French leads Vanerbilt past Michigan; Rice sneaks past TCU
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Brad French homered and drove in four runs to lead top-ranked Vanderbilt to a 10-7 victory over Michigan on Sunday night, forcing a deciding game today in the NCAA regional tournament.
Vanderbilt (54-12) sent 12 batters to the plate and scored seven runs in the second inning. Shea Robin, Brad French and David Macias each had run-scoring hits, while two other runs scored on Wolverine errors.
After Michigan (41-17) cut the lead to 7-2 in the bottom of the second inning, the Commodores made it 9-2 in the fifth when French floated a home run to right field.
In the fifth, Michigan's Jason Christian lined a double off the left-field wall, scoring three runs and slicing Vanderbilt's lead to 9-5. The Wolverines added two runs in the ninth.
Brett Jacobson (6-3) picked up the win in relief, allowing two runs in 5 1-3 innings. Earlier Sunday, Vanderbilt beat Austin Peay 11-5.
Tallahassee Regional Mississippi St. 9, Florida St. 4
Brandon Turner and Brian LaNinfa homered to help Mississippi State advance to the super regionals with a victory over sixth-seeded Florida State.
The Bulldogs (36-20) advanced to the super regionals for the first time since 2001 with the victory over the Seminoles (49-13).
Mississippi State starter Josh Johnson (3-3) and relievers Ricky Bowen, Aaron Weatherford and Mitch Moreland limited the nation's top hitting team to six hits — two in the final five innings. They combined to strike out 10.
Jack Rye hit two home runs for Florida State, which advanced to the championship with a 17-1 victory over Stetson earlier Sunday.
Chapel Hill Regional Western Carolina 9, East Carolina 5
Jonathan Ingram put Western Carolina ahead to stay with a two-run homer in the third and finished a double shy of the cycle in an elimination game.
Western Carolina (42-19) snapped a 13-game losing streak against the Pirates, beating them for the first time in 30 years and avenging a loss in the first game of the regional. Western Carolina will face North Carolina (50-12) on Monday, with the Catamounts needing two wins over the Tar Heels to advance to the super regionals.
Stephen Batts homered, doubled and extended his school-record hitting streak to 29 games for East Carolina (40-23).
The game was delayed six hours by rain.
Houston Regional Rice 3, TCU 1
Joe Savery (10-1) gave up one earned run and six hits in seven innings, and doubled and scored two runs to lead Rice (52-12) into the super regionals.
Bobby Bramhall got the final six outs for his sixth save.
Rice will face the winner of the College Station regional championship between Texas A&M and Louisiana-Lafayette. TCU finished the season 48-14.
College Station Regional Texas A&M 4, Louisiana-Lafayette 1
Scott Migl shut out Louisiana-Lafayette through seven innings, and Texas A&M (47-17) beat the Ragin' Cajuns (45-16) to force a deciding game Monday.
Kyle Colligan homered for the Aggies.
Earlier Sunday, Texas A&M's Blake Stouffer hit for the cycle to help the Aggies beat Ohio State 10-4 in an elimination game.
Columbia, Mo., Regional Louisville 4, Missouri 3
Chris Dominguez hit a tiebreaking two-run home run in the eighth inning, helping Louisville force a deciding game Monday.
Kyle Hollander escaped jams in the seventh and ninth for the Cardinals (43-21), who beat Miami for the second time earlier Sunday to end the Hurricanes' string of 13 straight regional titles.
Dominguez played a pivotal role in both games, also breaking a tie with a two-run homer in the fifth inning of Louisville's 8-7 victory over Miami.
Dominguez angered Missouri (42-17) after apparently gloating in the batter's box after his shot off Greg Folgia. He was booed the rest of the game by a sellout crowd and players didn't shake hands after the game.
Oxford Regional Mississippi 21, Sam Houston St. 13
No. 9 batter Alex Kliman had four hits and drove in five runs — nearly half his season total of 12 RBIs — to help Mississippi advance to the super regionals.
Kliman was one of nine Ole Miss hitters with at least one RBI and the Rebels set a season high for runs and hits (22). Ole Miss (40-23) batted around in two innings against the Bearkats (40-24).
Ole Miss will play Arizona State, the winner of the Tempe regional championship.
Earlier Sunday, Sam Houston beat Southern Mississippi 12-11 in 11 innings.
Myrtle Beach Regional Clemson 11, Coastal Carolina 8
Andy D'Alessio had a home run, two doubles and four RBIs, and Marquez Smith hit a three-run shot for Clemson (40-21).
Clemson will face Coastal Carolina again in the regional championship Monday, with the Chanticleers needing two victories to advance.
Coastal beat St. John's 6-5 in the final game Sunday to avoid elimination.
Columbia, S.C., Regional South Carolina 12, Charlotte 8
Trent Kline hit a three-run homer, and Justin Smoak and Andrew Crisp also connected to help South Carolina (44-18) advance to the regional final.
The Gamecocks, who have a national-best 109 homers this season, will face Charlotte again Monday in the championship.
Charlotte (49-11), which needs two victories Monday to advance to the super regionals, beat North Carolina State 12-10 late Sunday in an elimination game.
Wichita Regional Wichita St. 4, Arizona 3
Wichita State's Derek Schermerhorn drove in the winning run with two outs in the ninth inning to force a decisive game Monday.
Wichita State pinch hitter Bret Bascue drew a four-pitch walk to start the ninth, pinch-runner Ryan Jones advanced to second on a sacrifice. After another out, Schermerhorn drove the ball to the gap in left center to score Jones from second.
The Shockers (52-20) beat New Orleans 7-3 earlier Sunday. Arizona is 42-16.
Round Rock Regional UC Irvine 6, Texas 5, 7th inning, susp. rain
UC Irvine led Texas 6-5 in the bottom of the seventh inning when rain forced the suspension of play until Monday.
Earlier Sunday, Texas (46-16) advanced to the regional championship with a 7-4, 12-inning victory over Wake Forest in an elimination game. Irvine (42-15-1) reached the championship Saturday with a 3-1 victory over the Longhorns.
Texas must beat Irvine twice to reach the super regionals.
Fayetteville Regional Oklahoma St. 7, Arkansas 6
Corey Brown and Ty Wright hit three-run homers to lead Oklahoma State (41-19) to the regional title, and a spot in the super regionals.
Josh Fritsche (2-0) was the winner in relief of starter Jeff Breedlove.
Arkansas finished the season 43-21. Earlier Sunday, Arkansas beat Creighton 6-0.
Tempe Regional Arizona St. 19, Nebraska 7
CJ Retherford drove in five runs and Kiel Roling four, and Arizona State (46-13) exploded for 23 hits to advance to the super regionals.
The Sun Devils scored four runs in the first, added two in the second and three in the third before breaking open a 9-7 game with six runs in the seventh.
Earlier Sunday, Nebraska (32-27) beat UC Riverside 11-1 in an elimination game.
Long Beach Regional UCLA 7, Long Beach St. 4
Regional MVP Jermaine Curtis hit a homer and UCLA (33-26) scored four runs in the fifth to end Long Beach State's season.
Tim Murphy went the distance for the Bruins, giving up four runs on eight hits with eight strikeouts and three walks.
The Dirtbags (39-20) eliminated Illinois-Chicago 4-3 earlier Sunday.
San Diego Regional Cal State Fullerton 13, Fresno St. 2
Fullerton's John Curtis hit a three-run homer, part of a four-run third inning, that helped send the Titans (36-23) to the super regionals.
Nick Mahin drove in four runs for Fullerton, which improved to 9-2 in NCAA postseason play against the Bulldogs (38-29). Fullerton beat Fresno State 6-4 on Saturday and twice in the 2006 regionals.
Earlier Sunday, Fresno State eliminated Minnesota 11-6.
Charlottesville Regional
Rain wiped out play, with defending champion Oregon State (39-18) now set to face Rutgers (42-20) in an elimination game Monday. The Oregon State-Rutgers winner will face Virginia (45-14), with the elimination game winner needing two victories over the Cavaliers to advance to the super regionals.
