June 1, 2008

Hurricanes Win Coral Gables Regional, 11-2 over Ole Miss

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) -- Ryan Jackson and Dennis Raben each homered as the No. 1-ranked and No. 1 national seed Miami Hurricanes defeated Mississippi, 11-2 to win the NCAA Coral Gables Regional.

Eric Erickson (8-1) picked up the win pitching seven strong innings. Erickson gave up two runs and six hits while striking out five.

Miami (50-8) advances to the Super Regionals and will await the winner of the Ann Arbor Regional between Arizona and Kentucky. The dates on the best-of-three series will be announced Monday night.

The Regional Championship is the 25th in school history and it gives the Hurricanes their first 50-win season since 2004.

Jackson was named Most Outstanding Player of the Regional as six Hurricanes were named to the all-tournament team. The sophomore shortstop hit .545 (6-of-11) with two home runs and four runs batted in regional play.

The Hurricanes are expected to host the NCAA Coral Gables Super Regional. The NCAA will make the official announcement Monday night at 11 p.m.

Tar Heels Advance To Third Straight Super Regional

CARY, N.C. (AP) - Mark Fleury's three-run homer capped a five-run fifth inning and helped North Carolina beat North Carolina-Wilmington 7-3 on Sunday night in the Cary Regional championship.

Tim Fedroff drove in two runs, and he and Tim Federowicz had RBI singles during the big inning that sent the top-seeded Tar Heels (49-12) into the super regionals for the third straight year - but not before enduring a weather delay of 1 hour, 44 minutes.

Next up: the Conway, S.C., Regional champ - either East Carolina or Coastal Carolina winner - next weekend at USA Baseball's national training complex in suburban Raleigh, where the Tar Heels played this season while their on-campus ballpark was under construction.

UNC Wilmington came into the ninth looking for another comeback when Jason Appel singled home a run and the Seahawks brought the tying run to the plate with one out. But Rob Wooten struck out Nate Hall and Cody Stanley for his fourth save.

The Seahawks (44-17-1) advanced to the championship round earlier in the day by rallying past Elon 15-11 with 11 runs in the ninth.

But in Game 2, North Carolina took command in the fifth. Fedroff tied it with a one-out single that scored Dustin Ackley, and two batters later, UNC Wilmington intentionally walked Kyle Seager to get to Federowicz, who lined a single into left field that brought home Fedroff and put the Tar Heels ahead to stay.

NC State Wins Raleigh Regional with 2-1 Thriller over USC

RALEIGH, N.C. - Five NC State pitchers held South Carolina's powerful offense to just three hits Sunday night to beat the Gamecocks, 2-1, and win an NCAA regional championship for just the third time in school history.

Sophomore Sam Brown (4-1) got the victory and junior Alex Sogard pitched a perfect 1 1/3 innings for his first career save, continuing stellar bullpen performances for the Wolfpack. Since blowing a two saves in the same game against Georgia Tech in the ACC Tournament, the Wolfpack bullpen has pitched 15 1/3 scoreless innings and allowed just one hit.

The Wolfpack (41-20) got its offense from outfielder Jeremy Synan, who hit a home run in the fifth and an RBI-single by Matt Payne.

The Wolfpack will play in its second Super Regional since the NCAA went to the expanded format in 1989. This is the third regional championship in NC State history, with the other two coming in 1968 and 2003. The first time, the Pack advanced to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb., where it finished third in nation. Five years ago, Avent and his team lost a pair of games to Miami in the Coral Gables Super Regional.

The game was delayed for one hour and 19 minutes as a brief thunderstorm rolled through the Triangle area, chasing Wolfpack starter Eric Surkamp out of the game. Avent turned to Brown after the delay, while South Carolina coach Ray Tanner stayed with starter Will Atwood.

FSU Downs Tulane 17-8 To Force Decisive Game On Monday

Tallahassee, Fla. - Second-ranked Florida State (51-11) lived to see another day avoiding elimination for the third straight game in the Tallahassee Regional downing Tulane (39-21-1) 17-8 on Sunday evening forcing a decisive, winner take all game Monday night at Dick Howser Stadium. Five Florida State batters were responsible for all 14 hits as four Seminole hitters registered three hits a piece. FSU moved to 43-23 in possible elimination games in regional action of the NCAA Tournament.

The Seminole offense remained hot in regional play pounding out 17 more runs on Sunday to run their tournament total to 58. Through the first four games, the Garnet and Gold is hitting .419 with 70 hits including 21 for extra bases. Tyler Holt picked up three more hits on Sunday evening and now leads all hitters in the tournament with nine. The freshman centerfielder finished the evening with a pair of RBIs and three runs scored.

Buster Posey tied a season-high with five RBIs set earlier in the day in the victory over Bucknell. The junior catcher blasted two more home runs bringing his tournament total to five. He finished the game with three hits and three runs scored.

Dennis Guinn went 3-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs scored. He collected a pair of singles and a home run. Tony Delmonico also had three hits in the game six victory.

Ryan Strauss pitched into the sixth and gave the Seminoles 5.2 solid innings moving his record to 9-1 on the year. The senior right hander allowed six runs on seven hits as he walked three and struck out five. Strauss finished the game with 104 pitches eclipsing the 100 pitch mark for the seventh time in nine starts this year.

Jimmy Marshall threw 2.1 shutout innings in his first relief appearance of the tournament. The junior right hander allowed just two hits and one walk while striking out three.

Florida State Defeats Bucknell 24-9 To Stay Alive In The NCAA Tournament

Tallahassee, Fla. - Second-ranked Florida State (50-11) stayed alive in the NCAA Tournament with a 24-9 victory over Bucknell (30-24-2) Sunday afternoon at Dick Howser Stadium. The Seminoles advanced to the regional finals against Tulane and must now defeat the Green Wave twice with game one being held later this evening at 7 pm. The Seminoles became the first team in the nation to reach the 50-win plateau.

With the win, the Seminoles braved off elimination for the second straight game moving to 42-23 in possible elimination games in regional action of the NCAA Tournament.

Florida State duplicated yesterday's offensive power against the Gators with 24 runs on 25 hits and have now scored 41 runs on 50 hits over the last two games. Both run and hit totals tied a season-high. The two teams combined for seven home runs including four coming off the bat of three Seminole hitters.

Jason Stidham, Stuart Tapley and Tommy Oravetz all registered three hits a piece, while catcher Buster Posey led all hitters with five RBIs. The Seminoles posted runs in seven of the nine innings including multiple runs in four.

Making his first start since May 7, freshman Mike McGee went five innings allowing six runs on eight hits to move his record to 7-1 on the year. The right hander out of Port St. Lucie, Fla., gave the Seminoles a quality outing with the hope of two more games in the forecast.

Georgia Tech Blanked By Georgia, 8-0, Forcing Deciding Game

ATHENS, Ga. - Georgia used three home runs and a masterpiece pitching performance by Nick Montgomery Sunday night to beat Georgia Tech, 8-0, and force a deciding game in the Athens NCAA Baseball Regional at Foley Field.

The Yellow Jackets (41-20), the regional's No. 2 seed, and Georgia (38-22-1), the host and No. 1 seed, will meet here Monday at 7 p.m. with the winner advancing to one of eight Super Regionals and the loser closing the book on the 2008 season.

Montgomery (3-2) pitched a near-flawless game, scattering four hits and striking out nine. Georgia Tech was shutout in an NCAA Tournament game for the first time in 20 years and the Yellow Jackets were blanked by the Bulldogs for the first time in nearly 40 years. Tech's four base hits were its fewest in any game this season.

Georgia Tech's Charlie Blackmon singled in the third inning and again in the ninth. In between, no Yellow Jacket earned a base hit against Montgomery, a right-hander making just his third start of the season.

Cal State Fullerton Ends Virginia's Season With 4-1 NCAA Win

FULLERTON, Calif. - Cal State Fullerton's Cory Arbiso limited Virginia to one run in a complete-game effort as the Titans, the No. 5 national seed in the NCAA tournament, eliminated Virginia from the NCAA Fullerton Regional with a 4-1 win Sunday at Goodwin Field in Fullerton, Calif.

Virginia ends its season with a 39-23 record. Cal State Fullerton (39-20) advances to the regional championship game against UCLA at 11 p.m. ET Sunday and needs to win two games against the Bruins in order to move to the NCAA Super Regionals.

Matt Packer (So., Germantown, Tenn.) pitched the final 6.2 innings of relief and allowed just one earned run and two hits while striking out two. He finishes the year with a 1.14 earned run average - fourth lowest in Virginia history. Pat McAnaney (Sr., Syracuse, N.Y.) lasted 2.1 innings and gave up three earned runs and three hits. He walked three and struck out one, as he took the loss and finished the season with a 4-6 record.

Arbiso (12-3) retired 15 in a row after allowing a double to Greg Miclat (Jr., Concord, N.C.) to start the game. In his complete-game effort, he allowed one run and eight hits while striking out seven.