Mississippi State takes out Florida State. That's two national seeds to be eliminated so far in regional play (USD being the first). Arkansas will be the third to go if it doesn't rally in the bottom of the ninth.

Huge win for Louisville.

FSU is out, losing again at home Miss St again. Ron Polk's a master of college baseball

UIC is done but they really handled themselves well as a small northern team against some West Coast powerhouses.

Texas needed 3 in the 12th to eliminate Wake Forest 7-4 and stay alive in Austin.
Theyre now down one, 6-5, to Irvine in the 7th

Ole Miss/Sam Houston was a 21-13 slugfest that the Rebels came out on top of

Vandy got a challenge from Austin Peay but wound up running away with it 11-5. Now taking some measure of revenge vs Michigan, its 9-5 Vandy in the 7th. Theyll need to win again tomorrow to move on.

Texas A&M;up 4-1 in the 9th on Louisiana-Lafayette in College Station. They will also need to win tomorrow to move to supers.

"Coastal can't complete the job, and now has to win three in a row, beginning at 8 PM ET against St. John's."

Tied 5-5 in the 8th right now.

Western Carolina knocked out ECU 9-5 in Chapel Hill. Westerns got some real good bats (esp Kenny Smith) and ECU's Corey Kemp was on fire all regional

Oklahoma State beats Arkansas and wins the Fayetteville regional. That means the 6, 7, and 8 seeds have all been eliminated.

Solo HR in the 4th by Jermaine Curtis of UCLA. Score 4-3.

Tennessee just fired coach Rod Delmonico after missing the NCAA tourney for the 2nd straight year.

This puts Vols SS Tony Delmonico, a very good player who will be a junior and probably a first few rounds pick next year, in a bit of a bind. He skipped his senior year of high school (like Robert Stock and Jon David Booty did in baseball and football - respectively - to go to Southern Cal) to play for his dad one year early. What makes things harder for him is that the rules are being changed to force a sit-out year for transferring.

If the transfer rule change goes through, it still has one last level of approval needed IIRC, I think it would be effective starting this summer.
Delmonico wouldn't want to sit out his draft year so he'd have either endure the awkwardness of staying at the school that fired his dad or take a HUGE step down and play d-2 or NAIA ball

Arizona State leads Nebraska 6-2 in the 3rd.
And if the Huskers coach keeps arguing, he's not long for this game.

Oklahoma State beats Arkansas and wins the Fayetteville regional.

And I guarantee you everyone in Stillwater will be rooting madly for Louisville tomorrow. If we win, they are extremely likely to host the super regional, although since both are # 3 seeds it technically could go either way. But if Missouri wins, it will be played in Columbia.

Ugh. 4-run 5th for UCLA, UCLA now ahead 6-4.

NC State, trying not to go home yet, gets 3 in the 8th. They trail Charlotte 12-10 entering the 9th in Columbia, SC.

The NCAAsports.com scoreboard is nuts. They tricked me a few times yesterday, like with UIC, and right now they have a final of 7-6 Arkansas over Oklahoma State. They are obviously wrong as GameTracker and the official box score have Oklahoma State winning that 7-6.

Fresno State has had a great weekend, winning the San Diego regional as a 4 seed but that win came at a price it seems...

"Fresno State Pitcher Hit In Face By Line Drive
Tanner Scheppers was rushed to the hospital

June 3, 2007

SAN DIEGO (AP) -Fresno State pitcher Tanner Scheppers was rushed to a hospital Sunday after a line drive struck him above the eye.

He was lying still on the ground for nearly 10 minutes after being struck by the ball hit by Minnesota left fielder Kyle Baran at the start of the fourth inning in an NCAA tournament regional game.

Team officials said Scheppers was alert and moving after he was taken by ambulance to Scripps Mercy Hospital's trauma unit.

Spectators gave Scheppers a standing ovation as he was carried from the field on a backboard after being placed in a neck brace. The game continued soon after."

All over now. UCLA moves on, 7-4. Tim Murphy pitched a complete game.

If the transfer rule change goes through, it still has one last level of approval needed IIRC, I think it would be effective starting this summer.

Nope. The rule change wouldn't take effect until after the 2008 season, as I wrote the other day.

-- MWE

Games today:

Charlottesville: Oregon State vs Rutgers, 1 PM ET, winner to face Virginia 50 minutes after the conclusion of the first game. If Virginia wins, they advance. If the OSU/Rutgers winner beats the Cavaliers, a deciding game will be played tomorrow, winner advances.

Nashville: Vanderbilt vs Michigan, 7 PM ET, winner advances

Wichita: WSU vs Arizona, 8 PM ET, winner advances

Round Rock: Texas vs UCI, 2 PM ET, completion of suspended game. UCI leads 6-5 in the 7th. If UCI wins, they advance. If Texas wins, the two teams will square off again 50 minutes after the completion of the first game, winner advancing.

College Station: Texas A&M;vs UL-Lafayette, 7:30 PM ET, winner advances

Columbia MO: Louisville vs Missouri, 2 PM ET, winner advances.

Myrtle Beach: Clemson vs Coastal Carolina, 3 PM ET. If the Tigers win, they advance. If the Chanticleers win, a second game between the two will be played at 7 PM ET, winner advancing.

Columbia SC: Charlotte vs South Carolina, 4 PM ET. If the Gamecocks win, they advance. If the 49ers win, a second game between the two will be played 50 minutes after the completion of the first game, winner advances.

Chapel Hill: UNC vs WCU, 1 PM ET. If the Tar Heels win, they advance. If the Catamounts win, a second game between the two will be played 50 minutes after the completion of the first game, winner advances.

Louisville's run is the best story of the tournament so far; it should be noted that Miami had never failed to advance out of the first round in Jim Morris's 14 years as the head coach, until this year. Oklahoma State was a 3 seed, true, but they're usually an upper-echelon team. Louisville hasn't been.

-- MWE

Louisville's run is the best story of the tournament so far; it should be noted that Miami had never failed to advance out of the first round in Jim Morris's 14 years as the head coach, until this year. Oklahoma State was a 3 seed, true, but they're usually an upper-echelon team. Louisville hasn't been.

That story could get even more interesting -- and potentially explosive -- this afternoon. Both the Louisville Courier-Journal and the Kansas City Star have good stories this morning about the Chris Dominguez contretemps.

According to the Courier:

With the score tied at 2 in the eighth, Dominguez lifted a towering fly ball that hugged the left-field foul pole. While watching the ball, he spun around in two circles on his way toward first base.

That prompted derisive comments from Tigers catcher Trevor Coleman. When Dominguez came home, he bowed and said something to Coleman, nearly leading to a confrontation.

The redshirt freshman said he was trying to will his home run to stay fair, and that Coleman had accused him of hot-dogging.

"I can see why he would say that because I stood there a long time," Dominguez said. "In the emotion of the game, I kind of said some things I regret."

The capacity Taylor Stadium crowd booed Dominguez as he took the field in the bottom of the eighth, and he responded by skipping around the diamond. That brought a verbal lashing from home plate umpire Bill Speck.

"He told me to relax because I had a game to play tomorrow," Dominguez said.

After the final out, U of L coach Dan McDonnell apologized to Missouri coach Tim Jamieson for Dominguez's actions.

"It was a big game and a heated moment, but I was upset at Chris for showing too much emotion," McDonnell said. "Coaches don't like those things to happen, but these are college kids. That shouldn't overshadow the game."

The Courier-Journal report definitely leaves some things out, including an argument between UL coach McDonnell and the umpire, as you'll see from the KC Star version. As the Star reports it, the discussion between the coaches also seems a lot testier, and the whole affair even uglier (and Dominguez more of a jerk):

The stage is set for a spikes-high, blood-and-guts NCAA regional championship final this afternoon, played to the tune of some possible chin music.

That’s what came out of Louisville’s 4-3 victory over Missouri in what a crowd of 3,457 at Taylor Stadium hoped would be a title-clinching celebration for the Tigers.

Here’s what set up today’s winner-take-the-regional game between Missouri and Louisville at Simmons Field at 1 p.m.

Louisville third baseman Chris Dominguez beat the Tigers with a two-run eighth-inning home run deep into Missouri’s left-field bullpen. Then Dominguez, throughout his trot around the bases, verbally taunted the Missouri players. He turned backward. He hopped up and down. He gestured toward a Missouri team straining to stay on the top step of its dugout.

Dominguez said Mizzou catcher Trevor Coleman said something — Dominguez couldn’t remember what — as Dominguez lingered at home plate before starting his trot. Dominguez said he “said some things,” too.

“In the emotion of the game you say some things that you regret,” Dominguez said. “I don’t even remember.”

Home-plate umpire Bill Speck had a stern talk with Louisville coach Dan McDonnell. And McDonnell talked back as the crowd booed. After the game, McDonnell and MU coach Tim Jamieson had some words.

Jamieson wouldn’t disclose what was said.

McDonnell said: “I apologized. I didn’t want that to overshadow the game. He was upset, and emotional. We just left it there. I said I’m sorry for the way that went down there.”

The top of the eighth-inning incident wasn’t even the worst of it.

When Louisville took up its defensive positions for the bottom of the eighth, Dominguez was apparently still on the offensive. Suddenly, the Missouri dugout, located just a short sprint from Dominguez at third base, erupted in a collective roar.

It sounds to me like Dominguez acted like a jerk, McDonnell tried to do the right thing by apologizing, and hopefully cooler heads will prevail and they'll play a great game today.

Louisville has jumped all over Missouri's ace Aaron Crowe in the top of the first inning. the first four hitters all singled to make it 1-0, before a strikeout.

Then CHRIS DOMINGUEZ -- yes, THAT Chris Dominguez -- just hit a grand slam to make it 5-0. Wow. Talk about the one guy Missouri really didn't want to have do that to them. Crowe pitched (IIRC) a complete game on Friday, and it sure seems like he has nothing this afternoon.

Cates just singled to drive in another run. 6-0 Louisville, and Crowe is being lifted with two outs. Gotta feel bad for the kid. The crowd is silent.

Louisville loaded the bases again -- an error and an HBP -- and then Burton with a single to drive in two more. Louisville puts up an eight-spot before being retired in the first (it was actually the bottom of the first; Louisville is the "home" team, even though it's in Columbia, and I hadn't realized I missed the top of the first).

8-0 Louisville going to the second.

"Then CHRIS DOMINGUEZ -- yes, THAT Chris Dominguez -- just hit a grand slam to make it 5-0"

He then proceeded to ride around the bases on a unicycle whie juggling five baseballs.

So this kid throws a CG on Friday and comes back to start a game on Monday after two days rest. Hard to believe he doesn't have his best stuff, huh? Poor kid.

Meade is doing is best to make it a game. With one out in the second, he gave up three consecutive singles to load the bases, and then hit Kyle Mach. That made it 8-1, and Coach McDonnell had seen enough (Meade pitched three innings on Saturday). New pitcher in for Louisville, Belanger.

Ugly. Missouri has come back to make it 8-5, and now Priday is up as the tying run with two outs. Belanger threw four innings yesterday; I think McDonnell was just hoping to get two outs from him to get out of the second, but he didn't. He got only one.

Texas is done. UC-Irvine wins the Round Rock regional. That's the fourth national seed to go down prior to the super-regionals...

Logsdon manages to retire the massively dangerous Priday to end the inning (whew). I make the over-under on total runs for this game 35. I'm just glad Louisville has the last turn at bat . . . .

20 runs may be enough to win that Louisville-Missouri game...maybe.

Western Carolina is leading North Carolina 5-4 in the 8th. WCU has to beat UNC twice today to advance.

Louisville scored in the bottom of the second to make it 9-5 (Dominguez doubled and scored the run).

Now in the top of the 3rd, some ugliness. Missouri's Aaron Senne grounded into a DP and apparently went out of his way to spike Louisville 1B Dan Burton, and Coach McDonnell wants him ejected. The umps apparently went into the Missouri dugout to warn Senne and the Tigers, but that didn't satisfy McDonnell. He finally let it go, though.

9-5 Louisville, going to the bottom of the third.

I gather there isn't much chance of Louisville and Missouri scheduling a regular season matchup next year...

The WCU-UNC game moves to the ninth, with the Catamounts still leading 5-4.

Oregon State leads Rutgers 3-2 in the 6th. The winner then has to beat UVA twice.

Clemson-Coastal Carolina is just underway.

The scoring pace has cooled in Columbia. There have now been three consecutive half-innings with no runs! Still 9-5 Cards, now going to the bottom of the 4th. Howes, Castillo, and the ever-entertaining Dominguez due up for Louisville.

UNC scores twice in the ninth with two outs - now up 6-5 on WCU, with runners on the corners.

Dominguez just hit ANOTHER home run, this one a three-run shot. 12-5 Louisville. Cates then tripled with two outs, prompting a pitching change for Missouri.

God, they must hate Dominguez in Columbia with a nova-like intensity. Two homers today, 7 RBIs after what happened last night. Ouch.

Two out, tie run on second for the Catamounts - A-A 2B Kenny Smith (.391 20 84) batting versus A-A reliever Carignan (1.54 ERA, 13 SV)...

Smith k's looking ... UNC moves on.

Castillo just hit a 3-run HR for Louisville in the 5th -- 15-5 Cards. Dominguez up, and probably in mortal danger . . . .

I should be able to stream the Clemson/Coastal Carolina game from somewhere, right?

I should be able to stream the Clemson/Coastal Carolina game from somewhere, right?

Don't know -- the Louisville/Missouri game is being broadcast on a station here, and I'm streaming it from the UL web site. I assume you can start at the Clemson athletics web site?

UL with a 16-6 lead going to the bottom of the 6th.

I thought CSTV was streaming most of the games (though I don't see that one), but you are right my thick skull should have sent me to the Clemson site. I'll try there.

Uh-oh. Boomer Whiting (UL center fielder) just got hit in the back with a pitch, and a Missouri pitcher on the bench got thrown out. Not sure what the guy did/said to get tossed, but it couldn't have been good and it indicates these last three innings could get really bad if the umpires aren't careful (and maybe no matter what they do . . . .).

Six outs away. Kyle Hollander (who's pitched in four of Louisville's five games this weekend) gave up two hits to lead off the top of the seventh, then struck out the next three hitters, including Jacob Priday. Still 16-6, going to the bottom of the 7th.

Three outs away. A 1-2-3 inning for Andrew Salgueiro, including two K's. Unreal.

Single, single, single. Maybe Magnuson wants to 5th year FA status after all, huh?

Tyler Magnuson made it interesting. The Tigers loaded the bases to start the 9th, before he retired the next three batters in order, without allowing a run to score. The game ended on a comebacker, 1-3, and Louisville wins the Columbia regional, 16-6.

Louisville v. Oklahoma St. for a place in Omaha!!! Wow. What a story.

Chris Dominguez gets the MVP of the Columbia Regional . . . ironic, and met with some boos, but what a performance. Hopefully, the kid (and he is a redshirt freshman, after all) learned something from how he acted last night and grew up a little bit.

Wow. What a day, again. I had the day game in Durham to do, against Louisville, and I was sitting right near the Bats' radio broadcaster. When he told me the score I didn't believe it at first.

Charlotte has a 1-0 lead over South Carolina, Gamecocks batting B3; they are in yet another rain delay in Columbia, expecting to resume in about 20 minutes. I'm guessing this will push the "if" game back to tomorrow if the 49ers win. UVA and Oregon State are scoreless through 4, after the Beavers eliminated Rutgers earlier.

-- MWE

Could yet another top seed be going down - this one the biggest one of all?

Michigan leads Vandy 3-1 in the bottom of the fifth.

Oregon State has closed to 3-2 on a HR by Chris Hopkins, and has runners at second and third with one out in the top of the 8th.

-- MWE

Buster Olney is shitting his pants right now.

Man, after shutting out Jacksonville easily in game one Carolina's two other victories were 9th inning comebacks. Second day in a row a reliever didnt throw strikes against them. Grr, I was praying for the Western upset today. They got some great ball players though, Horton hit a bullet to bring the key runs in. Gotta feel bad for Smith K'ing looking to end an amazing season (.396, 20 HR) and a great career. Second year in a row his year has ended in the Chapel Hill regional.

And Newsflash: Carolina fans still classless...ok some of them anyway

"Chris Dominguez gets the MVP of the Columbia Regional . . . ironic, and met with some boos, but what a performance. Hopefully, the kid (and he is a redshirt freshman, after all) learned something from how he acted last night and grew up a little bit."

He could have been a first rounder out of a Miami HS in 05, I always wondered why he picked Louisville. I know their old coach, Lelo Prado (now at South Florida), has plenty of Miami connections and must have appealed to the kid but still kind of amazing FSU, Flordia or Miami didnt get him. Especially Miami as they seem to get every good Latin ballplayer in America. He's been inconsistant so far in college but hes got some big juice in the bat and big arm.

"
Six outs away. Kyle Hollander (who's pitched in four of Louisville's five games this weekend) gave up two hits to lead off the top of the seventh, then struck out the next three hitters, including Jacob Priday. Still 16-6, going to the bottom of the 7th."

Man, he's been on fire for Louisville this postseason. What a transfer to get.
He'll face his former team, Oklahoma State, next weekend

Vandy ties it in the eighth.

OSU forces a deciding game tomorrow at noon in Charlottesville, beating Virginia 5-3.

Vandy, on the ropes, comes back to tie Michigan at 3 in the 8th.

South Carolina comes back from 5-2 down to overtake Charlotte on a Phil Disher grand slam, and now leads 7-5 in the 7th.

Tyler Weber puts Wichita State on the board with a solo shot, and the Shockers add 2 more to go up 3-0 on Arizona, game now going to the bottom of the 6th.

-- MWE

Price on in relief of Weathers after Casey walks Kevin Cislo to lead off the 9th. Price threw 130 pitches on Friday; we'll see what he has on 2 days rest.

-- MWE

A lot, obviously. SH, K, K. Going to the bottom of the 9th, tied at 3.

-- MWE

Price strikes out two and keeps the game tied heading into the bottom of the ninth.

Price on in relief of Weathers after Casey walks Kevin Cislo to lead off the 9th. Price threw 130 pitches on Friday; we'll see what he has on 2 days rest.

A lot, obviously. SH, K, K. Going to the bottom of the 9th, tied at 3.

I guess we now know the difference between David Price and Aaron Crowe, eh? (See ## 217-18.)

Home run Michigan!

Heart of the order now up for the Commodores, down one in the 10th (de la Osa, Alvarez, Flaherty).

WOLVERINES!!!

What an upset!

Well, it means the Vandy players will be coming up here to the Cape on time. Hehe.

So the super regional match-ups as of now:

Michigan v. Virginia/Oregon St.
UCLA v. Cal St. Fullerton
Arizona St. v. Ole Miss
Cal Irvine v. Wichita St./Arizona (Wichita is up 3-0 in the 9th)
Rice v. Texas A&M;Louisville v. Oklahoma St.
Mississippi St. v. Clemson
S. Carolina v. N. Carolina

I think that's right . . . .

That means only three of the national seeds are still in the tournament: #2 Rice, #3 North Carolina, and #5 Arizona State.

Texas A&M;finished off Lousiana-Lafayette 5-2 and Wichita State just beat Arizona to win that regional.

If UVA wins tomorrow it will host Michigan in a super-regional; if Oregon State wins, Michigan will host.

Of the 15 regions that have been decided, there are:

7 # 1s (Rice, UNC, Ariz. St., Mississippi, Wichita, S. Carolina, Texas A&M;)

6 # 2s (Michigan, UCLA, Fullerton, Cal Irvine, Clemson, Mississippi St.,

2 # 3s (Oklahoma St, Louisville)

So actually, the # 1 seeds who were NOT the national seeds did better (4 won) than the national seeds did. Go figure.

Well, as it turns out both Mike E. and I were wrong to believe it was almost certain the Oklahoma St./Louisville super regional would be in Stillwater. It is going to be here in Louisville -- which is excellent, but would be even more so if I weren't going to be out of town. The sites:

June 8-9-10

Texas A&M;at Rice
Oklahoma St. at Louisville
Clemson at Mississippi St.
S. Carolina at N. Carolina

June 9-10-11

Michigan at Oregon St./Virginia
UCLA at Cal St. Fullerton
Ole Miss at Arizona St.
UC Irvine at Wichita St.

Not only am I surprised that Louisville is at home, but I'm even more surprised Michigan (a # 2 seed) would have to play at Oregon St. (a # 3) if they win today.

Yeah, Michigan is getting jobbed. They knocked off the No. 1 national seed for Christ's sake.

Well, I'm pretty sure Michigan's field doesn't even have lights. I could be wrong, they were trying to get them recently I know, but if they still don't thats why right there

I don't know about lights, per se - but I know Fisher Stadium has a bad rep and that a remodeling project is in the works...

Der-K..
check your BTF email please

Can't check my BTF mail from where I am, but I've sent you an alternate address...

Oregon State is beating UVA in the 8th (7-3, I think).

OSU won.

OSU 7, UVA 3. The Beavers shut down the Cavaliers after a 3-run second, holding UVA to just four hits, and Jason Ogata's 4-RBI day provided much of the offense. Virginia had only one real scoring threat after the second, loading the bases with one out in the 7th, but junior lefty Joe Paterson, who was OSU's #2 starter this year and who won the regional opener on Friday, got Beau Seabury to ground into a 6-4-3 DP and that was all she wrote for the Cavs.

-- MWE

Oh yeah:

Paterson was the winning pitcher in the victory over the Cavaliers yesterday, too.

Both teams were pretty much out of options on the mound today. Virginia started closer Casey Lambert, who had thrown 6 2/3 innings in the Cavs' 13-inning win over the Beavers on Saturday. OSU started ace Mike Stutes, also coming off a 6 1/3 inning effort on Saturday. Neither was sharp, but the difference was that Stutes managed to get the game to the rest of the pen, and Lambert didn't.

'Twill be interesting to see how the teams that went deep into their staffs this weekend will be able to recover.

-- MWE

Oregon State has two or three huge right-handed relievers who look like the Incredible Hulk, but throw sidearm. It's kinda weird to see.

I threw this in the Draft thread but I guess its more appropriate here....

Since the draft will be going from Thursday til Friday (and maybe even Sat), instead of the usual Tuesday-Wednesday, instead of players starting superregional play fresh off of being drafted some players could be drafted at the exact moment they are on the mound or at the plate.

It'd be kind of cool to imagine a player learning of his draft status by a PA announcer going, "Now batting, the second baseman...Tyyylerrr Maaach. Who, about 3 minutes ago, was made the 12th round pick of the Toronto Blue Jays"

I don't expect that to happen of course though, it'd be better on the kids to let them know after the game, but its a fun idea to think of.

Schedules have been determined for the Super Regionals. I'm annoyed, but not surprised, that all three games in Chapel Hill are at night, as I was hoping to be able to go to the Friday game had it been in the afternoon.

-- MWE

I made it out to UCLA/Cal State Fullerton yesterday afternoon.

It was awful, of course; Tyson Brummett had nothing. Wes Roemer looked solid, but didn't really blow me away. He did improve as he went along, getting most of his strikeouts late. LHB hit the ball pretty well off of him (7-for-17, with a couple of the outs hit pretty hard), and with his arm angle (just notch above sidearm, maybe at 9:30 or 9:45 from the home plate perspective) I think that trouble may continue at the next level. He does have a change to try to neutralize that, and good command, so who knows.

And while most of the Fullerton fans were completely benign, a vocal handful seemed to have made it their personal mission to make U$C fans look classy. They behaved as though they were just entitled to everything, and tossed out silly, stupid rags at the Bruin players that I had thought went out of fashion in the 10th grade. What is particularly odd is that their website claims "Profanity or any remarks or actions referring to a participant's name, number, heritage, body parts or sexual orientation will not be tolerated and are grounds for removal from these facilities</a>, which strikes me as a stupid rule, but I guess it doesn't matter as that policy was unenforced with extreme prejudice with respect to the name/number provision (I didn't hear anything remotely resembling the heritage/body part/orientation bit, which did put them one step above Trojan women's water polo fans).

Anyway, I always kinda rooted for Fullerton when I had no one else to cheer for, but I doubt I'll ever do that again.

That reversed call in the Wichita St/Cal-Irvine game that eventually let WSU tie it was shocking. Imagine if Denkinger called Jorge Orta out, only for the HP ump (Jim Quick, I looked it up) to overrule the call because Dick Howser thought Orta was safe. Thankfully Irvine was able to conjure up a run in the bottom of the 9th to win.