Regional Recaps: Day One

By Will Kimmey
June 3, 2006

Three No. 1 seeds lost to No. 4 seeds on the first day of the NCAA tournament, including No. 6 national seed Nebraska, and rain derailed the action at several other regionals.

Along with Nebraska, Kentucky and Oklahoma also were upset on their home fields and will have to win out to capture their regionals. Five games were pushed back to Saturday by rain, while several other games were delayed.

Double-elimination play continues today, with regional winners to be decided on Sunday and Monday--assuming the weather cooperates.

Clemson Regional

No. 1 Clemson vs. No. 4 UNC Asheville (suspended, rain)
No. 2 Elon 5, No. 3 Mississippi State 4

• Elon freshman Pat Irvine's pinch-hit, two-out single drove in the winning run as the Phoenix got their first-ever regional win, 5-4 over Mississippi State in the first game of the Clemson, S.C., regional. It's just the second NCAA trip for Elon, which went 0-2 in a regional at Clemson in 2002.

No. 1 national seed Clemson had just started its game against UNC Asheville when rain washed out the rest of the day. Their game will pick up on Saturday morning.

Fayetteville Regional

No. 1 Oklahoma State 4, No. 4 Princeton 1
No. 2 Oral Roberts 4, No. 2 Arkansas 3 (11 innings)

• Arkansas couldn't take advantage of playing on its home field, losing 4-3 to Oral Roberts on an 11th-inning single from Kelly Minissale in the Fayetteville, Ark., regional. Minissale's base hit scored Andy Bouchie, who had reached base on an error by Arkansas second baseman James Ewing.

In the first game of the day, No. 1 seed Oklahoma State eased past Princeton 4-3, as Matt Clarkson hit a two-run home run in the second inning and Matt Gardner struck out a career-high six batters and gave up seven hits in a complete-game effort.

Lexington Regional

No. 4 Ball State 3, No. 1 Kentucky 1
No. 2 College of Charleston 5, No. 3 Notre Dame 4 (16 innings)

• At Lexington, Ky., sophomore lefthander Ben Snyder held Kentucky to one run on four hits over eight innings, and Justin Rogers delivered a two-run single in the eighth inning to give Ball State a 3-1 win.

In the first game, College of Charleston third baseman Ben Lasater hit an RBI double in the bottom of the 16th inning for a 5-4 win over Notre Dame. It was the longest tournament game since South Alabama beat Clemson 2-1 in 1998 in 16 innings. Clemson also was involved in the longest-ever tournament game, a 3-2 victory over Florida in 1988, which lasted 19 innings.

Jeff Beliveau scattered four hits and three walks in five innings to get the win. Notre Dame's Kyle Weiland lost despite striking out seven and allowing just four hits in seven innings of relief. He and Irish starter Jeff Samardzija both topped 100 pitches and were the only pitchers Notre Dame used in the game.

Atlanta Regional

No. 1 Georgia Tech vs. No. 4 Stetson (postponed, rain)
No. 2 Vanderbilt 5, No. 3 Michigan 2

• Righthander Matt Buschmann pitched a complete game and Pedro Alvarez hit his 20th home run to lead Vanderbilt to a 5-2 win over Michigan in the opening game of the Atlanta regional.

Georgia Tech's game against Stetson was rained out and rescheduled for Saturday morning.

Fullerton Regional

No. 1 Cal State Fullerton 6, No. 4 Saint Louis 1
No. 2 Fresno State 9, No. 3 San Diego 8

• Nick Moresi hit two of Fresno State's five homers, and closer Brandon Burke picked off a San Diego baserunner to preserve a 9-8 win in the first game of the Fullerton, Calif., regional. Moresi went 3-for-3 and drove in five runs, including a three-run homer that put the Bulldogs up 9-5 going into the ninth. The Toreros mounted a comeback on four consecutive one-out hits, and with the tying run on third, Burke faked a pickoff throw to third and wheeled to first, catching David Harris off the bag to end the game.

Cal State Fullerton righthander Lauren Gagnier struck out a career-high 10 batters with no walks in seven innings as the Titans beat Saint Louis 6-1 in the nightcap.

Malibu Regional

No. 1 Pepperdine 3, No. 4 Missouri 2
No. 2 UCLA 3, No. 3 UC Irvine 2

• UCLA's Hector Ambriz pitched a complete game and went two-for-two at the plate as the Bruins beat UC Irvine 3-2 in the first game of the Malibu, Calif., regional. Ambriz allowed two unearned runs on four hits, and Blair Dunlap scored the winning run on a two-out double by Brandon Crawford in the bottom of the seventh.

In the second game, Pepperdine broke a 17-inning scoreless streak by Missouri ace Max Scherzer and held on for a 3-2 win. Scherzer dominated until the Waves scored an unearned run in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game, then scored two runs in the seventh inning on back-to-back RBI doubles with two outs.

Chapel Hill Regional

No. 1 North Carolina 15, No. 4 Maine 7
No. 2 Winthrop 14, No. 3 UNC Wilmington 2

• Jay Cox homered and drove in a career-high five runs to help North Carolina earn a 15-7 win over Maine in the Chapel Hill, N.C., regional. The Tar Heels battled back from early 4-1 and 6-4 deficits against Maine, which got two home runs and four RBIs from Kevin McAvoy.

In the first game, first baseman Ben Ehrlich and second baseman Chris Carrara each collected four hits and Winthrop had a season-high 21 hits in a 14-2 rout of UNC Wilmington. The Eagles broke open a one-run game with seven runs on seven hits in the bottom of the seventh.

Tuscaloosa Regional

No. 1 Alabama 13, No. 4 Jacksonville State 1
No. 2 Troy 10, No. 3 Southern Mississippi 8

• Alabama provided more than enough offense for Wade LeBlanc, who pitched 7 2/3 strong innings to lead the Crimson Tide to a 13-1 win over Jacksonville State in the Tuscaloosa, Ala., regional. Kody Valverde hit a grand slam and Greg Paiml went 4-for-4, and LeBlanc struck out eight while allowing five hits and two walks. He broke Alabama's single-season strikeout record with No. 119 in the second inning.

The first game was interrupted by two hourlong rain delays, and Southern Miss saw its ninth-inning rally come up short as it dropped a 10-8 decision to Troy.

Houston Regional

No. 1 Rice 6, No. 4 Prairie View A&M 5
No. 2 Arizona State vs. No. 3 Baylor (suspended, rain)

• Rice, the No. 2 national seed, also trailed early before rallying to win. Rice earned a 6-5 win against Prairie View A&M, getting a two-run homer from freshman left fielder Aaron Luna to tie the game 5-5 in the bottom of the eighth inning before junior third baseman Josh Rodriguez ended the game an inning later with a bases-loaded single.

In the second game in Houston, Baylor and Arizona State had not scored when their game was suspended by rain in the second inning. They will resume the game Saturday afternoon.

Norman Regional

No. 4 Texas Christian 6, No. 1 Oklahoma 5
No. 3 Wichita State 2, No. 2 Houston 1

• Texas Christian scored three times in the ninth inning to earn a comeback win over Oklahoma in the Norman, Okla., regional, capped by a two-out RBI single by Bryan Kervin. TCU righthander Jake Arrieta lasted 8 1/3 innings to earn his NCAA-best 14th win while recording eight strikeouts. Oklahoma righthander Daniel McCutchen struck out 11 batters in 8 2/3 innings but was charged with all six TCU runs.

On the other side of the bracket, Wichita State starter Aaron Shafer outdueled Houston ace Brad Lincoln as the Shockers took a 2-1 win. Lincoln allowed two runs in 6 2/3 innings, but he wasn't at his best, throwing 134 pitches, walking five and striking out five. Noah Booth pitched two scoreless innings to get the save.

Charlottesville Regional

No. 1 Virginia 11, No. 4 Lehigh 5
No. 2 South Carolina vs. No. 3 Evansville (postponed, rain)

• Virginia pounded out 14 hits and scored in each of the first five innings to overcome an early Lehigh lead and win 11-5 in the opening game of the Charlottesville, Va., regional. The start of the game was delayed nearly two hours by rain, before the Mountain Hawks got a two-run home run in the first from Matt McBride in the school's first NCAA tournament game. Virginia quickly recovered with three in the bottom of the first and never looked back. The Wahoos were led by left fielder Brandon Guyer, who went 4-for-5 with three RBIs.

The second game between South Carolina and Evansville was rained out, and rescheduled for Saturday morning.

Athens Regional

No. 1 Georgia vs. No. 4 Sacred Heart (postponed, rain)
No. 2 Florida State 18,  No. 3 Jacksonville 0 (suspended game, completed on Saturday morning)

• In the Athens, Ga., regional, Florida State had to wait until Saturday morning to put away Jacksonville, which it finally did by an 18-0 score. The Seminoles led by that score in the eighth inning when rain suspended play on Friday, and the two teams completed the game Saturday morning.

The Georgia-Sacred Heart game was rained out completely, and rescheduled for Saturday.

Lincoln Regional

No. 4 Manhattan 4, No. 1 Nebraska 1
No. 2 Miami 11, No. 2 San Francisco 2

• In the Lincoln, Neb., regional, senior lefthander Chris Cody threw a complete game and struck out seven as Manhattan beat Nebraska 4-1 to earn its first-ever NCAA tournament victory. Sophomore first baseman Matt Rizzotti drove in two runs. He and DH John Fitzpatrick hit back-to-back home runs in the second inning off Nebraska ace Joba Chamberlain to give the Jaspers an early 2-0 lead.

In the second game, Miami scored two runs in the first, three in the second and another in the third on the way to an easy 11-2 win over San Francisco. While USF is making its first regional appearance, Miami won its eighth straight regional game. Hurricanes starter Danny Gil earned the win by allowing just two runs on three hits in 5 1/3 innings.

Oxford Regional

No. 1 Mississippi 3, No. 4 Bethune-Cookman 2
No. 3 South Alabama 7, No. 2 Tulane 1

• South Alabama used a strong complete-game effort from P.J. Walters to cruise to a surprisingly easy 7-1 upset of Tulane in the Oxford, Miss., regional. Walters, who had also beaten Tulane during the regular season, struck out six and scattered four hits (all singles), and left fielder Patrick Weaver went 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored.

In the nightcap, Ole Miss used back-to-back home runs from Justin Brashear and Mark Wright to sneak past a game Bethune-Cookman squad 3-2. Rebels starter Will Kline gave up two runs and struck out nine in eight innings, and Garrett White struck out the side in the ninth to get the save.

Corvallis Regional

No. 1 Oregon State 5, No. 4 Wright State 3
No. 2 Kansas 9, No. 3 Hawaii 6

• Kansas senior Jared Schweitzer hit for the cycle as the Jayhawks overcame a 5-0 deficit to defeat Hawaii 9-6 in the opening game of the Corvallis, Ore., regional. Schweitzer's two-run sixth-inning home run put Kansas ahead 7-5 and completed his cycle, following a triple in the first, a single in the third and a double in the fourth.

No. 1 seed Oregon State held off Wright State in the second game, going out to a 3-0 lead before holding off a couple of Raiders rallies to win 5-3. Wright State brought the game-tying run to the plate in the ninth before bowing to the Beavers.

Austin Regional

No. 1 Texas 9, UT Arlington 1
No. 3 Stanford 7, No. 2 North Carolina State

• Defending national champion Texas had no trouble with intrastate rival Texas-Arlington in the Austin regional, winning 9-1 with a balanced, 12-hit attack and a solid 7 1/3 innings from starter Kenn Kasparek.

The Longhorns will face Stanford today, after the Cardinals scored five runs in the first two innings and righthander Greg Reynolds shut down the North Carolina State bats in a 7-2 win. Reynolds, expected to go in the first half of the first round of Tuesday's draft, pitched his fourth complete game in his last six starts, striking out seven and walking two.