College Roundup: Heavy Hitters Go Down In Midweek Games

SEE ALSO: 2017 College Preview

The first night of midweek baseball produced a bevy of upsets around the country. Florida State, Florida and Louisiana State, the Nos. 2-4 teams in the country, all lost, as did No. 16 Louisiana-Lafayette and No. 24 UC Santa Barbara.

HOW THE TOP 25 FARED

(1) Texas Christian: won, 7-2, at Texas-Arlington

(2) Florida State: lost, 4-2, vs. South Florida

(3) Florida: lost, 3-2, at Jacksonville

(4) Louisiana State: lost, 11-8, at New Orleans

(5) South Carolina: won, 5-4, vs. Charlotte

(6) Louisville: off

(7) Cal State Fullerton: off

(8) Oregon State: off

(9) Vanderbilt: off

(10) Washington: cancelled at Santa Clara

(11) East Carolina: off

(12) North Carolina State: off

(13) Virginia: won, 9-7, vs. Virginia Military Institute

(14) North Carolina: off

(15) Clemson: off

(16) Louisiana-Lafayette: lost, 3-1, at Nicholls State

(17) Georgia Tech: won, 10-3, at Georgia Southern

(18) Coastal Carolina: off

(19) Arizona: off

(20) Oklahoma State: won, 18-4, at Arizona State

(21) Texas Tech: won, 16-1, vs. New Mexico State

(22) Mississippi: won, 16-4, vs. Arkansas State

(23) Stanford: off

(24) UC Santa Barbara: lost, 2-1, at Cal State Bakersfield

(25) Wright State: off

Florida State and Florida are both still working out the back of their bullpens, and their inexperience cost them Tuesday, as they both blew saves in their losses. Florida State (2-2) gave up four runs in the ninth inning to South Florida (3-1) in a 4-2 loss. The Seminoles used six pitchers in the inning but were unable to find a reliever to consistently throw strikes. They walked four batters, hit two and threw a passed ball, enabling the Bulls to push across four runs on just one hit.

The wild ninth inning spoiled an outstanding start from righthander Andrew Karp. The redshirt sophomore was limited in the first two years of his college career as he recovered from injuries he sustained in a car accident, but looked to be back to his prep form Tuesday. He struck out nine batters in seven scoreless innings, walked none and held USF to three hits. His fastball sat in the low 90s, and he effectively mixed in a hard cutter.

Florida (3-1) also got a strong start before losing its lead in the ninth inning at Jacksonville (3-1). The Dolphins scored three runs to walk off with a 3-2 victory. It snapped the Gators’ 16-game winning streak in midweek games that dated back to April 14, 2015.

Freshman second baseman Scott Dubrule (2-for-3, RBI) delivered the game-winner for Jacksonville with a one-out, bases-loaded single off freshman lefthander Andrew Baker.

A walk-off WINNER!! The freshman Scott Dubrule sends a single with the bases loaded and Jacksonville defeats No.2 Florida, 3-2 #JUPhinsUp pic.twitter.com/JBHW8MzFwS

— JU Baseball (@JUBaseball) February 22, 2017

Like Florida and Florida State, LSU took an early lead, but its bullpen was unable to hold off New Orleans. The Privateers defeated the Tigers, 11-8, scoring 10 runs in the fifth and sixth innings to overcome a five-run deficit. Center fielder Orynn Veillon went 3-for-5 with two runs and two RBIs to lead the Privateers.

Second-year UNO coach Blake Dean, a former LSU star, picked up his first career win against LSU and Paul Mainieri, his former coach.

Tuesday wasn’t all bad news for Top 25 teams. No. 1 Texas Christian (4-0) remained undefeated to start the year, scoring five runs in the final two innings to top Texas-Arlington, 7-2. No. 22 Mississippi (4-0) continued its hot start to the season with more help from its top-ranked recruiting class. Four freshman pitchers, led by righthander Will Ethridge (5 IP, 2 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 10 K) combined to strike out 19 batters in a 16-4 victory against Arkansas State.

Outfielder Kel Johnson powered No. 17 Georgia Tech (4-0) to a 10-3 victory at Georgia Southern. The junior hit three home runs, becoming the first Yellow Jacket to do so since 2009. Johnson is 7-for-15 with five home runs and 10 RBIs in four games this season.