College Baseball Update

Arkansas scores two runs in the top of the 9th to take a 5-3 lead.  In the bottom of the 9th, LSU has runners on first and second with one out.  The LSU batter hits what appears to be a game-ending double play, but the Arkansas shortstop throws to third for the force out there.  That was strange, but Arkansas still leads 5-3 with two outs and runners on first and second.

The next batter is LSU catcher Luis Hernandez, who rips a liner to left.  But it's staying up and it should end the game.  Unfortunately for Arkansas, the left fielder has completely misread the ball.  He started back, then dodged in and tripped.  The ball bounces off of his glove and bounds away.  Two runs score and the game is TIED at 5-all.  The LSU fans are in ecstasies.  Arkansas (which is 0-5 against LSU in Omaha) looks stunned.  The batter ends up at second.

The next LSU batter is first baseman Jared Jones, who homered in the bottom of the 8th to tie the game at three.  The ESPN announcers unanimously want to walk Jones.  First base is open and a hit will end Arkansas' season.  The Razorbacks do not walk Jones.  At first, it appears that they are just going to throw him sliders out of the strike zone -- and the announcers, who are now quite worried about the mental state of the Arkansas fans -- can live with that.  But eventually, a pitch gets into the strike zone -- and Jones rips a liner toward center field.  A Razorback infielder is perfectly positioned, and he leaps up to make the catch -- but the ball tips off the very top of his glove and bounds into the outfield.  Hernandez trots home.  Arkansas, who could have ended the game with a double play -- and could have ended it again merely by catching a line drive that was hit straight at the left fielder -- is suddenly ELIMINATED.

The raw suffering of the Arkansas players and fans is so painful to watch on television that the announcers can't really celebrate LSU's comeback.  Instead, they reflect on how Arkansas managed to blow a two-run lead -- and the season -- in such a disastrous manner.

We all love sports, but sometimes they really hurt.  Arkansas will be back -- Arkansas always comes back.  But this game will leave a mark.

Meanwhile, LSU will play Coastal for the National Championship.

College Baseball Update

BRACKET ONE:

(13) Coastal Carolina 7, Arizona 4

(8) Oregon St. 4, Louisville 3

Louisville 8, Arizona 3 (Arizona eliminated)

(13) Coastal Carolina 6, (8) Oregon St. 2

Louisville 7, (8) Oregon St. 6 (Oregon St. eliminated)

BRACKET TWO:

(15) U.C.L.A. 6, Murray St. 4

(6) Louisiana St. 4, (3) Arkansas 1

(3) Arkansas 3, Murray St. 0 (Murray St. eliminated)

(6) Louisiana St. 9, (15) U.C.L.A. 5

Tomorrow Louisville will play Coastal -- the Cardinals have to beat Coastal twice before the Chanticleers beat them once.

Tonight Arkansas will play U.C.L.A. in an elimination game.

College Baseball Update

We're six games into the College World Series, and so far it looks like this:

BRACKET ONE:

(13) Coastal Carolina 7, Arizona 4

(8) Oregon St. 4, Louisville 3

Louisville 8, Arizona 3 (Arizona eliminated)

(13) Coastal Carolina 6, (8) Oregon St. 2

BRACKET TWO:

(15) U.C.L.A. 6, Murray St. 4

(6) Louisiana St. 4, (3) Arkansas 1

Murray survived an elimination game in the Regionals at Ole Miss, and survived two elimination games in the Super Regionals at Duke.  Now they have a very tough matchup this afternoon against an excellent Arkansas team.  Meanwhile, LSU and UCLA have a huge game tonight featuring two of the teams that have looked the best in the tournament so far.

More on the Super Regionals

Seven of the eight Super Regionals have been decided.  Here's where it stands:

LOUISVILLE SUPER REGIONAL:

Louisville 8, Miami (Fla.) 1

Miami (Fla.) 9, Louisville 6

Louisville 3, Miami (Fla.) 2

Louisville advances to the College World Series for the sixth time overall, and the first time since 2019.  The Cardinals have never won the title.

LOS ANGELES SUPER REGIONAL:

(15) U.C.L.A. 5, Tex-San Antonio 2

(15) U.C.L.A. 7, Tex-San Antonio 0

U.C.L.A. advances to the College World Series for the seventh time overall, and for the first time since 2013, the only time the Bruins won the title.

FAYETTEVILLE SUPER REGIONAL:

(3) Arkansas 4, (14) Tennessee 3

(3) Arkansas 11, (14) Tennessee 4

Arkansas advances to the College World Series for the 12th time overall, and for the first time since 2022.  The Razorbacks finished second in 1979 and 2018 -- 2018 was a real heartbreaker -- but they have never won the title.

AUBURN SUPER REGIONAL:

(13) Coastal Carolina 7, (4) Auburn 6 (10 innings)

(13) Coastal Carolina 4, (4) Auburn 1

Another SEC Team bites the dust.  Coastal Carolina advances to the College World Series for the second time overall, and for the first time since they won it all in 2016.

CHAPEL HILL SUPER REGIONAL:

(5) N. Carolina 18, Arizona 2

Arizona 10, (5) N. Carolina 8

Arizona 4, (5) N. Carolina 3

A hugely satisfying result in Chapel Hill.  Arkansas is the only top five seed left in the tournament.  Arizona advances to the College World Series for the 19th time overall, and the first time since 2021.  The Wildcats won the title in 1976, 1980, 1986, and 2012.

BATON ROUGE SUPER REGIONAL:

(6) Louisiana St. 16, W. Virginia 9

(6) Louisiana St. 12, W. Virginia 5

L.S.U. is the only member of the Classic S.E.C. to reach this year's College World Series.  L.S.U. advances to the College World Series for the 20th time overall, and the first time since 2023.  The Tigers won the title in 1991, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2009, and 2023.

DURHAM SUPER REGIONAL:

Duke 7, Murray St. 4

Murray St. 19, Duke 9

Game Three in the Durham Super Regional is scheduled for 6 P.M. Central today.  This game will be on ESPN, and will probably be the most high-profile game any sports team at Murray State has ever played.

CORVALLIS SUPER REGIONAL:

(8) Oregon St. 5, (9) Florida St. 4 (10 innings)

(9) Florida St. 3, (8) Oregon St. 1

(8) Oregon St. 14, (9) Florida St. 10

Another satisfying result.  With UNC, Texas, and FSU all eliminated before the CWS, I can really enjoy the competition.  Oregon St. advances to the College World Series for the eighth time overall, and the first time since 2018.  The Beavers won the title in 2006, 2007, and 2018.

Super Regionals

Here's where the Super Regionals stand in NCAA College Baseball:

LOUISVILLE SUPER REGIONAL:

Louisville 8, Miami (Fla.) 1

Miami (Fla.) 9, Louisville 6

Game Three at 11 AM Central tomorrow.

LOS ANGELES SUPER REGIONAL:

(15) U.C.L.A. and Tex-San Antonio play Game One at 6 P.M. Central tonight.

FAYETTEVILLE SUPER REGIONAL:

(3) Arkansas leads (14) Tennessee 4-2 in the seventh inning of the first game.

AUBURN SUPER REGIONAL:

(13) Coastal Carolina 7, (4) Auburn 6 (10 innings)

(13) Coastal Carolina 4, (4) Auburn 1 (Auburn eliminated)

CHAPEL HILL SUPER REGIONAL:

(5) N. Carolina 18, Arizona 2

Arizona 10, (5) N. Carolina 8

Game Three at 11 A.M. Central tomorrow

BATON ROUGE SUPER REGIONAL:

(6) Louisiana St. 16, W. Virginia 9

Game Two at 5 P.M. Central tomorrow

DURHAM SUPER REGIONAL:

Duke 7, Murray St. 4

Game Two at 11 A.M. Central tomorrow

CORVALLIS SUPER REGIONAL:

(8) Oregon St. 5, (9) Florida St. 4 (10 innings)

Game Two at 8 P.M. Central tonight

The Oxford Regional

Each season, the NCAA Baseball Tournament begins with 16 Regional Tournaments, each of which is hosted by one of the top 16 seeds in the field.  This year, Ole Miss -- the overall number 10 seed -- hosted a regional at Swayze Field in Oxford, Mississippi.  Swayze Field is very large by college baseball standards -- it can hold over 12,000 people, and the Ole Miss folks really cram the fans in there for big tournament games.  When Swayze Field is packed, and the bleacher fans are showering themselves with beer, Coke, and other drinks after every home run, it is one of the most intimidating places in college baseball.

And this year's Ole Miss team was quite good.  They went 40-19 in the regular season, and reached the final of the SEC Tournament.  Last weekend, they were the number 1 seed at home, and they were hosting the following teams:

Georgia Tech (40-17), the number 2 seed.

W. Kentucky (46-12), the number 3 seed and champion of Conference USA.

Murray St. (39-13), the number 4 seed and champion of the Missouri Valley Conference.

Together, these four teams played a double elimination tournament for the ages.

Game One:  The tournament opened on Friday afternoon with a pretty easy win for Georgia Tech, who beat W. Kentucky 9 to 2.  No drama so far.

Game Two:  On Friday night, in front of a packed stadium, Murray State jumped out to an early 4-0 lead with two runs in the top of the 1st and two more in the top of the 2d.  But Ole Miss fought back with three runs in the 3d and two more in the 4th to take a 5-4 lead.  Just as the Ole Miss fans started to think they had the situation under control, Murray added one run in the 5th and another in the 6th to take a 6-5 lead.  But then Ole Miss responded with another run in the bottom of the 7th to tie things at 6.  However, Murray still wasn't finished.  The Racers took the lead in the top of the 8th with a two-out single, and added two more in the 9th with a two-out, bases loaded double from right fielder Dustin Mercer.  (Mercer was 4-5 with four doubles in this game).  Down 9-6 going into the bottom of the 9th, Ole Miss tried to rally.  A single and a double put Rebels on second and third with one out.  The next batter struck out, but the next was hit by a pitch to load the bases.  With the crowd going nuts, the next Rebel batter popped up, and Murray had a stirring 9-6 win.

Game Three:  On Saturday afternoon, Ole Miss took out its frustration on Western.  The Rebels led 8-3 after 6 1/2 innings, and held on for an 8-6 win.  That eliminated the Hilltoppers.

Game Four:  On Saturday night, with the Ole Miss fans mostly at home, Murray and Georgia Tech played another game for the ages.  Tech opened with three runs in the top of the first, but Murray responded with five runs in the bottom of the first.  The Racers then tacked on five more runs in the bottom of the fourth, and suddenly they led 10-3.  Amazingly, however, Tech then responded with SEVEN runs in the top of the fifth to tie the game at 10.  At this point, I assumed Murray was out of pitching.  But I was wrong.  Neither team scored in the sixth, but Murray took a 12-10 lead in the bottom of the 7th.  Tech responded with a run in the top of the 8th to make the score 12-11, but a Racer home run made the score 13-11 going into the 9th.  The Racers retired the first two Yellowjackets in the 9th, but Tech then got a walk and a double to leave the tying runners on second and third with two out.   However, Murray State struck out the last Tech batter to wrap up a stirring 13-11 victory and put themselves in the regional final.

Game Five:  On Sunday afternoon, Tech and Ole Miss met in an elimination game.  Amazingly, Tech again opened with three runs in the top of the first -- and again yielded five runs in the bottom of the first.  Tech rebounded, however, and led 8-6 after four.  From this point on, however, the Ole Miss pitching staff rallied, and Tech could get only one more run.  Meanwhile, the Rebels got two in the 5th, one in the 6th, one in the 7th, and one in the 8th for an 11-9 win that finally eliminated the Yellow Jackets.

Game Six:  So now Ole Miss had to beat Murray twice in two days to win the region, while the Racers only had to win once.  The Rebels got off to a good start on Sunday night.  They were up 15-6 after four innings, and they romped home with a 19-8 win.  In three games, Murray State's pitchers had allowed 36 runs.  But if the Racers could win Monday night's winner-take all final, they could still survive.

Game Seven:  And so, on Monday night, the Rebels and the Racers met for the third time in four days.  I don't think anyone who was there will forget it.  Murray led 5-0 after 2 1/2 innings, but the Rebels responded with one run in the bottom of the 3d and two more in the bottom of the fourth.  Leading 5-3 after 4, Murray exploded -- the Racers put up four runs in the 5th, one more in the 6th, and two more in the 7th.  Amazingly, the Racers now led 12-3 -- and they only needed nine outs to win the region.  Unfortunately, they were almost out of pitching.  Ole Miss scored five runs in the bottom of the 7th to make the score 12-8.  And the Rebels whacked a three-run homer in the 8th to make the score 12-11.  Ole Miss wasn't done.  The next two batters singled, and the Rebels suddenly had the lead run on base.  But somehow, Graham Kelham -- the same pitcher who had already given up six hits (including a three-run homer) -- struck out the next two Rebels to end the inning.  Murray couldn't do anything in the 9th, and Kelham had to defend that one-run lead in the bottom of the 9th.  He struck out the first two batters -- that's four strikeouts in a row.  And finally, the last batter flew out to center, and Murray had one of the greatest wins in its history:  12 to 11, and Regional Champs.

Murray State has had many great basketball team, but the Racers has never reached the round of 16 in the NCAA men's basketball tournament.  This year's baseball team, however, is one of the last 16 still playing.  The Racers are on their way to Durham, North Carolina, to face the Duke Blue Devils.  The Dukies pulled an upset of their own, beating Georgia on the Bulldogs' home field, and the Devils will be tough to beat at home.  But if Murray State can win two of three in Durham, they will go to Omaha for the College World Series.  How about that?

The Regionals were full of drama, and we can't do justice to them.  But here you can see the Super Regional matchups -- home teams listed first.  Each series is best two out of three.  The figures in parentheses represent the national seeds who are left:

BRACKET ONE:

Louisville v. Miami (Fla.)

(8) Oregon St. v. (9) Florida St.

(5) N. Carolina v. Arizona

(4) Auburn v. (13) Coastal Carolina

BRACKET TWO:

(15) U.C.L.A. v. Tex-San Antonio

Duke v. Murray St.

(6) Louisiana St. v. W. Virginia

(3) Arkansas v. (14) Tennessee

Tennessee Royalty

 In case you wondered who calls the tune in Big Orange Country, the following men are all seated in the same box in Omaha for the last game of the College World Series:  Rick Barnes, Peyton Manning, Josh Heupel, and Morgan Wallen.

College World Series Final: Game Two

Texas A & M beat Tennessee 9 to 5 in three hours and 50 minutes last night, but now the Aggies and the Vols are already back at it for Game Two.  Today the Aggies are the home team:  white uniforms with maroon pinstripes, the word "Aggies" in maroon script on the jersey, and maroon numerals.  UT has black hats (with orange logo), black shirts with VOLS in orange block print and orange numerals, and gray pants.  The Aggies look great, and I just don't like these Tennessee uniforms.

It is 86 degrees and clear in Omaha, and we have a huge crowd on what could be the last day of the CWS.  We'll be watching this one on ABC.

College World Series Final

Tonight, Tennessee and Texas A & M begin the last championship of the 2023-24 season, as they will play best two out of three for the NCAA Baseball Championship.  The game starts at 6:30 PM Central.

College World Series

Since weather prevented UK and Florida from playing their elimination game last night, today will see a triple-header in Omaha:

Game 10:  (2) Kentucky v. Florida, 10 A.M. Central (ESPN)

Game 11:  (8) Florida St. v. (1) Tennessee, 2 P.M. Central (ESPN)

Game 12:  Winner of Game 10 v. (3) Texas A & M, 6 P.M. Central (ESPN)

College World Series

With (an excellent) U.S. Open and (a really boring) NBA Finals out of the way, we can turn our attention to the last champion of the 2023-24 sports year:  the College World Series.  So far, it has been a thriller:

BRACKET ONE:

(4) N. Carolina 3 - 2 (12) Virginia

(1) Tennessee 12 - 11 (8) Florida St.

(8) Florida St. 7 - 3 (12) Virginia (Virginia eliminated)

(1) Tennessee 6 - 1 (4) N. Carolina

BRACKET TWO:

(2) Kentucky 5 - 4 (10) N. Carolina St. (10 innings)

(3) Texas A & M 3 - 2 Florida

Florida 5 - 4 (10) N. Carolina St. (N. Carolina St. eliminated)

(2) Kentucky 1 - 5 (3) Texas A & M

So Tennessee and Texas A & M are in the drivers' seats.  They get to take the day off and enjoy two elimination games.  I am very confident that the winner will be Tennessee, A & M, or UNC, but I don't know which of them it will be.

Golf, Baseball, and other stuff

Unless you count the Olympics, this is the last big sports weekend until September.  We have the U.S. Open in golf, we have the College World Series starting off in Omaha, and we have what may be the last of the NBA Finals.  We're going to mainly focus on the golf, with some cut-ins regarding the other events.

NBC's coverage of the U.S. Open doesn't start until noon Central, but here is the current leaderboard at Pinehurst No. 2:

1.  P. Cantlay:  -5 (18 holes)

T2.  R. McIlroy (NIR):  -4 (33)

T2.  T. Detry (BEL):  -4 (29)

T2.  L. Aberg (SWE):  -4 (18)

T5.  B. DeChambeau:  -3 (33)

T5.  M. Pavon (FRA):  -3 (18)

T7.  T. Pendrith (CAN):  -2 (30)

T7.  T. Finau:  -2 (18)

And then there's a nine-way tie at 1 under.

Scottie Scheffler is out of it, by the way.  He's 5 over through 33 holes, and at real risk of missing the cut.  It's a very poor performance from Scheffler, who shot an OK 71 yesterday, but who is 4 over through 15 holes today.

Xander Schauffele is 1 under for the day and 1 under for the tournament through 33 holes.

Wyndham Clark is probably out of it.  He's 1 over through 32 holes.  Jordan Spieth is 1 over through 31 holes, and I don't suppose we'll see much of him on the weekend either.

College Baseball Update

The seeded teams continue to do very well in the NCAA Baseball Tournament.  Only two of the Super Regionals went the full three games, only two were won by the visiting team, and only one unseeded team has reached the College World Series.  That team -- Florida -- reached the title series last year, so it's not exactly a shocker.  Here were the results from the Supers (home teams listed first):

(1) Tennessee 2 - 1 Evansville

(8) Florida St. 2 - 0 Connecticut

(12) Virginia 2 - 0 Kansas St.

(4) N. Carolina 2 - 0 W. Virginia

(2) Kentucky 2 - 0 (15) Oregon St.

(7) Georgia 1 - 2 (10) N. Carolina St.

(6) Clemson 0 - 2 Florida

(3) Texas A & M 2 - 0 Oregon

Classic SEC:  3 (Tennessee, Kentucky, Florida)

Classic ACC:  3 (N. Carolina, N. Carolina St., Virginia)

Classic Southwest:  1 (Texas A & M)

Classic Independent:  1 (Florida St.)

Congratulations to Kentucky, which reached the College World Series for the first time.  The Cats were the only team from the SEC (either the Classic or the Current Versions) that had never reached the CWS. Just a great, great year for the Cats.

So we will now have two double-elimination tournaments to decide who meets for the final.  Here are the first games in Bracket A:

(1) Tennessee v. (8) Florida St.

(4) N. Carolina v. (12) Virginia

And here are the openers in Bracket B:

(2) Kentucky v. (10) N. Carolina St.

(3) Texas A & M v. Florida

With this many strong teams making it to Omaha, the CWS should be very entertaining.  And we still have a chance that the last event featuring teams from the old SEC will come down to a final series between Kentucky and Tennessee.  That would be amazing.

College Baseball Super Regionals

The Super Regionals are set (national seed in parentheses):

Knoxville:  (1) Tennessee v. Evansville

Tallahassee: (8) Florida St. v. Connecticut

Charlottesville:  (12) Virginia v. Kansas St.

Chapel Hill:  (4) N. Carolina v. W. Virginia

Lexington:  (2) Kentucky v. (15) Oregon St.

Athens:  (7) Georgia v. (10) N. Carolina St.

Clemson:  (6) Clemson v. Florida

College Station:  (3) Texas A & M v. Oregon

Classic SEC (4):  Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Florida

Classic ACC (4):  N. Carolina, Clemson, N. Carolina St., Virginia

Classic Pac-10 (2):  Oregon, Oregon St.

Classic Southwest (1):  Texas A & M

Classic Big 8 (1):  Kansas St.

Classic Big East (1):  Connecticut

Others (3):  Florida St., W. Virginia, Evansville

College Baseball Regionals

It's been a good year for chalk in the NCAA Baseball Tournament so far.  Most of the Regionals are already wrapped up, and we will only have four or five Game Sevens.  Here's where the tournament stands (national seeds in parentheses):

Knoxville Super Regional:  (1) Tennessee v. (16) E. Carolina or Evansville

Tallahassee Super Regional:  (8) Florida St. v. (9) Oklahoma or Connecticut

Charlottesville Super Regional:  (12) Virginia v. Kansas St.

Super Regional Four:  (4) N. Carolina or Louisiana St. v. W. Virginia

Lexington Super Regional:  (2) Kentucky v. (15) Oregon St. or Cal-Irvine

Athens Super Regional:  (7) Georgia v. (10) N. Carolina St.

Clemson Super Regional:  (6) Clemson v. (11) Oklahoma St. or Florida

College Station Super Regional:  (3) Texas A & M v. Oregon

Super Regional Four will be played either Chapel Hill, N.C. or Baton Rouge, La., depending on who wins their game today.

College Baseball Tournament

Regionals are still going on, and no one has yet qualified for the Super Regionals, but we should have some teams qualify tonight.  Kentucky can win their Region if they can beat Indiana State tonight, but that game has been delayed by rain.

College Baseball and the U.S. Women's Open

It's unusual to have the Opening Weekend of the NCAA Baseball Tournament and the U.S. Women's Open going on at the same time, but here we are.  In the baseball, Kentucky leads Western Michigan 3-0 in the bottom of the 3d before a packed house in Lexington.  Would be nice to see the Cats advance in an NCAA Tournament for a change.

Here is the current top 10 at the U.S. Women's Open:

T1.  Minjee Lee (AUS):  -1 (34 holes)

T1.  Yuka Saso (JPN):  -1 (33)

T1.  Andrea Lee:  -1 (18)

T1.  Wichanee Meechai (THA):  -1 (18)

T1.  Miss Adela Cernousek (am) (FRA):  -1 (18)

T6.  Jin Kee Im (KOR):  Even (33)

T6.  Yui Kawamoto (JPN):  Even (20)

T6.  Sei Young Kim (KOR):  Even (18)

T6.  Miss Megan Schofill (am):  Even (18)

T6.  Chisato Iwai (JPN):  Even (18)

T6.  Alexandra Forsterling (GER):  Even (18)

Miss Asterisk Talley, the 15-year-old amateur from California, is in the clubhouse with a score of 70+71 = 141 (plus 1).  I think that score will look really good at the end of the day.

College Baseball Month

For the next month, we'll be doing a fair amount of college baseball coverage.  The SEC Tournament is underway in Hoover, Alabama.  The double-elimination games start today with the following matchups (all times Central) (Baseball America rankings in parentheses):

9:30 A.M.  (2) Kentucky v. Louisiana St.

30 minutes after the first game:  (5) Arkansas v. S. Carolina

4:30 P.M.:  (1) Tennessee v. Vanderbilt

30 minutes after the third game:  (4) Texas A & M v. (14) Mississippi St.

So far, Kentucky trails 11-0 in the bottom of the 8th, as LSU has already hit two grand slams.  Not a great start for the Number-2 team in the nation.

College Baseball Update

As of today, Baseball America has Tennessee (42-10) ranked number one, with Kentucky (37-11) ranked number two.  Before today, I do not remember Tennessee and Kentucky ever being ranked one and two in any sport in history.

College Baseball Update

TD Ameritrade Park has been renamed Charles Schwab Field, but it's still not a very easy place to score runs.  So far, the games in this year's College World Series have been tight and low-scoring, and the traditional huge crowds in Omaha -- they tend to get about 24,000 fans per game -- are really being entertained.  Here's where it stands (check out all the one-run games):

BRACKET ONE:

06/16/2023:  Oral Roberts 6, Texas Christian 5

06/16/2023:  (2) Florida 6, (7) Virginia 5

06/18/2023:  Texas Christian 4, (7) Virginia 3 (Virginia eliminated)

06/18/2023:  (2) Florida 5, Oral Roberts 3

BRACKET TWO:

06/17/2023:  (1) Wake Forest 3, (8) Stanford 2

06/17/2023:  (5) Louisiana St. 6, Tennessee 3

06/19/2023:  Tennessee 6, (8) Stanford 4 (Stanford eliminated)

06/19/2023:  (1) Wake Forest 3, (5) Louisiana St. 2

Tonight's game -- between Wake Forest and LSU -- was an instant classic.  With a huge crowd roaring on almost every pitch, LSU scraped out an early 2-0 lead, in part because the Wake Forest left fielder lost a line drive in the sun.  But Wake fought back to tie the game a few innings later.  Finally, in the 8th, LSU had runners on the corners with no one out.  The next batter hit a slow grounder to third, and the third baseman fielded it and cut down the LSU runner at the plate.  Then Wake brought in their closer, and he got a double play to end the inning.  In the bottom of the 8th, Wake got a double and a single for the game winner, and their closer slammed the door in the 9th.  Great, great stuff.

So tomorrow, we'll get two more elimination games, with Texas Christian facing Oral Roberts and LSU facing Tennessee.  And then the survivors will have to beat Florida or Wake Forest twice in a row, which will not be easy.

We usually get a fair number of upsets in the NCAA Baseball Tournament.  And there have definitely been upsets this year.  But we are still on pace to have the top two seeds meet in the final, and I'm not sure that's ever happened.