Louisville rips Mississippi St.; Rice rolls, too

OMAHA, Neb. – Chris Dominguez hit two of Louisville’s four home runs, Justin Marks allowed two singles before taking a hard shot to his left leg in the sixth inning, and the Cardinals eliminated Mississippi State from the College World Series with a 12-4 victory Sunday.

Louisville’s powerful offense kept the Cardinals (47-23) alive in their first CWS appearance. Mississippi State (38-22) went two games and out for the first time since 1971 (seven appearances).

The Cardinals broke out to an 8-0 lead. After Mississippi State scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth, Louisville came back with three in the seventh, highlighted by Dominguez’s two-run shot to left.

The Cardinals have seven home runs, 33 hits and 22 runs in their first two CWS games.

Rice 14, North Carolina 4: The Owls jumped on the Tar Heels with a six-run second inning and Joe Savery pitched six-plus solid innings to make it stand up.

The Owls, who failed to score in their last 23 innings at the 2006 CWS, have 29 runs in their first two games and are the lone unbeaten team in Bracket 1.

They’ll play Wednesday against the winner of Tuesday’s Louisville-North Carolina elimination game. One more victory would put the Owls (56-12) in the best-of-three championship series.