Super Regionals Roundup: Wildcats To Omaha

Jay Johnson just laughed, shook his head and said “no.” No, he didn’t see this coming, not in his first year.

Yet, there he was, at the postgame dais in Starkville, Miss., late Saturday night, addressing reporters after his Arizona team did the unlikely and defeated Mississippi State for the second straight day, coming back to win in 11 innings, 6-5, on a walk-off single by catcher Cesar Salazar.

Johnson’s Wildcats, in their first season with him at the helm after legendary head coach Andy Lopez retired last May, booked their 17th trip to Omaha with that win.

“I pride myself on knowing the right thing to say, but I’m speechless right now,” Johnson told arizonawildcats.com after the game. “This is the best moment of my life.”

The Wildcats’ road to Omaha has been a treacherous one. While they had a legitimate hosting case, the Wildcats opened the tournament as a No. 2 seed in the Lafayette Regional and had to play through the losers bracket, beating host Louisiana-Lafayette twice to advance. It didn’t get any easier with a super regional against the SEC champion Bulldogs, but the Wildcats found ways to win both games in one-run fashion.

On Friday night, Arizona relied on the pitching heroics of Bobby Dalbec, who threw 8 2/3 scoreless innings on 129 pitches—after being drafted earlier in the day in the fourth round to the Red Sox as a power-hitting third baseman—to win 1-0. On Saturday, the Wildcats trailed 5-1 in the eighth, yet rallied to tie with a three-run home run by first baseman Ryan Aguilar in the eighth and an RBI single by left fielder Alonso Rivas in the ninth.

Two innings later, Arizona loaded the bases, and Salazar came through with the walk-off single with two outs to cap off an impressive postseason run to Omaha. The Wildcats were the first, and as of Saturday night, only team to advance to the College World Series thus far.

“These two weekends are easily the best weekends of my life,” Johnson said. “We won four games in 30 hours last Sunday, Monday. And the respect I have for this place, this coaching staff here at Mississippi State, to come in here and win two one-run games, that tells you everything you need to know about this group.”

The Wildcats super-regional-clinching victory Saturday was one of several highlights on a wacky super regional Saturday. Both No. 1 overall seed Florida and No. 2 overall seed Louisville lost in the opening games of their respective super regionals.

In Gainesville, Florida State sophomore righthander Drew Carlton threw a two-hit shutout against the Gators in a 3-0 FSU win—snapping a five-game Seminoles losing streaking against Florida and marking the first time the Gators have ever been shut out at home in the NCAA tournament.

Behind a strong seven-inning, two-run performance by ace righthander Shane Bieber, an Indians fourth-rounder, UC Santa Barbara upset the Cardinals, 4-2. The Gauchos peppered Louisville ace lefthander Brendan McKay for four runs on nine hits, including the fourth home run for DH Austin Bush in as many NCAA tournament games.

In Columbia, yet another host fell as the Gamecocks lost, 5-1, to red-hot Oklahoma State. The Cowboys relied on the second straight seven-inning scoreless start from righthander Thomas Hatch and a key home run from catcher Collin Theroux to move to one win away from their first Omaha trip since 2009. There was more of the same in Baton Rouge, where host Louisiana State also dropped its first super regional game to Coastal Carolina, 11-8. Chris Owings, Zach Remillard and G.K. Young—the Nos. 3-5 hitters in the batting order—all homered as the Chanticleers flexed some offensive muscle in the win.

Though the Wildcats were able to get the job done in two games, every other Game Two on Saturday led to a Game Three. Boston College evened its super regional with host Miami behind a strong performance by righthander Mike King. At College Station, J.B. Moss, Michael Barash, Hunter Melton and Jonathan Moroney all homered for Texas A&M as the Aggies rebounded to beat Texas Christian, 7-1.

Lastly, but certainly not least, Texas Tech avoided elimination in a 13-inning, 3-1, win over East Carolina, winning on a walk-off single by first-team All-American first baseman Eric Gutierrez. The Pirates, one win away from their first-ever Omaha trip, had their chances, but the Red Raiders pitching staff held tough to set up the Gutierrez game winner.