Virginia and Vanderbilt have comprised each of the last two College World Series Finals. Both of them were gone less than 48 hours into the 2016 NCAA Tournament.
A day after Vanderbilt’s heartbreaking weekend came to an end against Washington, Virginia was bounced out of its own regional by William & Mary — the same team the Cavs trounced by 13 runs on Friday. On Saturday, Virginia’s bullpen coughed up five runs in the bottom of the ninth against ECU. On Sunday against William & Mary, they let go of a 4-3 lead in the sixth, eventually falling 5-4.
It’s a disappointing end to what was shaping up to be another late season run by the Cavs. After starting ACC play 7-8, Virginia caught fire down the stretch by taking 12 of its final 15 conference games with series wins over North Carolina, Miami, Pitt, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech. But Virginia just couldn’t regain its rhythm after bombing out of the ACC Tournament.
William & Mary, by the way, turned around and lost the regional championship game to ECU, which swept the field in Charlottesville as the No. 3 seed to become the first team in the tournament to punch its ticket to the super regionals. It’s the first trip to the supers since 2009 for the Pirates, who have made a rapid turnaround under second-year coach Cliff Godwin.
That feeling when you advance to the Super Regionals @ECUBaseball pic.twitter.com/ay6mIJFeHC
— ESPNU (@ESPNU) June 5, 2016
If ECU can keep up the offensive barrage it unleashed this weekend, the team has a legit shot to crash the party in Omaha. The Pirates, who led the AAC in hitting this season, tallied double-digit hits in all three of their regional wins, smashing four homers against Virginia and William & Mary. Even better news for the Pirates: they still have a chance to avoid national seed Texas Tech in the super. Dallas Baptist held on to beat the Red Raiders, 10-6, on Sunday to force a winner-take-all Game 7 on Monday.
ECU isn’t the only team that’s locked into a super regional
Hell, ECU isn’t the only No. 3 seed that’s locked into a super — Boston College knocked off Tulane for the second time in three days to sweep the Oxford regional. Florida and Florida State will meet for the second year in a row in their super regional, while Boston College and Miami will face off next weekend in Coral Gables. Louisville’s monster of a season will continue as well, and the Cardinals look very much like the class of the field this year. Texas A&M will host TCU in a rematch of their wild super series from last year, which had a 16-inning Game 3.
A total of 10 teams have advanced to the second round, including five of the national seeds.
No. 7 Clemson became the first national seed bounced from the tournament being toppled by Oklahoma State in its elimination game. The Tigers played valiantly in their first elimination game of the day, destroying Western Carolina, 15-3, with the help of five home runs. Clemson’s bats went silent in the night game, however, and their stellar year in the ACC is over.
Here’s the list, with national seeds in parentheses.
(1) Florida
(2) Louisville
(3) Miami
(4) Texas A&M
(6) Mississippi State
Boston College
Florida State
East Carolina
Oklahoma State
TCU
And there are still six spots up for grabs
Dallas Baptist’s stunning upset of No. 5 national seed Texas Tech sends the Lubbock regional to a Monday winner-take-all Game 7, but that’s not the only leftover from the tournament’s opening weekend. The Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Raleigh and Nashville regionals had themselves a rash of awful weather over the weekend — including a baseball-less Saturday in Baton Rouge — forcing all four sites to hold deciding games on Monday.
South Carolina forced a Monday Game 7 by coming back to rout UNC-Wilmington, which shocked the Gamecocks in the Columbia regional’s 1 vs. 4 Friday opener. Arizona held on to keep Sam Houston State at bay, 6-5, and it’ll meet its regional hosts Louisiana-Lafayette at 2 p.m. Monday. The Cats will have to beat the Ragin’ Cajuns twice, though, if they want to advance to a super regional.
For the updated bracket and schedule, head over to our tournament tracker
Sunday’s full scoreboard
Baton Rouge regional
Rice 7, Southeastern Louisiana 2
Southeastern Louisiana 3, Utah Valley 2 (Utah Valley eliminated)
LSU 4, Rice 2
Charlottesville regional
William & Mary 5, Virginia 4 (Virginia eliminated)
East Carolina 8, William & Mary 4 (William & Mary eliminated)
Clemson regional
Clemson 15, Western Carolina 3 (West Carolina eliminated)
Oklahoma State 9, Clemson 2 (Clemson eliminated)
College Station regional
Minnesota 8, Wake Forest 3 (Wake Forest eliminated)
Texas A&M 8, Minnesota 2 (Minnesota eliminated)
Columbia regional
South Carolina 23, Rhode Island 2 (Rhode Island eliminated)
South Carolina 10, UNC-Wilmington 1
Coral Gables regional
Long Beach State 5, Florida Atlantic 1 (Florida Atlantic eliminated)
Miami 9, Long Beach State 8
Fort Worth regional
Arizona State 6, Gonzaga 3
TCU 8, Arizona State 1 (Arizona State eliminated)
Gainesville regional
Georgia Tech 7, UConn 5 (UConn eliminated)
Florida 10, Georgia Tech 1 (Georgia Tech eliminated)
Lafayette regional
Louisiana-Lafayette 10, Arizona 3
Arizona 6, Sam Houston State 5 (Sam Houston State eliminated)
Louisville regional
Wright State 7, Ohio State 3 (Ohio State eliminated)
Louisville 3, Wright State 1 (Wright State eliminated)
Lubbock regional
Dallas Baptist 5, New Mexico 3 (New Mexico eliminated)
Dallas Baptist 10, Texas Tech 6
Nashville regional
UC Santa Barbara 5, Xavier 4
Xavier 7, Washington 5
Oxford regional
Tulane 4, Utah 1 (Utah eliminated)
Boston College 6, Tulane 3 (Tulane eliminated)
Raleigh regional
Coastal Carolina 4, NC State 0
NC State 17, Navy 1 (Navy eliminated)
Starkville regional
Louisiana Tech 6, Cal State Fullerton 2 (Cal State Fullerton eliminated)
Mississippi State 4, Louisiana Tech 0 (Louisiana Tech eliminated)
Tallahassee regional
South Alabama 7, Southern Mississippi 5 (Southern Mississippi eliminated)
Florida State 18, South Alabama 6 (South Alabama eliminated)
