College Baseball Regional 2015: TV Schedule and Predictions for Sunday – Bleacher Report

The third day of action at the college baseball regionals takes place on Sunday with several teams facing do-or-die situations in the double-elimination format. Most notably the top-seeded UCLA Bruins are facing elimination if they can’t beat the Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners on Sunday.

The Bruins fell 4-1 to the Maryland Terrapins and now face early elimination with another loss. UCLA now needs three wins in a row to advance. One over the Roadrunners and then two straight against the Terps. It’s an unenviable position to say the least.

Here’s the full schedule for Sunday, per ESPN.com. Check out NCAA.com to see the updated brackets. The table below includes predictions for each game that wasn’t suspended on Saturday due to rain. Just beneath the table is a closer look at three of the day’s high-profile games.

UCLA vs. Cal State Bakersfield at 7 p.m. ET

The Bruins’ usually solid offense was stymied by a stingy Terps pitching staff on Saturday and held to just one run. The bottom portion of the lineup wasn’t able to generate much offense. Though No. 5 hitter Chris Keck drove in the team’s only run—without a hit—the five through nine hitters were a combined 2-for-16 at the dish.

UCLA must improve if it hopes to beat Cal State Bakersfield.

With the Roadrunners having already used their ace Hayden Carter on Saturday to extend their stay, the Bruins should duplicate their opening-game performance against Cal State Bakersfield with another win.

UCLA opened up action in Los Angeles with a 7-2 victory over the Roadrunners, and another sizable win is my prediction for this game.

The Roadrunners sound a bit satisfied having captured their first-ever tournament game on Saturday with a 2-1 win over the Mississippi Rebels. After the game, head coach Bill Kerner said this, per Chris Foster of the Los Angeles Times:

The Dallas Baptist Patriots came into tournament play with high expectations. The team was ranked third in the most recent NCAA.com rankings, but after a 7-2 loss to the VCU Rams on Friday the Patriots are facing elimination.

The Rams used a five-run fourth inning to build what proved to be an insurmountable lead over Dallas Baptist. The Patriots must rebound, much like the Texas Longhorns who lost a 5-4 decision to the Oregon State Beavers on Friday.

This game was supposed to take place on Saturday, but it was postponed due to rain. 

It’s unclear which pitchers will take the mound, but the host Patriots could turn to Cory Taylor, the hurler originally scheduled to go on Saturday. As for the Longhorns, we might see Kyle Johnston start considering he was sharp in the Big 12 title game.

In either case, the Patriots are my pick to bounce back from a tough loss to VCU. They are at home and Texas has been too inconsistent all season, posting a modest 9-16 record on the road.

Illinois vs. Notre Dame at 4 p.m. ET

The host Illinois Fighting Illini will look to go to 2-0 in the region, as will the Notre Dame Fighting Irish after their game was also postponed on Saturday due to rain.

Both teams clobbered their opponents on Friday. Illinois enjoyed a 10-3 win over the Ohio Bobcats. Big Ten Player of the Year David Kerian drove in three runs and hit his 15th home run of the season.

Notre Dame beat Wright State, 13-7. Cavan Biggio and Ryan Bull were a combined 5-for-9 with seven RBI at the plate. Illinois has been awfully tough to beat all year at 48-8-1, which includes a 22-2 mark at home. The Fighting Illini have the edge in pitching with the option of throwing National Pitcher of the Year finalist Tyler Jay, and the bats have seemingly recovered from a brief slumber during the Big Ten tournament.

Illinois will move to 2-0 in the region with another win on Sunday.