Regular season champion Houston and tournament champion East Carolina opened NCAA Championship play with wins on Friday. UH shut out New Mexico State, 9-0, and ECU downed Elon College, 13-7. Louisville, South Florida and Tulane did not fare as well, dropping their opening round contests. Read about Friday's games in the roundup.


EAST CAROLINA 13 ELON 7
CLEMSON, SC - Second seed East Carolina withstood a seven-run rally and scored six unanswered runs to take a 13-7 victory over third seed Elon in the Clemson Regional Friday afternoon at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. East Carolina (42-18-1) advances to play the winner of the Clemson vs. Georgia Southern game Saturday at 3:00 PM, while Elon (34-22) will play the loser of the Friday night contest at 11:00 AM on Saturday.

Neal Sears (9-3) earned the win by pitching 2.2 innings of relief, yielding two runs off two hits while walking one and striking out four. Adam Acosta (3-4) got the loss for Elon.

East Carolina jumped on top in the first inning when Darryl Lawhorn went deep to right center for his 18th home run of the year. The two-run shot was Lawhorn`s 99th hit of the season, a new single season record for the Pirates. Bryant Ward`s sacrifice fly brought home another run and put ECU ahead 3-0.

Lawhorn struck again in the second inning with a three-run bomb, giving the Pirates a 6-0 lead. The runs gave a cushion to starting pitcher Sam Narron, who held the Phoenix to three hits through the first six innings. Elon threatened in the fourth with runners at the corners and one out, but Narron struck out Wes Miller and got Morgan Frazier to ground into a fielder`s choice to end the inning.

Elon finally got on the board in the seventh inning and exploded for seven runs. Miller led off the frame with a solo home run. The offense continued for Elon as it loaded the bases with no outs to chase Narron. Relief pitcher Kieran Mattison struck out Ricky Callison but walked Brian Ingram to plate one run. Neal Sears then came in to pitch for ECU and got the second out of the inning, but he walked Bryant to make the score 7-3. Jim Swenson then stepped to the plate and crushed the first pitch he saw over the fence in center field to knot the game at seven.

East Carolina responded with five runs of its own in the bottom of the frame. Ryan Jones led off the inning with a single and came home two batters later when Warren Gaspar singled to center. Jedd Sorenson then doubled to left to plate Gaspar and the Pirates loaded the bases with one out. Stephens grounded to first but Swenson`s throw to home plate was off-line, allowing a run to score. Ward then singled up the middle to score two runs and extend the Pirate lead to 12-7.

ECU added a run in the eighth and Sears retired the Phoenix in the ninth to close out the victory. Lawhorn led the way for the Pirate offense by going 2-4 with two home runs and six RBIs while Gaspar had a team-high four hits in six at-bats.


HOUSTON 9, NEW MEXICO STATE 0
MESA, Ariz. - The old baseball saying goes that good pitching beats good hitting. University of Houston sophomore pitcher Brad Sullivan certainly proved that true on Friday during a 9-0 win over New Mexico State during the first game of the NCAA Regional at Mesa at Hohokam Park.

Sullivan, who was named to the Louisville Slugger/TPX All-America First Team on Friday, struck out nine batters with only six hits allowed while tossing his third shutout of the season against an Aggie squad, which was batting .323 as a team with 95 home runs entering the game. It was the first time this season that NMSU had been shutout.

With the win, the Nederland, Texas, native improved to 12-1 and has allowed only one run in his last 29.0 innings of work while lowering his ERA to a team-best 1.93 mark. His win total tied for the third-highest mark in UH single-season history and equaled the mark set by head coach Rayner Noble in 1983.

The seventh-ranked Cougars, who have now won 12 of their last 13 games, return to action at 4 p.m. (CDT) - 2 p.m. Arizona time - when they face the winner of the Arizona State-San Diego game, which began at 8 p.m. (CDT) Friday night.

The Cougar offense struck for three runs in three innings, including six in the first three frames, while pounding out 15 hits to give Sullivan a comfortable cushion. Brett Cooley went 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs and blasted his 18th home run of the year in the first inning to give UH an early lead. With that homer, Cooley tied for the second highest homer total in UH single-season history.

Keith Whatley batted 3-for-5 with a run and RBI, while Hyung Cho, Thanos Papavasiliou and Stuart Musslewhite each rapped out two hits apiece. Musslewhite returned to the Cougar starting lineup after sitting out since April 26 with a shoulder injury suffered in an off-the-field incident.

NMSU (37-24) threatened for runs early, putting a runner on third base in the first inning and runners at second and third one inning later, but Sullivan induces a groundout and flyout to end both threats and seemed to grow stronger as the game progressed, retiring 16 of 18 batters midway through the contest.

The Cougars struck for the game's first runs with three in their first at-bat. After a Whatley single to center field, Cooley blasted a two-run homer over the right field wall. Papavasiliou followed with another single to center field and moved to second base on Jesse Crain's four-pitch walk.

Musslewhite then lifted a fly ball that fell into shallow left field, scoring Papavasiliou and giving UH a 3-0 lead.

Two innings later, the Cougars struck put another three-spot on the scoreboard thanks to some more power. After a walk to Cooley and Papavasiliou's second straight single, Crain blasted an 0-1 offering from Williams over the left field wall to push the Cougar lead to 6-0.


CENTRAL FLORIDA 6, SOUTH FLORIDA 1
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – UCF set the tone for its 6-1 NCAA Regional victory over South Florida in the first inning Friday afternoon at Dick Howser Stadium.

Bo Hall retired USF in order in the top of the first and proceeded to assemble the second complete game of his career. The Golden Knights used three hits, including a two-run single from Clay Timpner, to score three runs in the bottom of the inning.

Hall and UCF would not need any more.

The Bulls face the loser of the Florida State-Stetson game Saturday at 11 a.m. in an elimination game. UCF will meet the FSU-Stetson winner at 3 p.m. and the loser of that game will play the winner of Saturday's first game at 7 p.m.

Hall, a junior righthander who threw a complete-game against USF in April, limited the Bulls to five hits. Hall (10-0) struck out five and worked around two walks.

"Bo Hall was very good," said USF coach Eddie Cardieri. "It's the second time we've seen him this year. At their place he struck out nine and held us to seven hits and he was equally as good today and only gave us five hits. It seemed like he may not have been as sharp as he was that night in Orlando but when he had to make a pitch (today) he did."

David Mann led off the UCF first with a single up the middle and USF starter Jon Uhl was on the ropes right away. The sophomore righthander from Leto High School walked Mike Myers and Dee Brown moved both runners into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt.

Timpner, 3-of-5, singled into left field to score Myers and Brown. Ty Hanson followed with a double down the left-field line and the Knights led 3-0. Adam Miller and Rich Wallace walked to load the bases and UCF (41-20) had the opportunity blow the game open with just one out. Uhl, though, struck out Jeremy Frost, the No. 8 hitter, and caught Jason Graham looking to limit the damage.

"Jon Uhl has been so good for us down the stretch," said Cardieri. "We were 7-7 in our last 14 but Jon was 4-0 over that stretch with a minuscule ERA. It was just one of those days when he didn't have his best stuff."

Uhl (9-5) did not return for the second inning after throwing 38 pitches.

"We opted to get him out of there at a pitch count where we knew if we could advance out of the loser's bracket, if we were to lose, that we could bring him back and he could throw for us again Sunday," said Cardieri.

John Gorham kept USF in the game, striking out eight in seven solid relief innings. He scattered nine hits although the Knights collected four in a three-run fourth.

"Gorham was tremendous," said Cardieri. "He pitched well enough to win the ballgame but we couldn't get anything going against Hall so my cap is off to him."

USF (33-28) had a chance to get a run back right away when Jeff Baisley led off the second with a double into right field. A Mike Barclay ground out to second base with one out moved Baisley to third but Scott Rachlin flew out to end the threat.

"That is frustrating," said Cardieri. "In a 3-0 game when you get a lead-off double and you can advance the runner and score him and then you're 3-1 and you start chipping away. But today was frustrating."

Devin Ivany led off the third with a double into right-center field. The lineup nearly left him there but Graham dropped a Mike Macaluso fly ball on the warning track with two outs. The play was scored a triple and USF trailed 3-1.

USF had just four base runners and two hits the rest of the way. Baisley singled up the middle to start a two-out rally in the sixth. Hall walked Chris Cuccia but Barclay, 0-of-4, ground out to third base.


GEORGIA 7, LOUISVILLE 1
ATLANTA, GA. - Playing a postseason game for the first time in the program's 93-year history, the University of Louisville baseball team lost to the Georgia Bulldogs 7-1 in the first round of the NCAA Regional in Atlanta on Friday.

The second seeded Bulldogs(31-27) took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second on an RBI single by catcher Clint Sammons and a two-run home run off the bat of shortstop Josh Smith.

In the seventh, UGA added four more runs on a two run double by right fielder Adam Swann and a two-run home run by third baseman Lee Mitchell, for a 7-0 advantage.

Louisville(39-17) pushed across its only run in the eighth on a sacrifice fly by left fielder Josh Bolen in the eighth.

Bulldog starter Matt Woods(3-2) tossed seven scoreless innings, giving up just five hits and a walk, while fanning a career high seven. Scott Lawson tossed the final two frames, allowing a run on three hits and a walk, while striking out one.

Freshman Zach Jackson (10-3) started and took the loss for the Cards, surrendering five runs on eight hits and a walk, he struck out two. Josh Ring tossed an inning and a third and was touched for two runs on two hits, he struck out one.

Louisville, the number three seed, was outhit 10-8 and the Cards stranded 12 runners on base. Sophomore Mark Jurich had two of Louisville's hits, singling twice.

Louisville will now play the loser of the game between number one seed Georgia Tech and fourth seeded Coastal Carolina on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. ET. The winner of that game will advance to the 7:00 p.m. game against the loser of the 3:00p.m. game Saturday.

LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE 6, TULANE 3
BATON ROUGE, La. - Louisiana-Lafayette hurler Justin Gabriel threw a 109-pitch, complete game effort and the Ragin Cajuns gave the Green Wave a heavy dose of small ball as the Tulane University baseball team dropped a hard-fought 6-3 decision in the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional opener Friday evening at Alex Box Stadium.

Third baseman Anthony Giarratano, rightfielder Bryan Stelmack, second baseman Turner Brumby and shortstop Tommy Manzella each had two hits, and Manzella and Stelmack each hit home runs to lead the Green Wave offense, but it was not enough to overcome Gabriel's (10-4) performance from the mound, rightfiedler Corey Coles 3-for-4 showing at the plate and four bunt singles by the Cajuns.

With the loss, Tulane falls to 36-25 on the year and will have to fight through the loser's bracket to advance in the NCAA Tournament. The Green Wave will battle Southern on Saturday morning at 11, as the Jaguars dropped the day's first game to top-seeded LSU 5-4. The winner of the Tulane/Southern game will take on the loser of the 3 p.m. game which features LSU and UL-Lafayette at 7:30 p.m with the victor of that contest advancing to the championship game on Sunday at 1 p.m.

"I thought it was a heck of a good ballgame," head coach Rick Jones said. "You had two aces going against each other, and the game came out as billed. It was a game of inches, and tonight we came up short. I thought we swung the bats well enough to win, and defensively we played well enough to win. There were a couple of in-between balls that fell in, and we couldn't get anything to fall."

The Ragin' Cajuns opened the scoring in the second when Coles hit a line drive off the glove of a diving Manzella, stole second, went to third on a sacrifice bunt and came home on an RBI single by leftfielder Bryan Sneed.

Tulane answered in the top of the third on a solo homer by Manzella, but UL-Lafayette came right back in the home half of the frame when third baseman Dallas Morris belted a leadoff homer before Coles hit a singled up the left field line, stole a base and scored all the way from second on an error on Tulane starter Nick Bourgeois (10-3) to give the Ragin' Cajuns a 3-1 lead.

The Green Wave once again answered the Cajuns' scores, this time with a two-run homer by Stelmack in the fourth, but that would be all Gabriel would allow as the senior southpaw gave up just two hits and five baserunners the rest of the way.

UL-Lafayette took the lead for good in the fifth when the first four batters the Cajuns sent to the plate got base hits, including a run-scoring base knock by designated hitter Brad Saloom to score Coles from second to make it 4-3.

Bourgeois only gave up a single in the sixth and retired the side in order in the seventh, but after giving up a single to lead off the eighth, he was replaced by Joey Charron. From there, the Cajuns were able to drop down a pair of bunt singles and a squeeze-play sacrifice bunt to plate a pair of runs to account for the final score.


SATURDAY SCHEDULE
ATLANTA REGIONAL
Louisville vs. Coastal Carolina, 11:00 a.m. EDT

BATON ROUGE REGIONAL
Tulane vs. Southern, Noon EDT

CLEMSON REGIONAL
East Carolina vs. Clemson, 3:00 p.m. EDT

MESA REGIONAL
Houston vs. Arizona State, 5:00 p.m. EDT

TALLAHASSEE REGIONAL
South Florida vs. Stetson, 11:00 a.m. EDT