America East (Kingston RI) - 2-seed Binghamton beats top seed Maine 4-0 for the auto-bid, as Jake Lambert stifled the Black Bears (5 H, 1 BB, 7 Ks).
ACC (Durham NC) - As noted above, the top seed and #6 Heels win the crown over 6-seed VA Tech, 4-1. Taylore Cherry scattered 5 H and 2 BB for just 1 ER over 5 IP, and Trevor Kelley followed it up with 4 innings of 1-hit, 2-K shutout baseball. Landon Lassiter went 2-for-3 with 3 runs, while Skye Bolt knocked in a pair.
Atlantic Sun (DeLand FL) - The 4-seed Buccaneers of East Tennessee St knocked off 7-seed Kennesaw St 7-4. ETSU had been lying in wait while the Owls swept a pair from North Florida last night and earlier this afternoon. The title match marked Kennesaw's third game in a 24-hour span. Kerry Doane spun a complete game 4-hitter for the Bucs (1 ER, 3 BB, 3 Ks) and 7 different players scored ETSU's runs in a 14-hit attack.
Big Ten (Minneapolis MN) - Top seed and #15 Indiana earns the auto-bid over 3-seed Nebraska, winning the rematch 4-3 on a walk-off bases-loaded single by Scott Donley. The Hoosiers had led 3-1 before the Huskers tied it with runs in the 7th & 8th. Will Coursen-Carr went the distance for IU (3 ER, 8 H, 3 BB, 3 K).
Big 12 (Oklahoma City OK) - 4-seed and #25 Oklahoma downed 6-seed Kansas for the title, 7-2. Sooner 1B Matt Oberste went 2-for-4 with a walk, SB, 2 R and 4 RBI, striking the big blow with a 2-run jack in the 3rd to put OU up 5-1. Jake Evans won it in relief of Ethan Carnes, who pitched just 2.1 innings despite no apparent signs of trouble (1 ER on 3 H, 1 BB, 1 K; he departed after a lead-off walk & a pop-out). Evans tossed 5 innings (a career high) allowing 1 ER on 4 H, 1 BB, 1 K. Kyle Hayes closed it out with 1.2 shutout innings.
Big East (Clearwater FL) - The two lowest seeds met for the crown, and 8-seed UConn crushed 7-seed Notre Dame, 8-1. Junior LHP Anthony Marzi was brilliant for the Huskies, going the distance on 1 ER, 4 H, 2 BB & 6 Ks. It was 6-0 by the end of the 3rd inning. The top 5 in UConn's order (SS Tom Verdi, CF Billy Ferriter, 2B L.J. Mazzilli, 3B Vinny Siena, and 1B Bobby Melley) were a combined 13-for-23 with 5 R and 5 RBI, with Verdi smacking a double & triple, and Mazzilli launching a 2-run HR in the 1st.
C-USA (Houston TX) - Top seed and #19 Rice need extra innings to dispatch 2-seed Southern Miss for the title, 5-4. After an HBP and a Christian Stringer single, Keenan Cook singled home the winning run for the Owls. Trailing 3-0 after 3, the Golden Eagles took a 4-3 lead in the 6th before Rice tied it in the 7th. Zach Lemond gets the win with 6.1 innings of relief (1 R, 0 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 2 Ks).
Horizon (Niles OH) - 3-seed Valparaiso shut out 4-seed Wright St, clinching their 2nd straight auto-bid 3-0. Dalton Lundeen was money for the Crusaders with 8 innings of 2-hit ball (0 BB, 6 Ks), and Karck Kowalczyk pitched a perfect 9th with a K for the save. Chris Manning had the big hit for Valpo with a 2-run double in their 3-run first inning.
MAAC (Trenton NJ) - In their first games of the tournament, 4-seed Siena scored one run while 3-seed Canisius scored two. In their next four games, including today's final, they combined to score a whopping 64 runs. The Golden Griffins of Canisius prevailed in today's slugfest, beating the Saints 12-11 in one of the most anti-climactic plays in baseball: a walk-off bases-loaded HBP with the batter getting drilled in the helmet. Fortunately the batter in question, 2B Jose Torralba, was uninjured and joined his jubilant teammates after Brooklyn Foster scored the game-winner. The Griffs' 13-hit attack was paced by Torralba (3-for-4, triple, walk, HBP, 3 R, 3 RBI),
3B Connor Panas (4-for-5, BB, R, 3 RBI), and RF Ryan Coppinger (2-for-3, 2 BB, 2 R, 1 RBI). Canisius enters the NCAAs at 42-15, a school record for wins.
MAC (Avon OH) - 6-seed Bowling Green takes the title over 4-seed Ball State 7-0, their second straight shut-out with the Falcons having blanked 7-seed Toledo 1-0 in yesterday's rematch to reach the final. Tournament MVP Nick Bruns tossed a complete game 4-hit shutout with a walk and 4 whiffs. CF Patrick Lancaster, 3B Nick Glanzman and SS Brian Bien each had 2 hits, a run and an RBI.
Missouri Valley (Normal IL) - After losing their tournament opener to 7-seed Southern Illinois, the 2-seed Shockers of Wichita St won 5 in a row including last night's title game over top seed Illinois State, 5-2. They got on the board early and never trailed, as Cale Elam scattered 7 hits over 7 innings (2 ER, 0 BB, 7 Ks) and Aaron Labrie closed it out with 2 hitless relief innings (2 BB, 3 Ks). RF Garrett Bayliff went 3-for-4 with a walk, 2 R and an RBI.
Mountain West (Fresno CA) - 3-seed San Diego St won its 4th straight game with a sweep of top seed and #28 New Mexico to win the crown. After holding off the Lobos' late-inning rallies in Saturday's 8-7 victory, it looked like another nail-biter for the Aztecs when UNM scored a pair in the 8th to draw within 5-4. But on Jered Meek's two-out RBI double, SDSU right fielder Danny Sheehan cut down the would-be tying run with a bullet to Jake Romanski at the plate to end the inning. The Aztecs then put up a 4-spot in the top of the 9th to seal the deal with a solo shot by 3B Tyler France (4-for-4, walk, 3 R, 3 RBI), an RBI double by DH Brad Haynal, and a 2-run shot by Romanski (2-for-5, R, 3 RBI).
Northeast (Lakewood NJ) - As Red noted, top-seed Bryant clinches the auto-bid with a pair of wins over 2-seed Sacred Heart. It's been quite a run for the Bulldogs since their opening 7-2 loss to 4-seed Long Island, as they've won 4 straight while outscoring opponents 41-5. Kevin McAvoy went the distance in today's 8-0 shutout (3 H, 2 BB, 2 Ks), while 6 different Bryant batters knocked in runs and 4 had at least a pair of hits.
Ohio Valley (Jackson TN) - 2-seed and #26 Austin Peay beat 5-seed Eastern Kentucky 6-3 for the title on Saturday night. Shortstop Reed Harper had the big blow with a 3-run jack in the first that tied the game. Govs starter Ryan Quick couldn't find the plate and didn't get out of the 4th (3.2 IP, 3 ER, 3 H, 6 BB, 3 Ks), but relievers Lee Ridenhour, Kacy Kemmer and Tyler Rogers combined for 5.1 shutout innings, scattering 3 hits & 3 walks.
Pac 12 (No Tournament) - #3 Oregon St held on for the regular season title and the auto-bid, sweeping its last two against WASU (4-0 and 7-6). #6 Oregon wound up splitting with Utah, winning 6-2 yesterday and losing 10-3 today, so they Ducks finish 2 games back of the Beavers. #16 Arizona St also split their last two, beating Washington 14-4 yesterday and losing 7-2 today. #11 UCLA dropped their second straight to Stanford yesterday 7-3, but they closed things out with a 6-4 win over the Cardinal tonight.
Southern (Greenville SC) - 3-seed Elon wins the title in their next-to-last season as a SoCon member, beating 4-seed Citadel 6-5. It's their 5th straight win since dropping the tourney opener to 6-seed Furman, 10-1.
Southland (Sugar Land TX) - 7-seed Central Arkansas emerges from the loser's backet to top 4-seed SE Louisiana for the crown, 4-0. Connor Gilmore threw a complete game 2-hitter (4 BB, 2 Ks), and the Bears scored 3 in the 3rd on just 1 hit -- and that was a bunt single (BB, PB, HBP, Bunt H, WP, BB, FC 5-2, BB, SF).
Summit (Rochester MI) - Top seed South Dakota St wins the auto-bid with a double-shutout sweep of rival North Dakota St, 2-0 and 1-0. Kolton Emery won the opener (7.2 IP, 7 H, 0 BB, 5 Ks) with an assist from J.D. Moore who whiffed 3 of his 4 batters, and the clincher went to Shane Kraemer (5.1 IP, 5 H, 0 BB, 2 Ks) with relief help from Stephen Bougher (1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 BB) and Layne Somsen (2 IP, 1 H, 0 BB, 4 Ks). Not a single walk from the staff over 18 innings.
That's how you win ball games.
Sun Belt (Lafayette LA) - 4-seed Florida Atlantic runs the table with 4 straight wins, including the title game over the host and 3-seed Rajun Cajuns 16-8. The Owls took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first, and then all but sealed it with a 9-run second inning. DH Tyler Rocklein went 2-for-4 with 2 R and 4 RBI to pace a 16-hit FAU offense.
WAC (Grand Prairie TX) - 4-seed UTSA goes 4-for-4 in tourney games, capping it with an 11-4 championship win over 7-seed Dallas Baptist. The Patriots led 2-0 into the bottom of the 5th, when the Roadrunners began unleashing their offensive fury. 2 runs each in the 5th, 6th & 7th, followed by a 5-spot in the 8th. Catcher John Bormann led the attack going 3-for-5 with 2 R and 2 RBI. Brock Hartson gets his 9th win of the year (7.1 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 4 H, 2 B, 2 Ks).
West Coast (Stockton CA) - 2-seed San Diego wins the Saturday rematch with 4-seed San Francisco, 2-0, and takes home the WCC auto-bid. It was a vastly different game than the Dons' 10-8 win over the Torreros on Friday. Freshman southpaw Troy Conyers was huge, bringing a 3-hit shutout with 9 Ks to the party. And I do mean "party" -- check out the USD jerseys: