Coming into Monday, the SEC's trip through the NCAA baseball tournament had shaken out this way: Two teams (Florida and Arkansas) into the super regionals, two teams (Ole Miss and Auburn) out, and three teams (LSU, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt) whose fates had yet to be decided. By the end of the day, all three had advanced to the next round.
But only LSU did so in a relatively sedate way, a 2-0 win against UNC-Wilmington that would be almost as notable after the fact for how little was unusual about it. Jared Poche' regained the form many expected of him, allowing six hits and striking out eight in 8.2 innings of work. The Seahawks never had more than one hit in an inning.
Up next was Vanderbilt, which straight-up paved Radford, 21-0. Barring something truly bizarre happening late in the UCLA-Maryland game, it will wind up as the most lopsided game in the first round in 2015, eking out Miami (FL) beating Columbia, also on Monday, in a 21-3 game. Vanderbilt and Miami will also, of course, end up tied for the most runs in the regionals.
The Commodores had 20 hits and benefited from six Radford errors. All but one of the Vanderbilt players who had at least two at-bats ended with at least one hit; every player who batted at least three times had multiple hits. Zander Wiel was 4-for-6 with six RBIs and had one of Vanderbilt's three home runs. The Commodores also had a double and four triples. Radford tried eight pitchers, and only three of them managed to not allow a run. The most brutal part of the game was the 10-run fifth.
Finally, Texas A&M had to wrap up what has been an epic weekend series against Cal. The Aggies and the Golden Bears had already played twice during the regional, with Cal winning the first game 2-1 and Texas A&M taking the second meeting 4-3. After Cal tied Monday night's game at 1-1 in the seventh, the Aggies added another run in the bottom half of the inning and then another in the eighth and ended up winning 3-1. And suddenly, Texas A&M was in the running to host a super regional.
That was because N.C. State was beating TCU, 4-1. The Horned Frogs were the national seed whose regional was paired with College Station -- so if N.C. State won, A&M would get the super regional. And when a four-run eighth inning gave the Wolfpack an 8-1 lead, it certainly looked over. Um, and then things happened. Here's the quick version of what happened over the next several minutes in the bottom of the eighth and then the bottom of the ninth:
For those counting, that's three errors, two passed balls and two balks in the last 4 outs for NC State.
— Pack Pride (@PackPride) June 2, 2015
Put that together with three hits by TCU, and the Horned Frogs scored seven runs in two innings to tie the game and send it to extras. Another two hits and a walk later (plus an error that didn't really matter), and the Frogs walked off in the bottom of the 10th.
In any case, when the dust settled, the SEC had a nation-leading five teams among the 16 teams advancing to the super regionals. It might have been a top-heavy year in the conference, but the top of the SEC is one of the best collections of teams you could find.
The super regionals involving SEC teams are all set. The times and TV information are to be decided, of course.
Gainesville Super Regional |
Florida State at Florida |
Friday, June 5-Sunday, June 7 |
Fayetteville Super Regional |
Missouri State at Arkansas |
Friday, June 5-Sunday, June 7 |
Baton Rouge Super Regional |
Louisiana-Lafayette at LSU |
Saturday, June 6-Monday, June 8 |
Fort Worth Super Regional |
Texas A&M at TCU |
Saturday, June 6-Monday, June 8 |
Champaign Super Regional |
Vanderbilt at Illinois |
Saturday, June 6-Monday, June 8 |