Super Regional Takeaways: Florida, TCU Are Omaha Bound

Super regional action overcame some poor weather Saturday to deliver some thrilling baseball. Here’s a rundown of some of the most notable developments.

1. The first tickets to Omaha were punched, as Florida and TCU on Saturday completed home super regional sweeps. The other two super regionals that began Friday—Charlottesville and Eugene—remain to be decided Sunday with a game 3.

Both Florida and TCU got it done on the mound. Florida on Saturday shut out South Carolina and held the Gamecocks to four runs in Friday’s opener. TCU held Indiana State to five runs in the series, including a 6-4 win Saturday.

The end result is that two teams that made it a habit of finishing their season in Omaha in the 2010s are back after relatively extended absences. The Gators made the College World Series seven times from 2010-2018 but haven’t been back since. The Horned Frogs made the CWS five times form 2010-2017 but haven’t returned since.

There will be teams in Omaha who are breaking significantly longer droughts—either Oregon (1954) or Oral Roberts (1976) has to make it—but the work to get those programs back to the sport’s biggest stage shouldn’t be minimized. Gators coach Kevin O’Sullivan has a completely new staff working with him and TCU’s Kirk Saarloos was promoted from pitching coach to head coach following the 2021 season and Jim Schlossnagle’s departure for Texas A&M. Those kinds of transitions aren’t simple, but Florida and TCU have managed to make them look that way.

2. Florida righthander Hurston Waldrep was outstanding Saturday and is on a tear in the NCAA Tournament. Against South Carolina on Saturday, he threw eight scoreless innings, holding the Gamecocks to three hits and two walks while striking out 13. That start powered Florida to a 4-0 win in the clincher of the Gainesville Super Regional.

Throw in Waldrep’s quality start last week in regionals and he’s now struck out 25 batters in 15 innings and held opponents to one run on eight hits and five walks in the NCAA Tournament.

Waldrep’s ability to turn in performances like that has never been in doubt. He last year went 6-2, 3.20 with 140 strikeouts in 90 innings at Southern Miss before transferring to Florida. He was voted a Preseason All-American by MLB scouting departments and is projected to be drafted in the first round. He’s probably pitching his way into the top 10, at this point.

His emergence in the NCAA Tournament as a true shutdown starter has only strengthened Florida’s case as national title contenders. He’s been solid throughout the season but really has found another gear over the last month. In his last four starts, he’s got a 2.49 ERA and has struck out 38 batters and walked eight in 21.2 innings. With righthander Brandon Sproat and lefthander Jac Caglianone also pitching well of late, Florida has a rotation that stacks up with any of the teams remaining—including Wake Forest.

3. Last week, TCU stormed through the Fayetteville Regional on the strength of its offense, scoring 44 runs in three games. This weekend, it was the pitching’s turn. The Horned Frogs held Indiana State to five runs and scored just 10 of their own—less than they scored in any game last weekend.

Indiana State this weekend shut down Brayden Taylor, holding him to 0-for-5 with three walks and four strikeouts. Leadoff hitter Elijah Nunez went 0-for-8 on the weekend. The Frogs came into the weekend ninth in the nation in stolen bases per game (2.24). They went 0-for-2 on Friday and didn’t attempt a steal Saturday against catcher Grant Magill. A week ago, Tre Richardson went wild in Fayetteville, going 9-for-15 with four home runs (three in one game). He went 1-for-7 this weekend.

I don’t highlight all of that to make any greater point about TCU’s offense or the pitching staff it faced this weekend. Instead, I think it says a lot about the Frogs’ ability to beat teams in multiple ways.

The things that last weekend led TCU to victory in Fayetteville weren’t what led the Frogs in Fort Worth. Instead, TCU got production from other areas. Cole Fontenelle, hitting cleanup right behind Taylor, homered and doubled in both games. Austin Davis homered out of the nine-hole Friday night. Kole Klecker (7 IP, 0 R, 9 K) was outstanding Friday night and the bullpen held Indiana State to two runs in 5.2 innings during the series.

That multiplicity is part of the reason TCU has won 11 straight games and is going to Omaha. It’s also going to make it dangerous when it gets there.

4. The Pac-12 would undoubtedly like to wipe Saturday’s ninth innings from its memory. Stanford and Oregon both blew ninth-inning leads and lost.

The Cardinal were up 5-2 on Texas going to the ninth in the opener of the Stanford Super Regional. Closer Ryan Bruno typically struggles with control (31 walks in 32.2 innings coming into super regionals) but gets the job done. On Saturday, he entered the game with two outs in the eighth and issued a four-pitch walk before ending the inning on a strikeout. In the ninth, he loaded the bases with no outs on two walks and a hit batter before Stanford went back to the bullpen.

An outfield miscommunication didn’t help, but all three batters came around to score and Texas tied the game. The Longhorns took the lead on a two-run hit from Porter Brown and they went on to win, 7-5.

Later in the night in Eugene, Oregon took a 7-6 lead against Oral Roberts into the ninth inning. Ducks closer Josh Mollerus got the first out of the inning before two singles and a walk loaded the bases. Justin Quinn lined a ball just inside the left field line for a two-run, walkoff hit and the Golden Eagles won, 8-7. Oregon, which had been two outs away from its first trip to Omaha since 1954, now must play a decisive third game in the series.

5. LSU and Paul Skenes had to wait several hours to take the field due to poor weather, but they made sure the wait was worth it. The Tigers rolled past Kentucky, 14-0, in the Baton Rouge Super Regional opener.

Once it got started, it was a perfect night for LSU. Tre’ Morgan and Tommy White both homered twice, including an absolute moon shot for White. Skenes, making his final start at Alex Box Stadium, threw 7.2 innings, struck out nine batters and scattered four hits and a walk. He improved to 12-2, 1.77 with 188 strikeouts and 18 walks in 107 innings.

Not only did LSU get a blowout victory to pull one win away from reaching the CWS, it has a fully rested bullpen going into Sunday. Righthander Blake Money, who didn’t appear in the SEC Tournament or regionals, threw the final 1.1 innings.

The blowout nature of the game means Kentucky also has its full complement of relievers—it used just two relievers and, like Money, neither had pitched in the previous two weeks. The Wildcats can take heart that they also got blown out in the series opener during the regular season and came back to win the second game of the series, 13-10. This time, however, they’re playing with their season on the line.