Saturday Night NCAA Roundup

Clint King

Southern Miss put on its second dominating performance of the day in eliminating Southern University on Saturday night, 18-1, as Clint King hit for the cycle. The game was played in front of a Pete Taylor Park record crowd of 4,553. The Golden Eagles will need to defeat Baylor twice on Sunday to advance to the Super Regional for the first time. Cole Bruce was 3-for-4 with four runs scored and four RBI as Houston exploded for a season-high-tying 16 runs in a 16-8 win over Alabama. The Cougars will face host Texas A&M on Sunday, needing a pair of wins to advance.

East Carolina was eliminated at the Atlanta Regional, falling 9-4 to Stetson. The Pirates finish the 2003 season with a record of 34-27-1.

Tulane moved ahead of UNC Wilmington 8-7 in the top of the 10th inning, only to watch the Seahawks score twice in the bottom of the inning to eliminate the Green Wave with a 9-8 win.

SOUTHERN MISS 18, SOUTHERN U. 1
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- Southern Miss produced a carbon copy of this afternoon with an 18-1 victory over Southern University this evening. The Golden Eagles face Baylor in the NCAA Regional Final, on Sunday, June 1, at 1 p.m., and a second game will follow if Southern Miss wins the opener.

After claiming an 18-0 win over Murray State earlier today, Southern Miss (47-15) also repeated its hitting total as 18 hits were slaughtered against the Jaguars (47-7). Clint King hit for the cycle with a 4-for-6 plate performance, three runs, a double, a triple, his 23rd home run of the season and four RBIs.

Beau Griffin was 3-for-5 with two runs and an RBI, and Brad Willcutt batted 2-for-5 with two runs, a grand slam home run and five RBIs. Jeff Cook was 1-for-2 with three runs, his 23rd home run of the season and two RBIs.

Two other Eagles whacked homers, including Jarrett Hoffpauir and Ryan Frith, as Southern Miss tacked on five bombs in the game. Starting pitcher Stephen Castleman (8-2) went seven innings and tossed a five-hit performance with one run, four walks and six strikeouts.

Southern Miss tallied 10 runs in the first three innings, including four runs in the top of the first. Cook claimed a two-run homer, and King and Hoffpauir whacked solo bombs to start the game.

The second inning featured Willcutt's grand slam, and Matt Shepherd's RBI single. A pair of runs each were scored in the third and fourth innings, and three runs were collected in fifth inning. The Eagles closed the game with four runs in the top of the ninth.

Kevin Vital's solo home run to centerfield was the only offense produced by Jaguars. He hit 3-for-4 to lead Southern's hitters. Vince Davis (8-2) collected the loss, going one inning and surrendering three hits, four runs, one walk and striking out two.

POSTGAME NOTES

Tonight marked the 20th time this season that Southern Miss has scored 10 or more runs in a game.

Jeff Cook, Clint King and Brad Willcutt became the most prolific home run hitting trio in USM history. Cook and King each have 23 homers and Willcutt has 12 for a total of 58. In the 1988 season, Sedgewick McCollum (20), Doug Cronk (18) and Fred Colley (17) combined for 55 homers.

King and Cook each tied the single-season home run record in the win over Southern, hitting their 23rd home runs. Fred Cooley hit 23 during the 1989 season and Bill Selby matched it in 1992.

King has set a new record for single-season total bases with 191.

King hit for the cycle in tonight’s game, hitting a home run in his first at-bat, a single in his second at-bat, a triple in his fourth at-bat and a double in his sixth at-bat.

In today’s games, Southern Miss set new record for team RBI and total bases in a season. The Golden Eagles finished Saturday’s play with 452 RBI on the year and 1,143 total bases.

As a team, Southern Miss has hit 89 home runs this season, which ties the 1988 team for second-most in school history. The 1997 team hit 95 home runs.

USM has now scored 495 runs this season, which is a new school record. The old mark was 489, set by the 1994 team.

After having eight of nine starters get a hit in the opening game win vs. Murray State, all nine starters recorded at least one hit in the win vs. Southern.

With nine doubles in two games today, Southern Miss has recorded 139 on the season, the second-most in school history. Seven different players have now recorded 10 or more doubles.

The Golden Eagles have now scored double-digit runs in all five of their all-time NCAA victories. USM posted 20-13 and 10-9 victories over South Alabama in the 1999 Regional at Tuscaloosa and a 14-10 win over Southwestern Louisiana in 1990 at the Baton Rouge Regional before an 18-0 win over Murray State earlier today.

Tonight’s attendance of 4,553 is a new Pete Taylor Park record crowd. Three of the 10 largest crowds in USM history have taken place in this regional.


HOUSTON 16 ALABAMA 8
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Cole Bruce batted 3-for-4 with four runs and four RBIs to help lead the University of Houston baseball team to a convincing 16-8 win over No. 23 Alabama on Saturday in an elimination game at Olsen Field at the NCAA Regional at College Station.

Bruce, who came just a single short of hitting for the cycle, is batting .545 at the Regional with five of his six hits going for extra bases, including two home runs. In addition, the Clute, Texas, has recorded six RBIs and posted an amazing 1.455 slugging percentage through the team's first three games.

The Cougars, who eliminated the Crimson Tide from the tournament and earlier eliminated Oral Roberts with a 4-2 win on Saturday morning, will now meet host Texas A&M at 2 p.m., Saturday. UH must win twice on Sunday to win the Regional and advance to the NCAA Super Regional to face the winner of the NCAA Regional at Houston, hosted by Rice.

Bruce was just part of a dominating offensive attack by the Cougars. Seven of the Cougars' nine starters recorded at least one hit AND one RBI in the game while eight of the nine starters rapped out at least one hit in the contest.

UH scored at least three runs in four consecutive innings midway through the contest to take control of the game.

Travis Tully batted 3-for-5 with a run and RBI, while Gabe Lucas, Hyung Cho, Brad Sullivan and Thanos Papavasiliou each pounded out two hits as the Cougars tied their season high in runs scored. Papavasiliou came off the bench to blast a three-run homer and tied with Bruce for game-high honors with four RBIs in the win.

UH reliever Brian Henderson took a large burden off the Cougar bullpen in collecting his fifth win of the season. The Sugar Land, Texas, native scattered three runs off four hits with five strikeouts in 4.2 innings to improve to 5-4 this season.

Alabama reliever Taylor Tankersley dropped to 7-5 after giving up five runs off four hits with three walks and a pair of strikeouts in only two innings.

After loading the bases in the bottom of the first, Alabama scored the game's first run when Al Hecklinski lifted a sacrifice fly into foul territory in right field to score Travis Garner from third base.

However, the score would not stay that way for long. Bruce blasted a 1-1 offering from Norris over the right field wall to tie the game at 1-1.

Bruce struck again in the third inning to give the Cougars the lead. Lucas started the rally with a single and moved to third on a walk to Cho. After a passed ball, Bruce smashed a sacrifice fly to deep center field to score Lucas and hand UH a 2-1 lead.

In the fourth inning, Beau Hearod laced an RBI single up the middle to score Evan Bush and tie the game at 2-2.

UH broke the game open in the fifth inning with five runs. Michael Bourn walked to lead off and moved to second base on Gabe Lucas' sacrifice bunt. After a walk to Cho and intentional walk to Bruce - following a double steal -Sullivan lifted a looping single into shallow right field to plate Bourn.

From there, Tully scored Cho on an infield single and Bruce scored on an Alabama infield error. Stuart Musslewhite then slapped a single into left field to score both Sullivan and Tully and hand the Cougars a 7-2 lead.

The Crimson Tide cut into that lead with three runs of its own in the bottom of the inning. Ryan Beagle ripped a double into right center to score Al Hecklinsk, who was hit by a pitch to lead off. After an infield error and walk loaded the bases, Beagle scored on a passed ball and pinch hitter Marshall scored on another passed ball to bring Alabama to within 7-5.

Alabama continued to threaten with the bases loaded and only one out, but Henderson forced Hearod to ground out into a third base-to-catcher-to-first base double play and end the threat.

In the sixth, the Cougars erupted for three runs from their first three batters of the inning. Cho led off with a single to right field and moved to third on Bruce's double to right center. Pinch hitter Papavasiliou then blasted the first pitch he saw from Beagle over the right field wall for a 13-5 UH lead.

However, again Alabama would answer in the bottom of the inning with two runs. Travis Garner's RBI-single plated Allen Rice, who reached on a single and Evan Bush scored on Adam Pavkovich's sacrifice fly to center field to trim the Cougar lead to 13-7.

UH pushed its lead to 16-7 in the eighth inning with three runs. After Bourn was hit by a pitch and Cho walked, Bruce plated both runners with a triple off the center field wall. Bruce then scored his season-best fourth run of the game on Papavasiliou's single to left field.

The Crimson Tide scored their final run of the game in the bottom of the ninth on a wild pitch for the final margin of victory.

Travis Garner bated 3-for-6 with a run, double and two RBIs to lead Alabama with Hearod, Beagle and Allen Rice each recording two hits.


UNC WILMINGTON 9, TULANE 8
BATON ROUGE, La. – Matt Sutton’s RBI single in the bottom of the 10th inning capped a two-run rally for UNC Wilmington as the Seahawks outlasted Tulane, 9-8, in an elimination game of the Baton Rouge regional on Saturday night at Alex Box Stadium.

UNCW (40-22), making its first-ever appearance in the NCAA baseball tournament, will advance to the championship round to face LSU (42-19-1) on Sunday at 1 p.m. The Tigers defeated Tulane 13-5 earlier Saturday to remain undefeated, and the Seahawks will need two wins to advance to the super regional.

Tulane (44-19) continued its pattern of post-season frustration at Alex Box Stadium, falling to 9-14 all-time in NCAA tournament games in Baton Rouge.

Nathan Southard reached base with a one-out single in the 10th, and then after moving to second on Tim Guidry’s sacrifice bunt, Brian Bormaster lined a solid single to center field to score the go-ahead run.

But the lead wouldn’t last, as Brad Denson led off with a double and then scored right away on a single by Grawey, Grawey’s fourth hit of the game. A sacrifice bunt by Matt Wright moved Grawey to second, and after an intentional walk to Jamie Hemingway, Sutton lined a shot past Tulane first baseman Michael Aubrey to score Grawey.

The Green Wave was down to its final out in the ninth inning when Brian Bogsuevic hit what looked to be a routine ground ball to Seahawk shortstop Aaron Smith. But the ball took a bad hop, and when it got into left field, Grawey kicked the ball, allowing Tony Giarratano, who led off the ninth with a single, to score from first and tie the game.

UNCW grabbed a 7-6 lead in the bottom of the eighth when Hemingway, a first team All-Colonial Athletic Association selection, lifted a bloop that glanced off of Tommy Manzella’s glove and past Tulane right fielder Bogusevic, allowing Grawey to come home all the way from first.

The game was tied at 2-2 heading into the fifth, when it appeared the Green Wave would pull away for good with a four-run frame.

The first run scored when Jonny Kaplan came home on a balk by UNCW pitcher Ronald Hill, and then another Seahawk miscue, a throwing error by catcher Neal Eichhorn that sent Aubrey home. Bogusevic then extended the Wave lead to 6-2 with a two-run home run to deep right-center field.

Hemingway cut the Seahawk deficit to 6-4 in the fifth with a two-run home run into the left-center field seats, and an error by Kaplan on a Matt Sutton base hit would result in another unearned run on Russ Simmerman’s RBI ground out.

A wild pitch on a third strike to leadoff batter Eichhorn in the sixth set up the tying run for UNCW, which came on Matt Wright’s sacrifice fly.

Tulane took the early lead at 1-0 on a two-out home run by Aubrey, but the Seahakws took the lead at 2-1 in the bottom of the first on an RBI single by Matt Sutton and a two-out RBI double from Simmerman.

The Green Wave used a leadoff walk to Manzella and a base hit by Southard to eventually tie the game in the second on an RBI ground out by Bormaster, and the 2-2 would hold through the fourth.


STETSON 9, EAST CAROLINA 4
Andy Wilson went 3-for-4 with three RBI as Stetson beat East Carolina 9-4 Saturday in an elimination game in the NCAA regional in Atlanta.

The Hatters (41-23) must beat South Carolina (41-20) twice Sunday to advance to the Super Regional. Earlier Saturday, the Gamecocks beat Stetson 7-2.

The Hatters scored seven runs in the first two innings, then cruised from there.

"I think all the players we have are capable of doing the job,'' said John Destefano, who was 3-for-5 with three RBI. "We took advantage of our opportunities when we got people in scoring position.''

Brandon Paritz added three hits, drove in a run and scored twice. Adam Townsend (4-3) relieved starter Cameron Abel with two outs in the fifth and pitched one-hit ball over 3 1-3 innings. He walked one and struck out one.

Roger Lincoln pitched a scoreless ninth for Stetson.

Jason Tourangeau (2-2) didn't get out the second for the Pirates, who beat host Georgia Tech 10-3 in the first elimination game Saturday. In 1 2-3 innings, he gave up five runs on five hits.

"We were asking an awful lot of Jason,'' East Carolina coach Randy Mazey said. "He didn't have his breaking ball in the first two innings, and without his breaking ball for strikes, they're going to put the bat on the ball.

"We just got down too far to come back from.''

Stetson took a 1-0 lead in the first on a run-scoring double by Wilson, then added six in the second.

Ben Hall was hit by a pitch and Mike D'Aoust followed with a hit-and-run single to left. A fielder's choice moved Hall to third, and he came home on a single by Rusty Beale. John Destefano singled to score Ian Church to finish Tourangeau, and reliever Neal Sears gave up a run-scoring single to Paritz.

An out later, Wilson drove in Destefano and Paritz with a double down the left-field line for a 7-1 lead.

The Pirates got within 7-2, then added two more in the fifth. With one out, Jamie Paige singled and then moved to third on a double by Ryan Jones. Abel got Ryan Norwood on a groundout, then left in favor of Townsend.

But Darryl Lawhorn singled to right -- the only hit off Townsend -- to bring home Paige and Jones to cut the lead to 7-4.

Destefano hit a solo homer in the seventh, then added a run-scoring single in the ninth.