We’re through the initial field of 64, through the regional play, and now we’re through the super regionals. Here’s a review of the action from the 6/6/14 weekend and a look at our CWS field of eight for 2014.
From a draft perspective, the super-regionals feature a number of high profile guys, as noted by MLB.com’s Joey Nowalk here. Tyler Beede, Max Pentecost, Brandon Finnegan, UVA’s trio of 1st-2nd rounders (Derek Fisher, Mike Papi and Nick Howard) and Maryland’s ace/2nd rounder Jake Stinnett are all names to watch. Lots of good pitching in this super-regional.
Here’s how the super-regionals went down: we’ll look at these regionals in the original order of the top 8 national seeds. Blue identifies the super-regional winners.
- UC Irvine at #16 Oklahoma State: In Stillwater UC Irvine once again proved doubters wrong, sweeping two games quickly on the road to qualify for Omaha.
- College of Charleston at Texas Tech: Texas Tech squeaked by Charleston 1-0 in the opener despite a stellar performance from local kid Taylor Clarke (8ip, 5 hits, 1 run). Texas Tech won the 2nd game of the regional by the same score; Charleston’s pitching staff gave up 2 runs in 18 innings and lost both games. Texas Tech to Omaha.
- #3 Virginia hosting Maryland: Maryland (behind 2nd round pick Stinnett) shocked UVA in the opener 5-4, putting 5 runs on Virginia’s ace Nathan Kirby and knocking him out in the 5th. Does Maryland have the pitching though to hold off the consensus CWS favorites? Not in the 2nd game; Uva roared back to win 7-3 and force the tiebreaking game. There UVA continued to batter the Maryland pitching staff and advanced to Omaha 11-2.
- Stanford at #13 Vanderbilt: Vanderbilt destroyed Stanford in the opener (they were up 10-0 by the end of the 3rd) but Stanford took game 2 to force a super-regional tie-breaker. In game 3 Vanderbilt jumped all over Stanford’s starter en route to 5 first inning runs and an eventual easy win.
- Kennessaw State at #12 Louisville: Louisville outmatched the upstart Kennessaw State team and won two straight to return to Omaha.
- #6 Louisiana-Lafayette hosting #11 Ole Miss: In game one Louisiana-Lafayette’s offense put 9 runs up in the first 3 innings and held on for a 9-5 win. But Ole Miss fought back to win game 2 and force the tiebreaker. In the deciding game, Ole Miss broke open a close, rainy game with 4 in the ninth to advance 10-4.
- #7 TCU hosting Pepperdine: TCU got 6 decent innings out of its ace (and first round pick) Finnegan and held on for a 3-2 opening win. Pepperdine forced the tiebreaker with its own 3-2 win in game 2. In the decider, TCU won a back-and-forth affair by taking the lead with 2 runs in the top of the 9th and survived a rally to advance.
- Texas hosting Houston: Texas took both games from Houston 4-2 and then 4-0 to qualify for Omaha.
CWS Field: UC Irvine, Vanderbilt, Louisville, and Texas on one side, Texas Tech,Virginia, Ole Miss and TCU on the other.
Interesting field; There’s just 2 national seeds left in this field (and just four overall), the lowest number of advancing seeds in the history of the tournament. Its very much tilted to the lower side, with the two remaining national seeds in one bracket.
Quick predictions: Vanderbilt on one side, UVA on the other with Virginia as national champs. Why not, eh?