College Baseball Regionals 2015: Results, Highlights and Bracket from Saturday
After the 2015 NCAA college baseball tournament got off to a rousing start on Friday that saw brilliant pitching performances, explosive offensive outbursts and stellar defensive plays, the urgency kicked up a notch on Saturday.
With 29 games on the schedule after rainouts in two regionals forced four postponements and 29 teams on the brink of being sent home in the double-elimination format, players and coaches will be pulling out all the stops to ensure they get at least one more day in their regional.
There's also a sense of urgency for the teams that won on Friday, as they look to move one victory closer towards a spot in the super regionals. Here are the results from the second day of regionals, as well as a recap of the action as it becomes available.
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Saturday Results
| Tallahassee, Florida | No. 3 Auburn vs. No. 4 Mercer | Auburn def. Mercer, 1-0 | Auburn (1-1) | Mercer (0-2)* |
| Louisville, Kentucky | No. 2 Bradley vs. No. 4 Morehead State | Bradley def. Morehead State, 9-4 | Bradley (1-1) | Morehead State (0-2)* |
| Dallas, Texas | No. 1 Dallas Baptist vs. No. 3 Texas | PPD (Rain) | - | - |
| Stillwater, Oklahoma | No. 3 Oral Roberts vs. No. 4 St. John's | St. John's def. Oral Roberts, 10-4 | St. John's (1-1) | Oral Roberts (0-2)* |
| Springfield, Missouri | No. 1 Missouri State vs. No. 4 Canisius | Missouri State def. Canisius, 14-1 | Missouri State (1-0) | Canisius (0-1) |
| Coral Gables, Florida | No. 2 East Carolina vs. No. 4 Florida International | Florida International def. East Carolina, 2-0 | Florida International (1-1) | East Carolina (0-2)* |
| Gainesville, Florida | No. 2 Florida Atlantic vs. No. 4 Florida A&M | Florida Atlantic def. Florida A&M, 8-1 | Florida Atlantic (1-1) | Florida A&M (0-2)* |
| College Station, Texas | No. 2 Coastal Carolina vs. No. 4 Texas Southern | Coastal Carolina def. Texas Southern, 4-1 | Coastal Carolina (1-1) | Texas Southern (0-2)* |
| Champaign, Illinois | No. 3 Wright State vs. No. 4 Ohio | PPD (Rain) | - | - |
| Houston, Texas | No. 2 Rice vs. No. 4 Houston Baptist | PPD (Rain) | - | - |
| Fort Worth, Texas | No. 3 Stony Brook vs. No. 4 Sacred Heart | Stony Brook def. Sacred Heart, 11-6 | Stony Brook (1-1) | Sacred Heart (0-2)* |
| Baton Rouge, Louisiana | No. 3 Tulane vs. No. 4 Lehigh | Tulane def. Lehigh, 15-3 | Tulane (1-1) | Lehigh (0-2)* |
| Nashville, Tennessee | No. 2 Radford vs. No. 4 Lipscomb | Radford def. Lipscomb, 5-2 | Radford (1-1) | Lipscomb (0-2)* |
| Louisville, Kentucky | No. 1 Louisville vs. No. 3 Michigan | Louisville def. Michigan, 4-3 | Louisville (2-0) | Michigan (1-1) |
| Springfield, Missouri | No. 3 Oregon vs. No. 4 Canisius | Oregon def. Canisius, 12-6 | Oregon (1-1) | Canisius (0-2)* |
| Lake Elsinore, California | No. 1 UC Santa Barbara vs. No. 2 USC | USC def. UC Santa Barbara, 12-3 | USC (1-1) | UC Santa Barbara (0-2)* |
| Tallahassee, Florida | No. 1 Florida State vs. No. 2 Charleston | Florida State def. Charleston, 3-2 | Florida State (2-0) | Charleston (1-1) |
| Los Angeles, California | No. 2 Mississippi vs. No. 4 Cal State Bakersfield | Cal State Bakersfield def. Mississippi, 2-1 | Cal State Bakersfield (1-1) | Mississippi (0-2)* |
| Stillwater, Oklahoma | No. 1 Oklahoma State vs. No. 2 Arkansas | Arkansas def. Oklahoma State, 7-5 | Arkansas (2-0) | Oklahoma State (1-1) |
| Coral Gables, Florida | No. 1 Miami vs. No. 3 Columbia | Miami def. Columbia, 8-3 | Miami (2-0) | Columbia (1-1) |
| Dallas, Texas | No. 2 Oregon State vs. No. 4 VCU | PPD (Rain) | - | - |
| Gainesville, Florida | No. 1 Florida vs. No. 3 South Florida | Florida def. South Florida, 8-2 | Florida (2-0) | South Florida (1-1) |
| College Station, Texas | No. 1 Texas A&M vs. No. 3 California | California def. Texas A&M, 2-1 | California (2-0) | Texas A&M (1-1) |
| Fullerton, California | No. 3 Clemson vs. No. 4 Pepperdine | Pepperdine def. Clemson, 10-8 | Pepperdine (1-1) | Clemson (0-2)* |
| Houston, Texas | No. 1 Houston vs. No. 3 Louisiana-Lafayette | PPD (Rain) | - | - |
| Fort Worth, Texas | No. 1 TCU vs. No. 2 North Carolina State | North Carolina State def. TCU, 5-4 | North Carolina State (2-0) | TCU (1-1) |
| Champaign, Illinois | No. 1 Illinois vs. No. 2 Notre Dame | PPD (Rain) | - | - |
| Nashville, Tennessee | No. 1 Vanderbilt vs. No. 3 Indiana | Vanderbilt def. Indiana, 6-4 | Vanderbilt (2-0) | Indiana (1-1) |
| Springfield, Missouri | No. 2 Iowa vs. No. 1 Missouri State | Missouri State def. Iowa, 5-3 | Missouri State (2-0) | Iowa (1-1) |
| Baton Rouge, Louisiana | No. 1 LSU vs. No. 2 UNC-Wilmington | LSU def. UNC-Wilmington, 2-0 | LSU (2-0) | UNC-Wilmington (1-1) |
| Lake Elsinore, California | No. 3 Virginia vs. No. 4 San Diego State | Virginia def. San Diego State, 3-1 | Virginia (2-0) | San Diego State (1-1) |
| Fullerton, California | No. 1 Cal State Fullerton vs. No. 2 Arizona State | Cal State Fullerton def. Arizona State, 3-2 (14) | Cal State Fullerton (2-0) | Arizona State (1-1) |
| Los Angeles, California | No. 1 UCLA vs. No. 3 Maryland | Maryland def. UCLA, 4-1 | Maryland (2-0) | UCLA (1-1) |
NCAA Tournament Bracket (via Houston Baptist University Athletics)
Saturday Recap
Auburn kept its hopes alive with an impressive 1-0 win against Mercer in the Tallahassee regional. The Tigers rode stellar pitching from Rocky McCord and Keegan Thompson to knock the Bears out of the NCAA tournament.
Mercer's best chance came in the seventh inning with two on and two outs. Thompson, making his first appearance out of the bullpen this season, relieved McCord. The right-hander walked Kyle Lewis to load the bases before getting Danny Edgeworth to lineout to the shortstop.
Auburn head coach Sunny Golloway said after the game that Thompson's bullpen heroics after Jordan Ebert scored the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly by Blake Logan were the keys to this win, via Jason Caldwell of Scout.com:
"Ebert coming off the bench to pinch it for us was huge. He did a great job, working that run around was really big for us. Then Keegan in relief, that was kind of the storyline. We had really terrific defense on our part. I’m really proud of our guys. We knew it was going to be a hard-fought victory and at this point it’s just about trying to continue to advance and play for another day. That’s what we’re trying to do.
"
Mercer looked out of sorts in each of its first two games, being shut out today and committing five errors in Friday's loss against Florida State. Despite those miscues, the Bears had a chance to defeat the host team before Josh Delph hit a walk-off single in the bottom of the 10th inning.
The Tigers do survive for at least one more day, though their next test on Sunday against the loser of tonight's Florida State-Charleston matchup will be more difficult. They are battle-tested as an SEC team, but the Seminoles and Cougars have combined for 86 wins thus far.
After being rained out on Friday, Missouri State used the extra time to get its bats ready for Canisius. The Bears exploded for 14 runs on 17 hits in front of their home fans.
Tate Matheny provided the exclamation point for Missouri State's win with a sixth-inning grand slam that looked like this, via NCAA Baseball:
The Missouri State center fielder had a huge day, going 3-for-4 with 5 RBI, two runs and two walks in the victory. The Bears had six extra-base hits with the entire starting nine recording at least one hit.
In addition to the offensive explosion, Missouri State got a great effort from starting pitcher Jon Harris. The junior allowed just one run on three hits with eight strikeouts over eight innings and lowered his season ERA to 1.85.
Harris is a likely first-round pick in June's MLB draft, with one scout even telling Ian Frazer of Baseball Prospectus all the right-hander has to do is get through the NCAA tournament without any problems:
It's safe to say Harris did a little more than that on Saturday, though Missouri State isn't out of the woods entirely. The Bears are ensured of playing tomorrow, but the rainout on Friday means they have to play another game tonight.
There was one notable upset early on Saturday, as Florida International entered play with a 28-30 record going up against 40-win East Carolina. Both teams needed a win to keep playing after losses on Friday, but it was the Panthers knocking off the Pirates 2-0 to earn at least one more day.
It was also a notable win for FIU, as Conference USA tweeted that it was the program's first tournament victory in 14 years:
Given the long gap between wins for Florida International, it's only fitting the game would be one of the best in the tournament so far. This was a scoreless tie until the bottom of the eighth inning when the Panthers got two runs on RBI singles by Josh Anderson and Austin Rodriguez.
It's been proven many times in baseball that an overall record doesn't have anything to do with how a team will perform in a short series. FIU may not be long for the tournament, but it had the ability to win on Saturday.
Elimination day isn't an easy one for teams that lose, but it keeps the NCAA tournament moving along at an urgent pace. Nothing too outlandish has happened thus far, though one defeat can change the complexion of the entire tournament.
Top seeds are still performing well overall, with the exception of UC Santa Barbara being knocked out on Saturday by USC, so things are lined up for a chalk super regional. In fact, per NCAA Baseball on Twitter, the top eight national seeds own a combined record of 8-0:
It's becoming more apparent that this year, home-field advantage is playing a key role in these games. The wealth of talent spread around the country doesn't often lead to such predictable results, but there are always going to be seasons when everything works out the way rankings say it should.
There is still time for the lower seeds to make a move before the super-regional matchups are set, yet the picture is moving into much clearer focus.
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