wrong in a conference call when asked to explain CofC’s omission. We just want to correct him to clear up some confusion.

When asked to explain College of Charleston’s omission, Templeton said: "I don’t want to pick on College of Charleston, but as we reviewed them, they’ve got to improve the strength of their schedule. They only had three wins against the top 75 RPI teams in the country."

Actually, CofC went 10-9 against teams that ranked in the top 75 of the final official RPI report of the regular season, through Sunday’s games. Cougars coach John Pawlowski was understandably steamed about the discrepancy. [...] Continue Reading »

Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) College’s quest for a third consecutive NAIA national title and seventh in the last 10 years will not come without a hitch. The great college baseball dynasty got a scare on Monday evening when the Warriors needed extra innings to defeat Oklahoma City 9-5 at the Avista NAIA World Series in their hometown of Lewiston, Idaho.

Senior outfielder Mike Rivera proved the hero for LCSC when he belted a solo home run to right field off Oklahoma City righthander Garrett Parker in the 12th inning, catapulting the Warriors to a victory over the No. 2 overall seed in the tournament. The win was their 55th of the season and means the team cannot finish lower than third place. [...] Continue Reading »

Trinity’s quest for an undefeated season came to a halt on Tuesday afternoon in Appleton, Wisc., as Johns Hopkins scored the winning run on a wild pitch third strike in the ninth to down the Bantams 4-3. A win would have clinched the Division III World Series championship for Trinity, but instead the two teams receive a 30-minute breather before facing off in a decisive game at 3 p.m.

Hopkins (42-7) became the first team in 2008 to defeat the Bantams (44-1) thanks to a complete-game effort from Chez Angeloni. Angeloni scattered nine hits and a walk while allowing just three runs and striking out eight.

Angeloni’s outing was matched by Trinity ace Tim Kiely. Pitching on three days rest, Kiely delivered his second complete game of the World Series, but came up on the losing end of a decision for the first time all year. Kiely struck out 11 while allowing the Blue Jays nine hits. [...] Continue Reading »

With defending champion Chipola (Fla.) Junior College suffering a loss on Monday, the Indians face elimination from the JUCO Division I College World Series and a lengthy trip home from Grand Junction, Colo. Chipola’s potential fate would only fall in line with recent past champions, as the tournament has failed to produce a repeat winner since Grayson County (Texas) JC accomplished the feat in 1999 and 2000.

Looking forward to Day Four of the tournament, Chipola is slated to take on Hagerstown (Md.) CC at 11 a.m. in an elimination game for both schools. The game became a must-win for the Indians when they fell to Alvin (Texas) CC 11-8 on Monday.  Alvin jumped to a 5-1 lead through the first three frames before Chipola’s bats generated seven runs in the next three innings. In the sixth, the Indians scored two of those runs with two outs when Jordan Lucas stole home and Einar Atencio looped an RBI double to tie the score at 8-8. The Dolphins scored what proved to be the winning run in the eighth inning when Mark Hudson singled to right to drive in Clay Puckett from third and move Alvin to 2-0 in tournament play. [...] Continue Reading »

Tampa hit a roadblock in its quest for a three-peat and Sonoma State (Calif.) prevailed in a 19-inning marathon against Central Missouri as the NCAA Division II baseball championships continued at GCS Ballpark in Sauget, Ill.

Sonoma State’s Kevin Asselin knocked in the game-winning run in the 19th inning in the first at-bat of his career. But it wasn’t just at the plate that Asselin got it done Monday–the senior also picked up the 6-5 win on the mound, propelling the No. 2 Seawolves into the national semifinals. The game was nearly ended when Sonoma State’s Dave Herman went yard in the top of the 18th, but No. 7 Central Missouri answered to prolong the contest. The Seawolves actually led 4-0 early, but the Mules battled back. Central Missouri’s Chris Matlock pitched 9 1/3 innings in relief and struck out 13 Seawolves to keep within striking distance. But Sonoma State would advance in a game that spanned nearly seven hours and featured 32 hits. [...] Continue Reading »

Even Oklahoma coach Sunny Golloway thought his team’s season was over.

"We will reload and look to next year," Golloway told the Tulsa (Okla.) World after the Sooners came up short of the Big 12 title game. "We have young arms and a bright future in the Oklahoma program."

Why wouldn’t Golloway look ahead to next year? He had no reason to think his club, which went 9-17 in the Big 12 and finished in eighth place during the regular season, would earn an at-large regional bid. But when the selections flashed across the screen Monday, Oklahoma had somehow landed a No. 3 seed in the Tempe, Ariz., regional.

Shortly after that selection was announced, another graphic was displayed on the ESPN telecast, showing that Oregon State had won five series against regional teams (including three against No. 1 seeds Arizona State, Arizona and Georgia and two against No. 2 seeds Pepperdine and UCLA), while Oklahoma had won zero series against regional teams. (Its best series win was against Baylor, which did not get a bid.) Yet the Beavers, the two-time defending national champions who have done so much to grow college baseball in cold-weather markets, were left out of the field of 64. [...] Continue Reading »

BA’s Austin Maloney updates the Division III College World Series, with Trinity (Conn.) chasing history:

Chasing an unprecedented undefeated season, Trinity (Conn.) College had rolled through conference and non-conference competition in the regular season, leading some to believe it had played a less than challenging schedule. Any questions about Trinity’s ability to beat upper-echelon opponents have been answered this weekend at the Division III College World Series in Appleton, Wis..

Trinity’s 44th straight victory Sunday night propelled the Bantams to the championship game. They knocked off Johns Hopkins 8-5 to advance and send the Blue Jays to the losers’ bracket. Trinity has used their strong pitching along with some opportunistic offense to move on. Sophomore James Wood led the Bantam attack with three RBIs, including a home run to deep center field in the third inning of Sunday’s victory.

Trinity won games on Friday and Saturday to advance to Sunday’s matchup against Hopkins. The Bantams held off a late Linfield (Ore.) rally to win 6-5 over Scott Brosius’ Wildcats. Trinity led 6-2 going into the eighth, but its lead was cut to one when third baseman Rhett Fenton hit a three-run shot to trim the Bantam lead to one. [...] Continue Reading »

Full bracket coming up but here are the teams, organized by regional:

Ann Arbor Regional (Host: Michigan)

No. 1 Arizona (38-17) vs. No. 4 Eastern Michigan (25-32)

No. 2 Michigan (45-12) vs. No. 3 Kentucky (42-17)

Athens Regional (Host: Georgia)

No. 1 Georgia (35-21-1) vs. No. 4 Lipscomb (32-28)

No. 2 Georgia Tech (39-19) vs. No. 3 Louisville (41-19)

Baton Rouge Regional (Host: Louisiana State)

No. 1 LSU (43-16-1) vs. No. 4 Texas Southern (16-32)

No. 2 Southern Miss. (40-20) vs. No. 3 New Orleans (42-19)

Cary Regional (Host: North Carolina)

No. 1 North Carolina (46-12) vs. No. 4 Mount St. Mary’s (21-32)

No. 2 UNC Wilmington (42-15-1) vs. No. 3 Elon (43-16)

College Station Regional (Host: Texas A&M)

No. 1 Texas A&M (43-16) vs. No. 4 Ill.-Chicago (34-20)

No. 2 Dallas Baptist (37-17) vs. No. 3 Houston (39-22)

Conway Regional (Host: Coastal Carolina)

No. 1 Coastal Carolina (47-12) vs. No. 4 Columbia (22-28)

No. 2 East Carolina (40-19) vs. No. 3 Alabama (34-26)

Coral Gables Regional (Host: Miami)

No. 1 Miami (Fla.) (47-8) vs. No. 4 Bethune-Cookman (36-20)

No. 2 Missouri (38-19) vs. No. 3 Mississippi (37-24)

Fullerton Regional (Host: Cal State Fullerton)

No. 1 Cal State Fullerton (37-19) vs. No. 4 Rider (29-26)

No. 2 UCLA (31-25) vs. No. 3 Virginia (38-21)

Houston Regional (Host: Rice)

No. 1 Rice (42-13) vs. No. 4 Sam Houston State (37-23)

No. 2 Texas (37-20) vs. No. 3 St. John’s (41-14)

Lincoln Regional (Host: Nebraska)

No. 1 Nebraska (40-14-1) vs. No. 4 Eastern Illinois (27-28)

No. 2 UC Irvine (38-16) vs. No. 3 Oral Roberts (46-12)

Long Beach Regional (Host: Long Beach State)

No. 1 Long Beach State (37-19) vs. No. 4 Fresno State (37-27)

No. 2 San Diego (41-15) vs. No. 3 California (33-19-2)

Raleigh Regional (Host: North Carolina State)

No. 1 North Carolina State (38-20) vs. No. 4 James Madison (38-17)

No. 2 South Carolina (38-21) vs. No. 3 Charlotte (43-14)

Stanford Regional (Host: Stanford)

No. 1 Stanford (33-21-2) vs. No. 4 UC Davis (34-22)

No. 2 Pepperdine (36-19) vs. No. 3 Arkansas (34-22)

Stillwater Regional (Host: Oklahoma State)

No. 1 Oklahoma State (42-16) vs. No. 4 Western Ky. (33-25)

No. 2 Wichita State (44-15) vs. No. 3 TCU (43-17)

Tallahassee Regional (Host: Florida State)

No. 1 Florida State (48-10) vs. No. 4 Bucknell (29-22-2)

No. 2 Florida (34-22) vs. No. 3 Tulane (37-20-1)

Tempe Regional (Host: Arizona State)

No. 1 Arizona State (45-11) vs. No. 4 Stony Brook (34-24)

No. 2 Vanderbilt (40-20) vs. No. 3 Oklahoma (34-24-1)

Aaron Fitt and John Manuel  blog while watching the announcement of the NCAA baseball tournament, live from the BA Breakroom, catered by Bojangles . . .

John: Before the broadcast begins, let’s reset our 16 regional hosts, listed by conference:

ACC (4): Florida State, Miami, North Carolina, North Carolina State

Big 12 (3): Nebraska, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M

Big West (2): Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State

Pac-10 (2): Arizona State, Stanford

SEC (2): Georgia, Louisiana State

Big South (1): Coastal Carolina

Big Ten (1): Michigan

Conference USA (1): Rice

We’re tickled to have two regionals here in Wake County, North Cack-a-lack, which should afford us prime regional viewing. Now we want to find out who we’ll get to see up-close and personal. [...] Continue Reading »

The other noteworthy regional host snub was Arizona, and the Wildcats are steamed. Arizona ranks 10th in the RPI and finished 38-17 overall, 12-12 in the Pacific-10 Conference (good enough for a tie for fourth place with California, which won the head-to-head series against Arizona). The Wildcats won back-to-back series against Stanford and Arizona State down the stretch, though they lost earlier series to California, Oregon State, Washington, UCLA and Southern California. Arizona coach Andy Lopez issued a statement about the snub:

"Obviously we’re disappointed not to be selected as one of the 16 regional site hosts, but we are looking forward to the selection show tomorrow morning to find out where we’re going to play and for the upcoming tournament in general.

"We feel that we put together a pretty good resumé for the NCAA to consider, including what looks to be a top 10 RPI and 38 wins against a very challenging nonconference schedule and a pretty good conference in the Pac-10. We won weekend series against three regular season conference champions (Georgia, Cal State Fullerton and Arizona State) and played tough opponents away from home.  Based on that, I don’t honestly know what it takes for us to get a regional in Tucson.

"Last year we finished second in the Pac-10 with 40 wins overall and a strong RPI and we were sent to Wichita. This year we improved our overall RPI, our strength of schedule and will finish no worse than fourth in one of the top two conferences in the nation–and are still going out on the road. It’s extremely frustrating for me and I really feel for our players who did everything they possibly could to secure a host bid.”

Arizona would have had a better case if it hadn’t lost five of its first six conference series, but Lopez has a good gripe nonetheless.

On the eve of the NCAA tournament selection (which will be broadcast at 12:30 p.m. ET on Monday on ESPN), let’s take a crack at predicting the field of 64. National seeds are in parentheses, with regional hosts denoted by ^ and automatic qualifiers denoted by *. The eight regionals at the top of this list are on the left side of the bracket, and the eight regionals at the bottom are on the right side of the bracket. [...] Continue Reading »

Give the Division I Baseball Committee credit for picking 16 worthy regional hosts and maintaining impressive geographic balance. With four hosts out West (Arizona State, Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State and Stanford), four in the middle of the country (Nebraska, Texas A&M, Oklahoma State and Rice), seven in the Southeast (Miami, Florida State, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Georgia, Louisiana State, Coastal Carolina), and one in the upper Midwest (Michigan), it’s hard to gripe that any one region was given a raw deal. And while you can question why Texas, Arizona and Georgia Tech were passed over as hosts, none is an egregious snub. Committee chairman Larry Templeton did a nice job defending his very defensible host sites on a conference call this evening.

Templeton said the committee strongly considered Texas as a host, but geographic considerations proved the Longhorns’ undoing. Three Big 12 teams (Texas A&M, Nebraska and Oklahoma State) were locks to host on the strength of their body of work, and Rice was a fourth sure-fire host in the same geographic footprint.

"Well, I think the committee looked at (Texas as a host) long and hard, and at the end of the day geographic locations in some other parts of the country probably hurt Texas a little bit," Templeton said. "We certainly felt that we had rewarded the Big 12 Conference with three sites." [...] Continue Reading »

The NCAA has announced the 16 regional hosts. Here they are, by conference:

ACC (4): Florida State, Miami, North Carolina, North Carolina State

Big 12 (3): Nebraska, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M

Big West (2): Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State

Pac-10 (2): Arizona State, Stanford

SEC (2): Georgia, Louisiana State

Big South (1): Coastal Carolina

Big Ten (1): Michigan

Conference USA (1): Rice

The most surprising omission was Texas, which won the Big 12 tournament and has a strong RPI (21). I pegged Coastal Carolina for a No. 1 seed at either Georgia Tech or North Carolina State (I figured it would be at Georgia Tech), but both the Chanticleers and the fourth ACC team will host.

We’ll have much more on this announcement after the NCAA’s conference call at 7:30 ET, and we’ll have our projected field of 64 teams later this evening.

Conference tournaments across the nation started wrapping up today. Here’s a conference-by-conference look at the teams that punched their tickets to the NCAA tournament Saturday:

America East

Mike Errigo threw a five-hit, complete-game shutout as second-seeded Stony Brook blanked top-seeded Binghamton 6-0 to win the AEC title. Binghamton had shut out Vermont 4-0 earlier Saturday to reach the finals before running out of gas.

Atlantic-10

Charlotte became the first team since Virginia Tech in 1999-2000 to win back-to-back A-10 titles with a 4-3 win over top-seeded Xavier in 11 innings. For the second straight year, the 49ers waltzed unbeaten through the conference tournament. Cory Tilton scored the winning run from first base after Alex Bryant’s bunt single when the Musketeers threw the ball away trying to get Bryant at first. Charlotte figures to be a tough No. 3 seed in a regional.

Big East

Louisville finished its unblemished run through the Big East tournament with a 6-3 win over Cincinnati in the Big East title game. The Cardinals, who overcame a 3-1 deficit with two runs in the seventh and three more in the eighth, will be another No. 3 seed that nobody wants to see in their regional–especially after they reached Omaha as a No. 3 last year. [...] Continue Reading »

We speculated yesterday about how many at-large bids were still up for grabs and warned that a UNC Wilmington loss in the CAA tournament would take one more at-large spot off the board for bubble teams. Sure enough, the Seahawks were bounced by George Mason yesterday, 11-9, which means the CAA will be a two-bid league. Bad new for bubble teams like Baylor.

More bad news for the Bears? They were pounded yesterday by Oklahoma State, 14-3, and Nebraska beat Kansas State, 5-2. That means every team on that side of the Big 12 tournament bracket is 1-1, so to reach the title game Baylor needs to beat Kansas State today and hope Nebraska beats Oklahoma State, because the Bears have the head-to-head tie-breaker over the Cornhuskers.

In the Big East, Louisville and Cincinnati cruised unblemished to today’s championship game, and it’s worth considering whether the Cardinals’ strong week and decent RPI (54) could land them an at-large spot even if the Bearcats win today. It’s a possibility, and it would give the Big East three bids, taking away another spot for a bubble team elsewhere.

One other note: Game One of the West Coast Conference championship series between San Diego and Pepperdine was rained out yesterday, and there could be more rain in the forecast today, which could affect the scheduled doubleheader. If today’s action is washed out, then whoever wins tomorrow’s game would be the champion. If two games are played and split, the tie-breaker would go to regular-season champ USD. For what it’s worth, San Diego Union-Tribune writer Kirk Kenney called to say this is the first time he can ever remember it raining in May in San Diego, and he’s lived there all his life. Strange days, indeed.

A year after finishing as the national runner-up, Joliet (Ill.) Junior College defeated Gloucester County (N.J.) College 9-0 in the final game of the NJCAA Division III World Series to claim its second national championship in the school’s history.  Joliet scored all nine of its runs in the sixth and seventh innings, with 10 of its 14 total hits coming in those two frames. Joliet righthander Dillon Roark pitched a complete-game shutout, striking out nine and allowing just hits to hold the Roadrunners in check and earn his second victory of the tournament.

The Wolves won their first national title since 1994 on the strength of their potent offense, outscoring their opposition 45-14 over the span of four games. They led all teams with a .369 batting average and tied for a tournament-best 14 extra-base hits.   The Joliet arms were equally dominant in posting a 2.90 ERA–more than a full run lower than the next closest team ERA–and giving up just 10 earned runs. [...] Continue Reading »

The NCAA Division III baseball tournament has narrowed its field from 54 to eight as Championship Tournament play opens up today with four games. Fox Cities Stadium in Appleton, Wis., home of the Midwest League’s Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, hosts the D-III World Series. The double-elimination tournament features the winners of eight regionals from across the country, including undefeated Trinity (Conn.) College, which enters the weekend with an NCAA-record 41 straight wins.

After the first day of games, the tournament will progress into a double-elimination format with a winners’ bracket and a losers’ bracket.

DAY ONE SCHEDULE

Game 1: Chapman (Calif). Vs. Kean (N.J.)

Game 2: Adrian (Mich.) College vs. Johns Hopkins (Md.)

Game 3: Wisconsin-Whitewater vs. Linfield (Ore.) College

Game 4: Cortland State (N.Y.) vs. Trinity (Conn.) College [...] Continue Reading »

Next week’s 2008 Division II Baseball Championships will be marked by both change and continuity.

After 23 consecutive years in Montgomery, Ala., the tournament moved to a new locale this year in Sauget, Ill., home of the Frontier League’s Gateway Grizzlies. But even in a new place, there are some familiar faces, as two-time defending national champion Tampa returns again, seeking the first-ever D-II World Series three-peat.

Tampa headlines a talented field of eight teams remaining for the double-elimination tournament, which starts Saturday afternoon. The event, co-hosted by Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, Missouri-St. Louis, the Village of Sauget and the Grizzlies, will take place at GCS Ballpark.

The tournament will kick off at 2:30 p.m. with Sonoma State (Calif.) playing Shippensburg (Pa.), followed by a Central Missouri-Franklin Pierce (N.H.) nightcap at 6:30. On Sunday, Ouachita Baptist (Ark.) and Mount Olive (N.C.) College will square off in the day game, followed by a battle between Tampa and Ashland (Ohio). [...] Continue Reading »