2021 NCAA Baseball Tournament Super Regionals Scores, Analysis, TV & More — College Baseball, MLB Draft, Prospects

Super Regionals weekend has arrived!

Below, you’ll find the schedule for each series, as well as how to watch it on TV. You can also find our previews here as they are published.

NASHVILLE SUPER REGIONAL: East Carolina at Vanderbilt
DATE	TIME	RESULT	TV
Fri, June 11	12 p.m. ET	Vandy, 2-0	ESPN2
Sat, June 12	12 p.m. ET	Vandy, 4-1	ESPN2

LUBBOCK SUPER REGIONAL: Stanford at Texas Tech
DATE	TIME	RESULT	TV
Fri, June 11	3 p.m. ET	Stanford, 15-3	ESPNU
Sat, June 12	3 p.m. ET	Stanford, 9-0	ESPNU

FAYETTEVILLE SUPER REGIONAL: NC State at Arkansas
DATE	TIME	RESULT	TV
Friday, June 11	6 p.m. ET	Arkansas, 21-2	ESPNU
Sat, June 12	3 p.m. ET	NC State, 6-5	ESPN2
Sun, June 13	6 p.m. ET	NC State, 3-2	ESPN2 or ESPNU

TUCSON SUPER REGIONAL: Mississippi at Arizona
DATE	TIME	RESULT	TV
Fri, June 11	9 p.m. ET	Arizona, 9-3	ESPNU
Sat, June 12	10 p.m. ET	Ole Miss, 12-3	ESPN2
Sun, June 13	9 p.m. ET	Arizona, 16-3	ESPN2 or ESPNU

COLUMBIA SUPER REGIONAL: Dallas Baptist at Virginia
DATE	TIME	RESULT	TV
Sat, June 12	12 p.m. ET	DBU, 6-5	ESPNU
Sun, June 13	12 p.m. ET	UVA, 4-0	ESPN2 or ESPNU
Mon, June 14	1 p.m. ET	UVA, 5-2	ESPNU

STARKVILLE SUPER REGIONAL: Notre Dame at Mississippi State
DATE	TIME	RESULT	TV
Sat, June 12	2 p.m. ET	MSU, 9-8	ESPN
Sun, June 13	6 p.m. ET	Notre Dame, 9-1	ESPN2 or ESPNU
Mon, June 14	7 p.m. ET	MSU, 11-7	ESPN2

KNOXVILLE SUPER REGIONAL: LSU at Tennessee
DATE	TIME	RESULT	TV
Sat, June 12	7 p.m. ET	Tennessee, 4-2	ESPN2
Sun, June 13	3 p.m. ET	Tennessee, 15-6	ESPN2

AUSTIN SUPER REGIONAL: South Florida at Texas
DATE	TIME	RESULT	TV
Sat, June 12	9 p.m. ET	Texas, 4-3	ESPNU
Sun, June 13	9 p.m. ET	Texas, 12-4	ESPN2

ANALYSIS

Monday

Starkville

After Notre Dame handily won Sunday’s game 2, Mississippi State came out hot in Monday’s decisive third game. The Bulldogs opened a big early cushion with a six-run second inning and fended off the Irish’s comeback attempts to go on to an 11-7 victory. Mississippi State is going to Omaha for the third straight time.

Mississippi State’s offense has been hot throughout the NCAA Tournament, scoring 51 runs in five games. That form will be put to the test in Omaha, but the Bulldogs offense – which isn’t overly reliant on home runs and does a good job of putting the ball in play – seems to be well-built for the spacious TD Ameritrade Park.

Columbia

Freshman outfielder Kyle Teel hit a grand slam in the seventh inning to send Virginia to a 5-2 victory against Dallas Baptist and its first trip to the College World Series since it won the 2015 national championship. The Cavaliers fell behind early when Jackson Glenn hit a two-run home run in the third, but halved the deficit an inning later on a solo home run from Nic Kent. The score stayed 2-1 until the seventh, when Teel drove the winner out to center field. Righthander Matt Wyatt threw 5.2 scoreless innings out of the bullpen, making sure Teel’s blast held up.

It was a thrilling series between DBU and UVA, which were both No. 3 seeds. The loss, after winning Saturday’s game 1, was a tough one for the Patriots, which were aiming to make their first ever CWS appearance.

Sunday

Tucson

Arizona’s powerful offense showed up in a big way Sunday night and the Wildcats routed Ole Miss, 16-3, to win the decisive third game of the Tucson Super Regional. Arizona pounded out 20 hits – half of which went for extra bases – against a beleaguered Ole Miss pitching staff.

Arizona, the Pac-12 champion, will bring that impressive offense – which may be the best in the country – to TD Ameritrade Park, where pitching typically stands out. But if anyone is going to conquer Omaha with its offense, it might as well be the Wildcats, who do a little bit of everything offensively. They’ll face a tough test in their opening game, however, as Vanderbilt and Kumar Rocker await.

Austin

After a dramatic win Saturday night, Texas on Sunday night wasted little time taking control against South Florida. After the Bulls took a 2-0 lead in the first inning, the Longhorns scored four runs in the second and never looked back on their way to a 12-4 victory. Texas took full advantage of 12 walks issued by USF pitchers and rolled to victory.

The Longhorns are going back to Omaha for the second time in three seasons and will do so as the highest-seeded team in the field after Arkansas’ upset. The Bulls, meanwhile, bow out after an unexpected postseason run that saw them win the American Athletic Conference Tournament and the Gainesville Regional as a No. 4 seed.

Fayetteville

In the most surprising result of the super regional round, North Carolina State upset Arkansas 3-2 to win the Fayetteville Super Regional and advance to the CWS for the first time since a Carlos Rodon and Trea Turner-led team went in 2013.

The Razorbacks turned to Kevin Kopps to start the game, and for the most part, the gamble paid off. He had one slip-up, a two-run homer for Jonny Butler in the third inning, but otherwise, he was excellent. And when Cayden Wallace connected for a solo homer in the seventh to tie it 2-2, it looked like his effort was going to be enough.

It wasn’t enough in the end, however, as NC State shortstop Jose Torres smashed a home run to left-center in the top of the ninth, and three outs later, Arkansas’ season was over. The number one team in the country since the third week of the regular season is not going to the College World Series.

The clutch homer for Torres will grab headlines, but just as much credit has to go to the NC State pitchers who avoided letting Arkansas get rolling. Righthander Matt Willadsen danced around trouble early and threw four shutout innings. Lefthander Chris Villaman threw three innings, giving up the Wallace homer along the way, but also kept the Razorbacks from breaking it open. And lefthander Evan Justice came on to close it out, throwing two perfect innings.

Starkville

With a 9-1 win, Notre Dame evened the Starkville Super Regional at one game apiece, forcing a deciding game on Monday. Like Saturday, Notre Dame’s bats came to play. The Irish scored nine runs against Mississippi State pitching, highlighted by a four-run fourth that featured a three-run homer for catcher David LaManna.

The difference, though, was that Notre Dame also pitched exceptionally well this time. Aidan Tyrell started and threw 7.1 innings, giving up five hits and one run with three walks and six strikeouts. Alex Rao finished it off with 1.2 scoreless innings.

The stakes couldn’t be higher on Monday. A win for MSU and it is in Omaha for the third year in a row. A win for Notre Dame it would get there for the first time since 2002.

Knoxville

Tennessee punched its ticket to Omaha for the first time since 2005 with a 15-6 win over Louisiana State. After scratching and clawing for offense to win game 1 on Saturday, the Volunteers leaned on the long ball on Sunday, hitting six of them, including two for third baseman Jake Rucker.

LSU started the game with its best pitcher, righthander Landon Marceaux, on the mound, but he lasted just three innings, having given up the pair of home runs to Rucker, and in his in-game interview, Tigers coach Paul Mainieri said he looked a little tired after his heavy workload last weekend in the Eugene Regional. Tennessee righthander Blade Tidwell gave up six runs in seven innings, so it was far from a standout start for him, but the plentiful run support meant that it was more than good enough.

The top story here is that the Vols have reached the pinnacle of the sport again after a long absence, but it shouldn’t be lost that it also means the end of an illustrious career for Mainieri, whose team fell just short of taking him to the CWS in his final year.

Columbia

The best pitcher’s duel in the super regional round outside of Nashville took place in Columbia on Sunday afternoon.

Virginia righthander Griff McGarry, whose stuff is excellent but who also battles control issues from time to time, was on his game. He took a no-hitter into the seventh inning against Dallas Baptist, and only a cut that opened up on the back of one of his fingers, which he had been battling for much of the game, slowed him down and eventually hastened his exit. He finished with seven shutout innings, giving up two hits and three walks with 10 strikeouts.

DBU righthander Rhett Kouba matched him most of the way. He wasn’t nearly as dominant, but he wiggled out of the few jams he found himself in, and like McGarry, he threw seven shutout innings. But in the eighth, after a long previous half-inning that featured a delay to tend to McGarry’s wound, the Cavaliers got to him. Zack Gelof led off the eighth with a home run, and after a one-out single for Kyle Teel two batters later, Kouba’s day was done.

He ended up throwing 7.1 innings, giving up six hits and two runs (after Teel later scored) with one walk and five strikeouts. A three-run homer later in the eighth put the game out of reach and allowed Virginia to even the series at one game apiece. A game for a trip to Omaha is on deck on Monday.

Saturday

Tucson

A day after watching the Arizona offense go to work, scoring nine runs in a game 1 victory, Mississippi’s own potent lineup on Saturday showed what it is capable of and led the Rebels to a 12-3 victory to force a game 3. Ole Miss wasted no time getting its bats going Saturday, as Jacob Gonzalez led off the bottom of the first inning with a home run. The Rebels scored six more runs in the second inning, knocking out Arizona starter Garrett Irvin, who last week had thrown a three-hit shutout against UC Santa Barbara. The Ole Miss offense didn’t stop there, however, and pounded out 12 runs on 16 hits and five walks on the night.

While the offense did the heavy lifting, lefthander Doug Nikhazy and righthander Austin Miller combined to keep the Wildcats at bay. Nikhazy struck out 10 batters in 5.1 innings, and now ranks behind only Lance Lynn in program history on the single-season strikeout leaderboard with 142. Miller gave the rest of the bullpen – most crucially, closer Taylor Broadway – a night off, throwing the final 3.2 innings.

A winner-take-all game 3 awaits Sunday night. After both teams scored a comfortable win to open the series, any result seems to be on the table for the finale.

Austin

What looked like a by-the-numbers Texas win – a quality start from Ty Madden, a strong relief outing from Tanner Witt and just enough offense – was derailed in the ninth inning when South Florida homered twice off Witt, including a two-run shot from pinch hitter Drew Brutcher to tie the game with the Bulls down to their last strike. But it wasn’t enough to beat the Longhorns. Texas bounced back in the bottom of the ninth when Silas Ardoin reached on an error and then raced home when Eric Kennedy doubled on the very next pitch to walk off with a 4-3 victory.

South Florida, a No. 4 seed, battled Texas, the No. 2 overall seed, all night long, but came up just short. Now, the Longhorns are one win away from advancing to the College World Series, but the Bulls have made it clear it won’t come easily.

Knoxville

Louisiana State struck first and led 2-1 after five innings, but it couldn’t hang on against Tennessee. The Volunteers scratched out three runs in the sixth and closer Sean Hunley threw three scoreless innings to make sure that lead held up for a 4-2 victory.

Tennessee, which has made hay with home runs all season long, didn’t hit one Saturday and was held to just six hits and three walks overall. But the Volunteers’ pitching was even better, as Chad Dallas and Hunley combined to hold the Tigers to eight hits and no walks while striking out 16. If Tennessee gets pitching like that, its nearly impossible to beat. The Volunteers are now one win away from their first CWS appearance since 2005.

Columbia

Dallas Baptist has a knack for the comeback this postseason, and it pulled one off again on Saturday in a 6-5 win over Virginia to begin the Columbia Super Regional.

DBU took an early lead with a two-run homer by Jackson Glenn in the first inning and righthander Dominic Hamel had good stuff through the first four frames, but the Cavaliers’ offense punched back in the fifth with five runs, two on solo homers for Alex Tappen and Jake Gelof and three on a three-RBI double for Devin Ortiz, the hero of the regional final against Old Dominion.

An RBI fielder’s choice for Jace Grady made it 5-3, and then DBU did what it does best, hit long balls. Andres Sosa connected for a two-run shot in the sixth to tie it 5-5, and Andrew Benefield, who hit the go-ahead grand slam against Oregon State in the regional final, hit an opposite-field solo homer to put the Patriots up for good 6-5.

The win is historic, as it is DBU’s first-ever super regional victory. One more win this weekend and the Patriots will be headed to Omaha for the first time.

Lubbock

Trying to win in the postseason in Lubbock never seems to end well. With few exceptions, teams that go to Lubbock in June return home in short order, losses in tow.

But Stanford didn’t get the memo, as it swept Texas Tech in two games in Lubbock by a combined 24-3 score. After a 15-3 win on Friday, it clinched a spot in the College World Series for the first time since 2008 with a 9-0 win on Saturday.

The offense, as it so often has been this season, was on its game, scoring three runs in the first two innings to ensure a quick exit for Tech starter Patrick Monteverde and then adding on later, including four runs in the sixth on a Brock Jones grand slam. It was a particularly big game for Jones, who had three homers and six RBI.

On the mound, righthander Alex Williams made sure that a potent Red Raiders lineup didn’t entertain any ideas of a comeback. He threw a two-hit shutout with one walk and 10 strikeouts.

Stanford was a painfully young team in 2020 and it showed with a 5-11 record, but that group grew up fast in 2021, securing a place on the biggest stage for a historical college baseball power that hadn’t been there in a while.

Fayetteville

Living by the old adage that you can’t let one game beat you twice, after North Carolina State was run off the field by Arkansas on Friday, the Wolfpack fought back to win game 2 6-5.

Arkansas went on top in the second on yet another home run by Charlie Welch, this time a two-run shot. But NC State fired back immediately. A run scored in the third on a Tyler McDonough RBI groundout. The floodgates opened more in the fourth, when NC State scored four runs on three home runs, a two-run blast for Jose Torres and solo homers for Luca Tresh and Vojtech Mensik, giving the Pack a 5-2 lead.

A J.T. Jarrett RBI groundout in the sixth made it a 6-2 game, but that’s right about when the Razorbacks woke up. Brady Slavens pulled the team a bit closer with a solo homer in the seventh, with two more runs scored in the frame on a Torres error and an RBI single for Jalen Battles to make it 6-5.

At that point, an Arkansas comeback seemed inevitable. We had seen that movie too many times. Now that it was within striking distance, a clutch home run, probably by Robert Moore or Welch, would put them over the top and deliver a win. But instead, Evan Justice settled in, got out of the seventh and then put up zeroes in the eighth and ninth.

It will be all hands on deck on the mound for both teams tomorrow. Both relief aces, Justice and Kevin Kopps, got into the game today, although that likely matters more for Justice than it does Kopps. And the third starter on the weekend is the strength of neither team. Last weekend, Arkansas gave us a classic performance when its back was against the wall against Nebraska. Can it do the same this time around?

Starkville

If Saturday’s opener between Notre Dame and Mississippi State is any indication, we’re in for an exciting series in Starkville. Both teams came out swinging and combined for 22 hits, including five home runs, with MSU striking the decisive blow in the bottom of the seventh for a 9-8 win.

Tied 8-8 at the seventh inning stretch after the Irish pushed across the tying run on a Zack Prajzner RBI double, the Bulldogs fought back to take the lead in the bottom half on a Logan Tanner solo homer. And then righthander Landon Sims entered the game, which is to say that it was as good as over. Sims went six up and six down to finish off the win and push MSU one game away from a return trip to Omaha.

What each team gets on the mound the rest of the weekend is up in the air and will be the biggest key moving forward. Notre Dame righthander Tanner Kohlhepp threw four innings of relief, which will keep him out of duty for at least Sunday’s game. That’s probably more than the coaching staff would have wanted him to throw on the day when its steadiest starter, John Michael Bertrand, was on the mound. MSU, meanwhile, got just three innings of work out of Will Bednar, its most reliable starter down the home stretch of the season, and if Sims throws in Sunday’s game, it will be the first time all season that he has done so. Long story short, another offensive game may be on deck for Starkville on Sunday.

Nashville

Vanderbilt followed its winning formula to the letter this weekend in Nashville. On Friday, it won a 2-0 pitcher’s duel behind outstanding work from Kumar Rocker. On Saturday’s it rode a similarly good start from Jack Leiter to a 4-1 victory, pushing the Commodores to the College World Series for the fifth time in program history and in back-to-back seasons for the second time after it did so in 2014-2015 as well.

A single for Connor Norby to lead off the game for ECU meant that this game didn’t turn into a no-hitter watch like Rocker’s start was threatening to do on Friday, but Leiter was rarely pushed. The Pirates didn’t have any extended rally, with the only run scored coming on a Josh Moylan solo homer in the seventh. In the end, Leiter threw seven innings, giving up two hits, three walks and one run with 10 strikeouts.

ECU also got good pitching for the second straight day, limiting Vandy to four runs on five hits, but that turned out to be more than enough run support for Leiter and Nick Maldonado, who threw two perfect innings to close out the win.

While Vanderbilt is off to Omaha, East Carolina is once again dealing with disappointment in the super regional round, which has become all too familiar for that program. While it’s true that East Carolina hasn’t often played very well in super regional and ECU coaches might say that it’s no excuse, it’s also true that ECU has had terrible luck in who it matches up with in the postseason.

It has been to six super regionals in program history. Five times it has been paired with a team that was a top-eight national seed, all on the road. Trips to Omaha mostly come when a team is talented and built to win in the postseason, but trips to Omaha also come when you catch a break with your opponent, and ECU has never experienced that.

Friday

Nashville

The much-anticipated pitcher’s duel between Vanderbilt’s Kumar Rocker and East Carolina’s Gavin Williams did not disappoint. Both pitchers were excellent, but it was Vanderbilt and Rocker that came out on top, 2-0. Rocker struck out 11 batters in 7.2 scoreless innings and held the Pirates to three hits and three walks. Williams struck out 13 batters in 7.1 innings, but the Commodores were able to score two runs on seven hits and two walks to give him his first loss of the season. Vanderbilt scratched out its runs – it took the lead in the second when Parker Noland came around to score after bunting for a hit and added an insurance run in the eighth when Enrique Bradfield dove home just ahead of the tag on a ground ball.

In the end, that was all Rocker needed. He started the game with four hitless innings and just once did ECU produce multiple base runners in an inning. Dominance in the super regional round is nothing new for Rocker. In his last super regional appearance, he struck out 19 batters in a no-hitter against Duke. Friday’s start wasn’t quite as good, but it did the job and moved Vanderbilt within a win of the College World Series.

Lubbock

Stanford opened the Lubbock Super Regional with a 15-3 rout of Texas Tech. The Cardinal scored four runs in the top of the first inning and never looked back, pounding out 14 hits – seven for extra bases – and drawing five walks. As good as the offense was, righthander Brendan Beck was excellent for Stanford as well. He struck out a career-high 13 batters in 7.1 innings to pick up the victory. Stanford is now one win away from its first CWS appearance since 2008.

Fayetteville

North Carolina State jumped out to an early lead thanks to a home run from Jose Torres in the second inning. But Arkansas answered with a two-run home run in the bottom half of the inning from Robert Moore and just never stopped scoring. After getting pushed much of last weekend in the Fayetteville Regional, Arkansas left no doubt Friday night. Not only did Arkansas move a win away from the College World Series, it did so without using any of its best relievers – including Kevin Kopps – setting it up well for the rest of the series.

Tucson

Unfazed by Mississippi scoring three runs in the top of the first, Arizona locked in and slowly but surely took the game over. Donta Williams homered to lead off the bottom of the first, the first of four homers on the night for the Wildcats, and by the fifth inning – when Jacob Berry hit a two-run home run – they were in the lead. Arizona’s bullpen continued to impress in the NCAA Tournament, throwing 4.1 scoreless innings in relief of Chase Silseth, and the offense kept scoring to pull away in the late innings. Arizona stuck to its script and is now a win away from Omaha.

For Ole Miss, all eyes now turn to lefthander Doug Nikhazy, who will take the ball Saturday night with the Rebels facing elimination. He’s risen to big moments all year long, but this will be the biggest one yet.