Oklahoma State, TCU and Texas Tech secured a Sunday Super Regional sweep for the Big 12 as the trio of league teams all punched tickets to the College World Series. The Conference sends multiple teams to Omaha for the sixth time in league history and three teams to the CWS for just the third time, including the second time in the past three seasons (2014).
The Big 12 is the only conference to send three or more teams to Omaha in two of the past four years. Oklahoma State is making its 20th program appearance and first since 1999. TCU earns its third straight berth and fourth overall, while Texas Tech is appearing for the second time overall and in the last four years.
The Big 12 improves to 15-3 in this year’s NCAA postseason (.833). The .750 Super Regional win percentage is tied for the best in league history (in years with multiple Super Regional teams). The .900 (9-1) win percentage in regional play marked the best in conference history.
Big 12 teams have outscored their opponents 101-21 in its 15 postseason wins this season, including 67-15 in 10 regional games and 34-6 in Super Regional contests. Individually, OSU went 35-6, TCU 31-7 and TTU 35-8 in its victories.
The Big 12 knocked off the tournament champions from the ACC (Clemson) and SEC (Texas A&M), which also marked the elimination of two national seeds (Texas A&M – No. 4 and Clemson – No. 7).
The Big 12 is the only conference with a different regular season and postseason champion both advancing to Omaha (Texas Tech and TCU).
Of the Big 12’s 11 postseason teams in the past three years, seven have advanced to Omaha (63 percent).
This is just the 14th time one conference has sent three or more teams to the CWS in the same year.
The 70th Men’s College World Series begins play Saturday, June 18, at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha in Omaha, Nebraska. Opening round dates, times and TV information have yet to be announced. TCU and Texas Tech will match up in a bracket that also features Coastal Carolina and Florida/Florida State. Oklahoma State is paired with UC Santa Barbard in its opener with Arizona and Miami (FL) in its bracket.
Sunday’s Results/Recaps (June 12)
Oklahoma State 3, South Carolina 1 | Columbia Super Regional
Oklahoma State earns a berth to the College World Series for the first time since 1999 after the Cowboys knocked off host South Carolina, 3-1, in the NCAA Columbia Super Regional Sunday at Founders Park.
The College World Series berth marks the 20th in OSU baseball history, which ranks as the sixth most on the NCAA’s all-time list.
OSU is now 41-20 on the season, which includes a 5-0 mark in NCAA tournament play as the Cowboys swept three games at the NCAA Clemson Regional before winning two-straight contests in the Super Regional.
On Sunday against South Carolina (46-18), the Cowboys scored all three of their runs in the fifth inning and got another masterful performance on the mound from Tyler Buffett to carry them to victory.
The first four and a half innings were a pitcher’s duel between Buffett and USC starter Clarke Schmidt, but the Cowboys put the pressure on the Gamecocks in the bottom of the fifth and took advantage of their opportunities.
Jon Littell led off the pivotal fifth with a single, then stole second base. With one out, J.R. Davis grounded to shortstop, but USC’s Marcus Mooney made a throwing error trying to get Littell going back to second. The miscue put Cowboy runners on the corners.
OSU then took a 1-0 lead when Corey Hassel laid down a perfect squeeze bunt that Gamecock first baseman Madison Stokes could not handle, giving Hassel an RBI and keeping two Cowboys on the bases.
Up next, Donnie Walton delivered an RBI single through the right side to put OSU up 2-0 before another USC error helped bring home the third run. On that play, Walton stole second and a throw from catcher John Jones sailed into center field and allowed Hassel to come home from third.
Tasked with keeping the Gamecocks off the scoreboard, Buffett did just that. USC stranded nine runners in the game, including two in the fourth and fifth innings.
In the seventh, USC threatened again as back-to-back singles with one out brought the tying run to the plate. But Buffett induced an inning-ending double play to once again get out of a jam.
For the second-straight game, Buffett tied a career high with seven innings pitched, and he threw a career-high 116 pitches in 96 degree heat. The righty finished with four strikeouts and one walk and improved to 8-3 on the season.
South Carolina plated its lone run in the eighth. After Buffett issued a leadoff walk followed by a single, the Cowboys called on Michael Mertz out of the bullpen. A fly ball brought the first out but moved Gene Cone to third base, and he would promptly score on a wild pitch to cut the OSU lead to 3-1.
Mertz worked out of the jam, however, getting a groundout and another flyout to end the inning.
The Gamecocks again made things interesting in the ninth, this time against OSU reliever Trey Cobb, who retired the first two batters before issuing a walk and a single to bring the go-ahead run to the plate. But Cobb picked up his fifth save and sent the Cowboys to Omaha when he got Cone, USC’s top hitter, to line out to second base.
OSU will open Bracket 2 play in the CWS against UC Santa Barbara next weekend at Omaha’s TD Ameritrade Park, with a date and time to be announced. Also in Bracket 2 (double elimination) in Omaha are Arizona and Miami.
No. 5 Texas Tech 11, East Carolina 0 | Lubbock Super Regional
For the second time in the past three seasons, Texas Tech is heading to the College World Series in Omaha.
The Red Raiders, backed by six runs over the first three frames and seven shutout innings from Erikson Lanning, topped East Carolina, 11-0, Sunday afternoon in front of another capacity crowd of 4,817 fans inside Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park.
It was the second winner-take-all victory in as many weeks for the Red Raiders, who are one of six schools currently to advance to the College World Series twice over the past three seasons. Tech joins the likes of TCU, Virginia, Louisville, Vanderbilt and Miami.
After needing 13 innings to even the series Saturday, the Red Raiders (46-18) jumped on East Carolina (38-23-1) early and became the 30th team since the super regional format was introduced in 1999 to overcome a 1-0 series deficit. Tech struck for three runs in the opening frame thanks to a bases-loaded walk to Tyler Neslony and a two-run single courtesy of Eric Gutierrez.
Lanning (3-3) took control from there as he limited the Pirates to just two hits over seven scoreless innings. It marked the longest outing of the year for Lanning, who was making his first start in over a month and first during a weekend series since Tech’s season opener against Milwaukee in February.
East Carolina threatened early following a leadoff single from Parker Lamm and a one-out walk to Travis Watkins in the opening frame. Lanning settled in and weathered the storm to get out of the jam with a flyout and a ground out that bounced off his glove to shortstop Orlando Garcia. Then, the freshman right-hander found his groove and retired 1- consecutive ECU hitters from the second through six innings.
Lanning fanned a career-high six hitters and sat down 16 of the final 17 Pirates he faced before Hayden Howard entered to the contest. Howard tossed two spotless frames to complete the two-hit shutout for the Red Raiders.
Meanwhile, Texas Tech’s offense gave Lanning plenty of support with three more runs in the third, a run in the sixth, three additional runs in the seventh and a single tally in the eighth to complete the rout. It marked the largest margin of victory for Tech in the NCAA postseason since defeating Temple, 14-3, at the 2001 NCAA Fullerton Regional.
Gutierrez reached base in all five plate appearances to lead the Red Raiders as he had a walk in the third and was plunked in the fifth and eight innings between unloading a second RBI single for the first of three runs in the seventh.
Hunter Hargrove followed Gutierrez with a RBI double in the seventh, his second of the day, after driving a two-run shot down the left-field line in the third. Hargrove was one of four Red Raiders to provide a multi-hit game, joining Gutierrez (2-for-2), Neslony (2-for-3), Garcia (2-for-4) and Tyler Floyd (2-for-4).
Tech rode a balanced offensive attack with 14 hits coming from eight players and five players accounting for a RBI. The top seven batters of the Red Raider lineup also scored a run.
TCU 4, No. 4 Texas A&M 1 | College Station Super Regional
The pitching duo of Brian Howard and Durbin Feltman retired 17 straight Texas A&M hitters and the TCU offense rallied with four unanswered runs to win the College Station Super Regional with a 4-1 victory Sunday night.
Howard picked up where he left off last week with another dominating performance on the mound. He twirled seven strong innings en route to earning his ninth win of the season. The junior allowed just one unearned run on two hits, walked two and struck out eight. He retired 16 of the last 17 batters he faced, including a stretch of 11 to close out his outing.
For the second straight day, the Aggies opened the game’s scoring with a run in the first. J.B. Moss led the game off with a base hit. An error put two on with nobody out. With one out and two runners in scoring position, Ryne Birk hit a sacrifice fly to make it a 1-0 game in favor of the Aggies.
Texas A&M’s final threat came with two outs in the second after a walk and a base hit put two runners on. Howard got Moss to ground into a fielder’s choice to end the frame. From there, the Aggies had just one base runner, which was a one-out walk in the fourth.
TCU had the lead-off batter reach in four of the first five innings, but it wasn’t until the fifth that the Frogs were able to make it count. Josh Watson opened the frame with a base hit to right. A one-out single from Ryan Merrill put two on. The Aggies got a ground ball for the second out, moving Watson to third. A passed ball allowed Watson to score the game-tying run.
In the seventh, TCU struck for a trio of runs on just one hit, three walks and an error. Watson again led off the inning with a base hit. An error on a ball hit by Steinhagen had the Frogs in business. With one out, Connor Wanhanen worked a walk to load the bases. Austen Wade worked the count full and drew a bases-loaded walk to drive in Watson for a 2-1 lead. Cam Warner hit a sacrifice fly and a wild pitch added two more runs as TCU lead 4-1 going to the bottom of the seventh.
Howard pitched a scoreless seventh before turning the game over to Feltman in the eighth. The freshman retired all six batters he faced to pick up his eighth save of the season.
Saturday’s Results (June 11)
No. 5 Texas Tech 3, East Carolina 1 (13 innings)
Oklahoma State 5, South Carolina 1
No. 4 Texas A&M 7, TCU 1
Friday’s Results (June 10)
East Carolina 8, No. 5 Texas Tech 6
TCU 8, No. 4 Texas A&M 2