Miami advances to College World Series
Sam Abrams pitched a career-best four shutout innings of relief, Miami blew a close game open with five runs in the seventh and the Hurricanes beat Virginia Commonwealth 10-3 on Saturday at Coral Gables, Florida, to earn their first trip to the College World Series since 2008.
Willie Abreu homered and drove in two runs and David Thompson added two RBIs for the Hurricanes, who swept the super regional 2-0. All nine Miami starters in the order scored, and seven had an RBI.
Abrams came in with nobody out and the bases loaded in the third, escaping unscathed. He then worked the next three innings, allowing just one hit.
Logan Farrar hit a leadoff home run and Matt Davis and Jimmy Kerrigan each had two hits for VCU, which was in the super regional round for the first time. Rams starter Heath Dwyer gave up four runs, three earned, and five hits in four innings.
Florida 11, Florida State 4: JJ Schwarz homered twice, breaking a school record for freshmen and continuing his torrid postseason, and the Gators advanced to the CWS with the victory over the Seminoles in Gainesville, Florida.
The Gators, the No. 4 national seed, swept the Seminoles and earned their fourth trip to Omaha in the last six years.
Virginia 5, Maryland 4: Ernie Clement lined a two-run single to left to cap a three-run ninth inning for Virginia and the Cavaliers defeated the Terrapins at Charlottesville, Virginia, for a return trip to the CWS.
LSU 4, Louisiana-Lafayette 3: Chris Sciambra’s towering home run off reliever Will Bacon in the bottom of the ninth inning gave LSU a victory over Louisiana-Lafayette in their opener at Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Sciambra’s heroics came a half-inning after pinch-hitter Brenn Conrad led off the top of ninth with a tying home run off LSU freshman ace Alex Lange.
Vanderbilt 13, Illinois 0: Jeren Kendall drove in three runs and Carson Fulmer pitched six nearly flawless innings as the defending national champion Commodores steamrolled the Illini in their opener at Champaign, Illinois.
Fulmer allowed four hits in 6 1/3 innings, striking out five and walking five.
Left-hander Kevin Duchene took the loss for the Illini.
The Commodores are at their third straight super regional.
TCU 13, Texas A&M 4: Cody Jones, Evan Skoug, Derek Odell and Nolan Brown drove in runs in TCU’s five-run sixth and the Horned Frogs defeated the Aggies in Game 1 at Forth Worth, Texas.
Missouri State 3, Arkansas 1: At Fayetteville, Arkansas, Matt Hall threw a one-hitter and the Bears defeated the Razorbacks to even their series.
Hall (12-2), the national leader in strikeouts, faced the minimum of 18 batters through the first six innings. He finished with eight strikeouts, raising his season total to 171 in 125 innings.
Cal State Fullerton 3, Louisville 2 (10): Timmy Richards was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and one out in the top of the 10th inning to give the Titans a Game 1 win over the Cardinals at Louisville, Kentucky.