June 7, 2008

Seminoles Keep Omaha Dreams Alive With 14-4 Win Over Shockers

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Junior pitcher Matt Fairel matched a career-high eight innings while striking out six allowing four runs and walking zero to lead Florida State to a 14-4 victory over Wichita State to force a third and deciding game in the Tallahassee Super Regional on Mike Martin Field at Dick Howser Stadium. Fairel threw a career high 124 pitches in holding the Shockers to one run in his final seven innings pitched and retiring 21 of the last 26 batters he faced in improving his record to 12-2

The victory by the Seminoles tied the best of three game series at one game each. The final and deciding game will be played Sunday in Tallahassee at 1:00 p.m. Wichita State will be the home team with the winner of the game advancing to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb.

Florida State struck first in the top half of the first inning. Jason Stidham, who made his first career start at shortstop, launched a double high off of the right field fence to score lead-off hitter Tyler Holt. Holt reached base as he was hit by a pitch by Shocker starter Aaron Shafer. It marked the seventh runner in the first two games of the series that had come around to score after reaching base on a walk of after being hit by a pitch.

Wichita State answered quickly in bottom of the first with three runs. Three consecutive singles by right fielder Ryan Jones, third baseman Conor Gillaspie and designated hitter Clinton McKeever produced the Shockers first run. A two RBI single by second baseman Josh Workman scored Gillaspie and McKeever to give the Shockers 3-1 lead.

Florida State scored two runs in its half of the second on a home run by third baseman Staurt Tapley (his eighth of the season) and a sacrifice fly by Stidham to score second baseman Tommy Oravetz. Oravetz had reached base on a single and scored to tie the game at 3-3.

Pack Evens Series With Georgia With 10-6 Victory

ATHENS, Ga. - NC State's bats weren't powerful Saturday afternoon, but they were productive enough to record the first Super Regional victory in school history.

The Wolfpack generated double-digit scoring with 10 singles, two doubles and nine walks and received strong pitching performances from freshman Jake Buchanan and sophomore Alex Sogard to beat Georgia 10-6 Saturday afternoon in Game 2 of the NCAA Athens Super Regional.

The two teams will play the decisive game in the best-of-three series Sunday at 4 p.m. at Georgia's Foley Field, with the winner earning a bid to next week's College World Series in Omaha, Neb. The game will be televised by ESPN and carried by the Wolfpack Sports Network locally on WKNC 88.1-FM and globally on GoPack.com.

Georgia's offense, which had scored 67 runs in its first six NCAA games, was stymied as NC State associate head coach Tom Holliday turned to the right-handed Buchanan in hopes of silencing the Bulldogs' prolific right-handed hitters.

Bulldog third baseman Ryan Peisel started the game with a 375-foot blast over the right-centerfield wall on Buchanan's second pitch of the contest. It was Peisel's fourth lead-off homer of the season.

But the Wolfpack (42-20) answered quickly, thanks to a Ryan Pond walk, a wild pitch and a run-scoring single by centerfielder Marcus Jones. Buchanan, making just his fourth start of the season, recovered from his one bad pitch to turn in a sparking 5 1/3 innings, allowing six hits and three earned runs.

Tar Heels Take Opener From Coastal, 9-4

CARY, N.C. (AP) - Alex White threw seven strong innings and Seth Williams homered to lead North Carolina past mistake-prone Coastal Carolina 9-4 on Saturday in Game 1 of the best-of-three Cary Super Regional. Williams, Kyle Seager and Kyle Shelton drove in two runs apiece for the Tar Heels (50-12), who turned the Chanticleers' season-high six errors into six unearned runs and moved within one victory of their third straight trip to the College World Series.

White (10-3) was a major reason for that. He struck out six and allowed eight hits while topping out his fastball at 96 mph and hitting the mid-90s from his first inning through his last in his second straight strong performance in the NCAA tournament.

White, a sophomore who was the Atlantic Coast Conference's pitcher of the year, threw a three-hitter in a 5-1 victory over North Carolina-Wilmington in last weekend's regional. He exited in the eighth after allowing a run-scoring single to David Sappelt, but before that, he was in control on a sweltering day in which the temperature surpassed 100 degrees by the fourth inning and the heat index reached 106.

Coastal Carolina (50-13) pieced together two hits in the fourth against White before Dock Doyle raced home on his wild pitch to make it a 3-1 game, but White and the Tar Heels didn't let them get any closer. North Carolina stretched its lead back to a comfortable margin, scoring once in the fifth and twice in the sixth. Shelton had run-scoring hits in both innings, and Williams connected against reliever Joey Haug for his eighth homer of the season and second of the NCAA tournament.

NCAA Coral Gables Super Regional: Miami Evens Series with 14-10 Win

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) Four different players hit home runs as top-ranked Miami beat Arizona 14-10 and evened their Super Regional series Saturday night.

Yonder Alonso and Yasmani Grandal each hit three-run homers and Mark Sobolewski hit a go-ahead solo home run as the Hurricanes (51-9) rallied from an early four-run deficit. Jason Hagerty also homered for Miami.

Sobolewski's leadoff homer off Arizona reliever Mike Colla (4-3) in the sixth put Miami ahead 8-7. Grandal's shot later in the inning extended the Hurricanes' lead 11-7.

The Hurricanes added another run in the seventh on Hagerty's bases-loaded walk in the seventh.

Miami's Dennis Raben walked six times, tying an NCAA record previously set by Oklahoma State's Josh Holliday May 29, 1999. Arizona pitchers walked a school record 16 batters.