NCAA Tournament Takeaways: Top Seeds Dominate First Day Of Regionals

Image credit: Auburn slugger Sonny DiChiara (Photo courtesy of Auburn Athletics)

No. 1 seeds Dominate On Day 1

The NCAA Tournament opened Friday without any massive upsets. All 14 teams that were seeded No. 1 in their regional that got to play Friday won, most of them handily. In total, the top seeds outscored their opponents, 169-49.

Six No. 1 seeds won by at least 10 runs. That includes No. 1 overall seed Tennessee, which beat Alabama State, 10-0. Stanford beat Binghamton, 20-7, and Maryland beat Long Island, 23-2, giving the Terrapins both the largest margin of victory for the day and the most runs scored.

Only two No. 1 seeds won by three runs or less. Southern Mississippi beat Army, 2-0, in a well-pitched game. Oregon State walked off New Mexico State with a 5-4 win in 10 innings on a two-out, bases-loaded walk.

For the first time since 2009, no No. 1-seeded team lost on the opening day of the NCAA Tournament. That’s slightly deceiving, however, as two No. 1 seeds have yet to take the diamond. Miami and Georgia Southern both had their openers delayed by poor weather. But in each of the last 11 NCAA Tournaments, at least one No. 1 seed has lost its opener. Twice during that stretch have there been years when three top seeds lost in the same year (2014, 2017).

While the No. 1 seeds cruised, the same cannot be said of the No. 2 seeds. They went 7-8, with the matchup of Arizona and Mississippi still awaiting in Coral Gables. 

The lack of upsets Friday means there are several thrilling matchups to look forward to in Saturday evening’s winner’s bracket games. Among them are Florida vs. Oklahoma in Gainesville and Southern Mississippi vs. Louisiana State in Hattiesburg.

LSU Uses Huge Comeback To Beat Kennesaw State

Down 11-4 going into the eighth inning against Kennesaw State, Louisiana State scored 10 runs and went on to a stunning, 14-11 victory in the Hattiesburg Regional.

LSU sent 14 batters to the plate in the eighth and collected seven hits and three walks. The first eight batters in the inning reached base safely as the Owls were unable to put a stop to the Tigers’ rally. Josh Pearson collected two hits in the inning, Dylan Crews delivered a two-run double and Tre’ Morgan also drove in a pair of runs.

On the night, Pearson led the LSU offense, going 3-for-4 with a double and two walks. Crews went 2-for-5 with a double and two runs.

For Kennesaw State, the loss was a bitter pill. The Owls raced out to an 11-4 lead in the first five innings, scoring five runs on starter Ma’Khail Hilliard and six more on reliever Riley Cooper. Josh Hatcher went 3-for-4 with a double and four runs and Tyler Simon homered.

But once righthander Devin Fontenot entered the game with two outs in the fifth, the Owls were silenced. He threw 3.1 scoreless innings, holding them to two hits and a walk. It turned out to be a crucial outing, as it gave the Tigers’ powerful offense time to break through.

Now, LSU will play top-seeded Southern Mississippi in the winner’s bracket game Saturday night, while Kennesaw State faces an elimination game against Southeastern Louisiana.

Brycen Mautz Stifles Vanderbilt To Lead San Diego To Victory

Perhaps no team in college baseball has been harder to figure out this season than Vanderbilt. Despite undeniable talent, statistically speaking one of the best pitching staffs in the country and the occasional offensive outburst that makes you think the team is on the verge of something big, Vanderbilt has been consistently inconsistent this season. 

The biggest issue for Vandy has been offensive production that comes and goes and that continued in the 3-2 loss Friday to San Diego in the Corvallis Regional. USD lefthander Brycen Mautz threw seven innings, giving up four hits and one run with one walk and five strikeouts. 

In something of a microcosm of the season as a whole offensively, Vanderbilt got a solo homer in the seventh from Dominic Keegan and a solo shot in the eighth from Calvin Hewett, but ultimately came up short because there wasn’t enough offense around those homers. 

After the game, Mautz told reporters he had a simple game plan against the Commodores.

“I just knew I had to get ahead early,” he said. “I knew with a good SEC team they’re going to hunt fastball, so can’t let them get ahold of one too much and just decided to pound (the zone) and get the offspeed over and they got themselves out today.”

There’s been a thought all year that Vanderbilt would eventually put it all together and get back to a place among college baseball’s elite, but its back is now against the wall. It faces an elimination game Saturday against New Mexico State and will have to come out of the loser’s bracket if it is to win the regional.

Switch-Hitting Power

Separated by 600 miles Friday, East Carolina outfielder Bryson Worrell and Auburn second baseman Cole Foster doubled up on history. The pair of switch-hitters both homered twice in one inning, from both sides of the plate.

Worrell accomplished the feat first, hitting two home runs in the third inning of ECU’s 17-1 victory against Coppin State. Foster followed a few hours later with two home runs in the first inning of Auburn’s 19-7 victory against Southeastern Louisiana.

While official records aren’t kept of players homering from both sides of the plate in the same inning, the feat is exceedingly rare throughout baseball. It’s happened just three times ever in the major leagues and just once in the College World Series. For it to happen twice on the same day in regionals is extraordinary.

Worrell finished the game 2-for-4 with two walks and three runs. He is hitting .319/.389/.584 with 16 home runs this season.

Foster, who had been sidelined by an oblique injury since May 13, homered for good measure in the fourth inning (batting righthanded). He finished the game 4-for-6 with three home runs, a double, four runs and nine RBIs. The sophomore is hitting .276/.400/.503 with nine home runs this year.

Louisiana Defies Narrative, Upsets TCU

From the time the College Station Regional was revealed during Monday’s selection show, the attention was on a potential matchup of host Texas A&M and No. 2 seed Texas Christian. Beyond the fact those two programs have played several close, tense NCAA Tournament games against each other in recent seasons, it also would have been a matchup of Aggies coach Jim Schlossnagle against his old team and former assistant coach Kirk Saarloos, now the Horned Frogs head coach.

While that game would have been entertaining, it overlooked Louisiana-Lafayette, a dangerous No. 3 seed. The Ragin’ Cajuns edged past the Horned Frogs, 7-6, on Friday and will play the Aggies in Saturday’s winner’s bracket game.

Louisiana last week swept through the Sun Belt Conference Tournament and stayed hot Friday. The Cajuns got a strong outing from Bo Bonds, who held TCU to two runs over 4.2 innings of relief, and just enough offense to see off the Horned Frogs.

Seeing the Cajuns in Saturday night’s game may be a surprise to some, but Texas A&M, which beat Oral Roberts on Friday, will know it has to be ready for a difficult challenge.

Notre Dame Outlasts Texas Tech

It took nearly 10 hours, but Notre Dame defeated Texas Tech, 3-2, to open the Statesboro Regional.

The teams got through just four outs before lightning halted play in the first inning with Notre Dame leading, 2-0. The game didn’t resume until six hours later. The extended delay knocked out both teams’ starting pitchers.

When play did resume, the two teams that have both spent nearly all season ranked in the top 20 played a taut, exciting game. Righthander Chase Hampton came on to start the second inning for Texas Tech and put up six zeroes on the scoreboard, striking out 12 batters. Notre Dame, as it often does, used a bullpen approach and got three strong innings out of both Liam Simon and Alex Rao, who combined to strike out 15 batters.

It wasn’t until the eighth that either offense was able to break through again. Texas Tech did so first, scoring two runs in the top of the inning on a single from Easton Murrell. But Notre Dame answered in the bottom half of the inning when it manufactured a run on catcher’s interference, a sacrifice bunt, a stolen base and a wild pitch.

Notre Dame advanced in the winner’s bracket and awaits the winner of top-seeded Georgia Southern and UNC Greensboro, which was delayed to Saturday morning by the weather. Texas Tech, meanwhile, will prepare for an elimination game.

Michigan Stays Hot, Outslugs Oregon

Michigan came into the NCAA Tournament having won seven of its last nine games, including winning the Big Ten Tournament last week in Omaha. The Wolverines haven’t cooled off over the last week and they beat Oregon, 8-6, to advance in the winner’s bracket in the Louisville Regional.

Michigan jumped out to an early 6-2 lead in the fifth inning, but Oregon chipped away at the deficit and tied the game in the seventh. It didn’t stay that way for long, however. Matt Frey hit a two-run home run in the top of the eighth, Michigan’s third homer of the day, to put the Wolverines back on top for good.

Frey went 2-for-3 with a double, a home run and three RBIs. Jimmy Obertop homered twice for Michigan and drove in four runs.

Michigan’s offense has never been in question this season. The Wolverines average 8.1 runs per game and came into the NCAA Tournament 25th in the nation in scoring. Their depth on the mound, however, has been an issue at times this season and they have a 6.78 team ERA. Michigan takes on Louisville on Saturday and will need someone to step up on the mound to counter Cardinals ace Jared Poland.

UConn Holds On Against Wake Forest

Connecticut has the pitching quality and depth to win the College Park Regional, and while it got a solid outing form starter Austin Peterson (6 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 4 BB, 11 K) on Friday against Wake Forest, it was the Huskies’ offense that did more of the heavy lifting in an 8-7 win. 

Against Wake righthander Rhett Lowder, the ACC pitcher of the year, UConn scored seven runs on 10 hits in 6.1 innings, helping it jump out to a 7-2 lead in part on the strength of two-run homers in the fifth and seventh by shortstop Bryan Padilla and right fielder Casey Dana. 

Things got dicey late, as the Demon Deacons tied it 7-7 with a four-run eighth inning, but the Huskies went back up for good with a run in the ninth on an RBI double by first baseman Ben Huber. A Saturday night winner’s bracket game pitting UConn’s pitching staff against a Maryland offense that jumped all over Long Island pitching Friday should be a dandy. 

Campbell Offense Erupts Against Georgia Tech

There were two things that could plausibly happen to put Campbell in good position to beat Georgia Tech on Friday in the Knoxville Regional. 

One involved righthander Thomas Harrington pitching at the high end of his potential and really slowing down the Yellow Jackets’ prolific offense. The other was the Camels feasting on a Georgia Tech pitching staff that has had issues all season. In a 15-8 win, it was more the latter for Campbell on Friday afternoon. 

The Camels scored five runs in the second inning, four of them coming on a solo homer for left fielder Logan Jordan, a two-run shot for center fielder Tyler Halstead and a solo home run for third baseman Jarrod Belbin, on the way to scoring 15 runs on 18 hits in a 15-8 win. 

Handed a big lead, Harrington did a nice job of getting deep into the game. He ended up throwing seven innings, giving up nine hits and five runs. Georgia Tech got as close as 6-2 in the fourth inning but was never truly in the game.

Weather Delays Coral Gables, Statesboro Regionals

While much of the country had beautiful weather for baseball on Friday, there were still a couple places that couldn’t dodge the rain. Play in Coral Gables never got underway, as a tropical storm bore down on Miami, drenching South Florida. In Statesboro, Ga., thunderstorms caused such a lengthy delay in the opening game between Notre Dame and Texas Tech that the nightcap between Georgia Southern and UNC Greensboro was pushed to Saturday morning.

The delay in Statesboro was especially unfortunate. The first game of the day was just in the first inning when lightning in the area started a delay that lasted six hours. Not only did it disrupt the pitching plans of the Red Raiders and Fighting Irish, it also ended up costing Georgia Southern the chance to put on a show in the opener of its first-ever home regional.

The situation in Coral Gables was much worse, as what the National Weather Service has dubbed Potential Tropical Storm One approached South Florida. While the storm doesn’t yet meet the definition of a Tropical Storm because of its wind speed and lack of a defined center, it brought plenty of rain Friday. That’s expected to continue into Saturday, but there’s a hope the weather will clear late in the day and allow the regional to get underway with Miami facing Canisius.