South Florida, Houston and East Carolina have all advanced to Sunday's regional championship action. USF scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to rally and defeat Stetson, 14-13 at the Tallahassee Regional. Twice, the Bulls erased six run deficits in that game before Ryan Gloger threw his first career complete game to lead USF past Central Florida, 7-2 in the Bulls second game on Saturday night. East Carolina dropped a heartbreaker to Clemson, 4-3, before rebounding with a win over Georgia Southern. Houston posted a convincing 8-4 win over Arizona State. Tulane defeated Southern, 10-2, before falling to LSU, 4-2. Louisville's successful season ended with a loss to Coastal Carolina.


SOUTH FLORIDA 14, STETSON 13
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - In an offensive thriller, the South Florida Bulls improved to 34-28 with a 14-13 come-from-behind victory over Stetson on Saturday afternoon in Game 3 of the NCAA Division I Baseball Tallahassee Regional at Dick Howser Stadium. Stetson concludes its season with a 42-19 record, while USF advances to Game 5 (Saturday, 7 p.m.) against the loser of this afternoon's UCF/FSU game

Stetson opened the game with back-to-back singles by centerfielder Josh Laws and catcher Chris Westervelt. With one out Bryan Zenchyck sent a double to right field to score Laws. South Florida rightfielder Bryan Hierlmeier slipped on the play, putting runners on second and third for the Hatters. Westervelt scored Stetson's second run on a sacrifice fly by designated hitter Chris Cole and Zenchyk scored Stetson's third run on a double to left to second baseman Andy Wilson.

Westervelt put the Hatters up 5-0 with his school-record tying 18th home run of the season to left with two outs in the top of the second. Shortstop Rusty Beale, who reached base on a single, scored ahead of Westervelt on the home run.

Cole opened the Hatter third with a double to right center. Cole advanced to third on a fielder's choice and left fielder Joe Kruelic drew a two-out walk to put runners on first and third. Cole scored Stetson's sixth run when he stole home as Kruelic intentionally became involved in a run-down between first and second. Cole scored as Kruelic made it safely back to first.

South Florida first baseman Ryan Handley led off the bottom of the third with a single to left for the Bulls' first hit of the game. He advanced to second on a fielder's choice, to third on a fly out to right and was stranded there when Stetson's Brian Sullivan struck out Laws to end the inning. Sullivan retired nine of the 10 batters he faced in the first three innings.

Bulls' centerfielder Mike Barclay opened the bottom of the fifth with a bunt single. First baseman Ronnie Handley reached base on a fielder's choice and on the play Barclay was safe at second to put two runners on. Barclay and Macaluso then successfully executed a double steal to put runners on second and third. Barclay scored South Florida's first run of the game on a fielder's choice by second baseman Mike Macaluso. A double to right by designated hitter Chris Cuccia scored Macaluso and Heirlmeir, who had walked, to make the score 6-3. Cuccia scored on a home run to right center by shortstop Myron Leslie. South Florida trailed by one, 6-5, at the end of the inning.

South Florida chased Stetson starter Brian Sullivan out of the game in the bottom of the sixth after Bulls' catcher Devin Ivany led off the inning with a single to left. Cameron Abel replaced Sullivan and promptly walked Barclay, the first batter he faced. Abel forced Handley to ground into a double play with Ivany advancing to third on the play. Ivany scored the game-tying run on an error by Beale, the Hatter shortstop. A single by leftfielder Mike Cunningham put runners on first and third and brought Stetson head coach Pete Dunn out to make another pitching change. John DeStefano replaced Abel and retired the final batter of the inning with the score tied 6-6.

Stetson began the top of the seventh with consecutive hits. A Westervelt single and a double by Brian Snyder put runners on second and third. The Hatters regained the lead, 7-6, as Westervelt scored on an infield ground out by Zenchyk. Steve Palinkas then replaced USF starter Jason Bartz on the mound. Palinkas struck out pinch hitter Lee Bagley and walked Wilson to put runners on first and third with two outs before USF head coach Eddie Cardieri replaced Palinkas with Joey Livingston. Livingston was greeted with a run scoring single by Church to increase the Hatters' lead to 8-6. Kurelic then walked to load the bases. A base clearing double to center by Beale put Stetson up 11-6. A Law single to right made the score 12-6. He was thrown out at second to end the inning.

South Florida mounted a rally in the seventh as the Bulls scored three runs on five hits. Barclay landed the big blow of the inning with a two-run home run to bring the score to 12-9.

The Bulls continued to chip away at the Hatters' lead in the eighth. Hierlmeier and Cuccia landed consecutive doubles to put runners on second and third with one out. After an infield pop out, Dunn made another change on the mound. He replaced DeStefano with Jack Collins. South Florida third baseman Jeff Baisley ripped a double to right field to score Hierlmeier and Cuccia and bring the score to 12-11 in favor of Stetson. Ivany flied out to center to end the inning.

South Florida took advantage of being the home team and made the most of its last at bat, scoring three runs off of three hits for the victory. Barclay led off with a double to right center and after a single by Scott Rachlin, was brought home by Macaluso, who doubled down the right field line. Travis Brown, who came in to pinch run for Rachlin, scored on a fielder's choice by Cuccia. Macaluso crossed the plate with the winning run on a sacrifice fly by Leslie.

Keith Strickland, who pitched just two-thirds of an inning, earned the win for the Bulls and improved to 6-1. Stetson's Jack Collins, who pitched just a third of an inning, but allowed three runs to score, got the loss and finished the season at 5-4.

SOUTH FLORIDA 7, CENTRAL FLORIDA 2
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The South Florida Bulls advanced to championship Sunday of the NCAA Division I Baseball Tallahassee Regional with a 7-2 win over UCF in Game 5, Saturday evening at Dick Howser Stadium. USF, now 35-28, will face top-seeded Florida State (58-12) at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday. The Bulls will have to defeat the Seminoles twice in order to advance to Super Regional action as FSU has gone undefeated in this weekend's regional play. UCF concluded the season 41-22.

South Florida struck early with two runs on two outs in the bottom of the second inning. Bryan Hierlmeier got things started with an infield hit with one out and went to second on a ground out by Allen Shirley. Mike Cunningham's base hit to center scored Hierlmeier and Cunningham advanced to second on an error on the play. Leadoff hitter Mike Macaluso kept things going with a base hit to left, scoring Cunningham.

The Bulls picked up two more runs in their half of the third. Myron Leslie walked to start the bottom of the third inning. After stealing second, he went to third on a ground out by Jeff Baisley. Leslie was brought home by Devin Ivany's base hit to short left. Ivany advanced to second on a wild pitch and went to third on a single by Barclay. With runners on the corners, Hierlmeier recorded his second hit of the game with a single down the middle to score Ivany.

South Florida starting pitcher Ryan Gloger kept the UCF hitters in check, holding the Golden Knights hitless until the fourth inning. Rich Wallace recorded the Golden Knights' first hit of the game with a shot to centerfield with two out, but Clay Timpner grounded out to second to end the inning.

USF's Chris Cuccia's RBI double to left field in the bottom of the fifth increased the Bulls' lead to five as Cunningham, who had led off the inning with a walk, scored his second run of the game.

Wallace doubled to center in the top of the seventh inning, accounting for both UCF hits in the game. He was again left stranded.

It was like déjà vu in the bottom of the seventh inning. Like he did in the third inning, Leslie led off the inning with a walk and went to third on a single by Baisley, who advanced to second on the throw. Ivany recorded his second and third RBIs of the game with a single to right center.

In the UCF ninth, the Golden Knights rallied for two runs off of two hits. The first three batters reached base. Mike Myers led off with a walk and after stealing both second and third was driven in by Dee Brown's single. Wallace belted a double, for his third hit of the game, to score Brown.

Gloger, who struck out four and walked two, got the complete game victory and improved to 6-4. With the loss, UCF's Lincoln Mincks finished the season 7-6.


CLEMSON 4, EAST CAROLINA 3
CLEMSON, SC - Matt Henrie did not allow an earned run and Jarrod Schmidt hit a two-run homer to lead top-seeded Clemson past second-seeded East Carolina 4-2 in the Clemson Regional Saturday afternoon at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. Clemson advances to the regional championship game Sunday at 2:00 PM while East Carolina plays Georgia Southern at 7:00 PM tonight to determine Clemson`s opponent.
Henrie (12-4) threw 120 pitches over eight innings, allowing only two unearned runs and seven hits while striking out seven and walking two. The outing was his second longest of the season behind an 8.1 inning effort in a win at North Carolina. Starter Davey Penny (8-4) got the loss for East Carolina.

East Carolina jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning behind Clayton McCullough`s RBI-single through the left side. The Tigers put runners in scoring position in the first two innings without getting a run before finally breaking through in the fourth. Clemson loaded the bases with one out when Steve Pyzik hit a ground ball to shortstop. Luke Perry flipped the ball to second baseman Jedd Sorenson, but Sorenson`s attempt to turn the double play went awry when his throw sailed over first base and into the dugout. Two runs scored on the play to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead.

The Pirates tied the score in the sixth inning. With the bases loaded and one out, Daniel Vick grounded out to first base, allowing Sorenson to score. With runners on second and third, Henrie induced a flyout to get out of the inning without further damage.

Clemson regained the lead in the bottom of the frame thanks to Jarrod Schmidt. After Zane Green doubled, Schmidt hit a deep fly to center that ECU`s Warren Gaspar had in his sights. Gaspar leaped and crashed into the fence as the ball hit his glove. The ball then went over the fence for a home run, Schmidt`s 10th of the year, and put the Tigers up 4-2.

Meanwhile, Henrie held down the Pirate offense. He put two runners on in the eighth inning, but got out of the inning and was relieved by Jeff Hahn in the ninth. Hahn retired the first two batters in the ninth before giving up two straight hits. Hahn then struck out pinch hitter Brian Cavanaugh to earn his third save of the year and put Clemson in the regional championship game.

Green, Schmidt and Frank had two hits apiece to lead the Clemson offense. Khalil Greene doubled in the first inning to extend his hitting streak to 29 games. The hit was his eighth straight, the second time this year Greene has notched eight hits in a row, and the double was the 90th of his career, moving him into third in NCAA history.


EAST CAROLINA 7, GEORGIA SOUTHERN 5
CLEMSON, SC - Second seed East Carolina rebounded from a loss to Clemson just hours earlier to defeat Georgia Southern 7-3 in the Clemson Regional Saturday night at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. The Pirates (43-19-1) move on to a rematch with Clemson Sunday afternoon at 2:00 PM in the Regional Championship Game while the Eagles (39-25) have been eliminated.
Kieran Mattison (2-0) earned the win for East Carolina after one scoreless inning of relief. Brian Harrison (1-3) suffered the loss for Georgia Southern.

East Carolina started the scoring in the third inning. Ryan Jones scored on a groundout by Warren Gaspar and Clayton McCullough knocked in Sanderson with a two-out single to put the Pirates ahead 2-0. Georgia Southern got on the board in the bottom of the frame when Chris Walker`s groundout scored J.R. Revere. The Eagles then took a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the fourth with consecutive two-out, RBI-singles by Rocky Baker and Revere.

After two scoreless innings, East Carolina took command of the game with a four-run seventh. The Pirates got RBI-singles from Darryl Lawhorn, McCullough and Bryant Ward before Georgia Southern reliever Harrison recorded an out. McCullough scored later in the inning on a sacrifice fly by Luke Cherry that gave the Pirates a 6-3 lead.

East Carolina added a run in the eighth inning to make the final margin 7-3. Pirate reliever Neal Sears entered the game in the seventh inning and pitched three scoreless innings for his ninth save of the season. The appearance was his 33rd of the year, which sets a new ECU single season record.

Lawhorn, McCullough, Ward and Ben Sanderson each had two singles to lead the Pirates in the game, which did not see an extra base hit from either team.

HOUSTON 8, ARIZONA STATE 4
MESA, Ariz. - Danny Zell scattered three hits with only one run in the first 5.2 innings and the University of Houston offense continued its hot streak with 13 hits as the seventh-ranked Cougars took an 8-4 win over Arizona State during day two of the NCAA Regional at Mesa.

With the win, the Cougars advanced to the NCAA Regional championship game at 4 p.m. (CDT) Sunday - 2 p.m. Arizona time - against the winner of the Arizona State-San Diego game Saturday night. UH also posted the second highest win total in school single-season history in improving to 46-15 overall.

Throwing 5.2 innings in his longest outing of the year, Zell got out of a jam in the first inning with runners on first and third and would retire 14 of 15 batters during one stretch. The Houston native improved to 8-1 this season.

Meanwhile, the UH offense pounded out 13 hits in the game, the second straight contest in the NCAA postseason that the Cougars recorded double-digit hits. Sam Mitchell went 3-for-4 with a run and RBI to lead the attack, tying his career high in hits. Keith Whatley went 2-for-3 with a run and two RBIs, while Jesse Crain batted 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs.

As they had in the first game of the NCAA Regional, the Cougars struck for the game's first run in their initial at-bat. Michael Bourn led off with a bunt single down the first base line and moved all the way to third base when Esposito's pickoff attempt got away from first baseman and Jeremy West and rolled down the right field line.

Whatley then laced a sacrifice fly to center field, allowing Bourn to score and giving UH a 1-0 lead.

The scored remained that way until the fifth inning when UH struck for two runs, thanks to two hits and a key ASU error. Crain led off with a single to left field and moved to third on Mitchell's looping double to right field.

Hyung Cho lifted a sacrifice fly to center field to plate Crain for the Cougars' second run of the year. Cameron Blair then lifted a fly ball into shallow right field that kept Mitchell at third base, but ASU right fielder Andre Ethier's throw to home plate bounced over the head of catcher Cesar Castillo and rolled to the backstop, allowing Mitchell to score.

ASU scored its first run of the game in the sixth inning on Ethier's RBI single to center field.

However, UH quickly regained the momentum in the bottom of the inning with three more runs. Jesse Crain ripped an 0-2 pitch down the right field line to score Whatley and Brett Cooley and would come around to score on Mitchell's single to left field.

In the seventh inning, Cho blasted the first pitch he saw over the left field fence for his sixth home run of the year and Whatley smashed an RBI-single to right field to score Bourn for an 8-1 lead.

ASU cut into the lead in the eighth inning on Ethier's RBI single and made things interesting in the ninth inning with two runs off a hit and two UH errors. However, Crain induced a fly ball to shallow left field to end the game and propel the Cougars into Sunday's title game.


TULANE 10, SOUTHERN 2
BATON ROUGE, La. - Tulane’s Beau Richardson limited Southern to one earned run and six hits in pitching a complete game to propel the Green Wave past the Jaguars, 10-2 in an elimination game at the Baton Rouge regional Saturday at Alex Box Stadium.

Tulane (36-26) awaits the loser of the upcoming Louisiana-Lafayette-LSU game tonight at 7:30 p.m. in an elimination game. Southern (45-10) has now dropped five consecutive NCAA regional contests to fall to 2-10 all-time in regional competition.

Richardson, who last year pitched a complete game in the clinching game of the super regional against LSU to send Tulane to the College World Series for the first time, did not allow a run over the first 5 1/3 innings in improving to 7-5 on the season.

The Green Wave loaded the bases without a hit in the second, as Southern’s Eric Thomas hit Michael Aubrey, then issued two-out walks to Turner Brumby and Brian Bormaster before Tommy Manzella cashed in with a two-run single to give Tulane its first lead of the regional.

Southern didn’t threaten until the third, when the Jaguars loaded the bases with one out, but Richardson left Southern scoreless by retiring Antoin Gray on a pop-up and Rickie Weeks on a fly ball to center.

Tulane put the game out of Southern’s reach with a five-run fifth. It started with a base hit by Aaron Feldman and a walk to James Jurries, and two batters later, Anthony Giarratano singled up the middle to score Feldman and make it 3-0 in the Wave’s favor.

Gerald Clark continued the onslaught with a base hit just inside the third base bag to score Feldman and chase Southern starter Eric Thomas from the game.

Jaguar reliever Jason Anderson promptly walked Brumby to load the bases before Bormaster hit a soft ground ball back to the mound. Anderson made an underhanded throw to try and retire Giarratano, but instead the ball bounded into right field, scoring Clark for a 6-0 lead. Manzella’s ground ball scored Brumby with the inning’s final run one batter later.

Thomas gave up six earned runs on six hits over 4 1/3 innings in falling to 7-2, as the Jaguars used four pitcher in a failed attempt to keep their season alive.

Southern wouldn’t score until the sixth, when a throwing error by Giarratano scored Weeks from first base.

Weeks, whose batting average has hovered around .500 most of the year, hit a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh in his final at-bat of the season. Tulane, though, would score twice in the ninth, one on a throwing error by Carl Primus and another on Brumby’s RBI double.

LSU 4, TULANE 2
BATON ROUGE, La. – LSU pitcher Bo Pettit kept the Fighting Tigers’ season alive with his third consecutive complete game and his fourth win in his last five outings as LSU eliminated archrival Tulane 4-2 Saturday night in the Baton Rouge regional at Alex Box Stadium.

LSU (42-20), which lost 5-0 to Louisiana-Lafayette earlier in the afternoon, will face the Ragin’ Cajuns Sunday at 1 p.m. in the championship round. Should LSU win that game, a second game for all the marbles will take place at approximately 5 p.m. The winner of the regional advances to face the winner of the Houston regional final between Rice and Washington next weekend in a best-of-three super regional.

Pettit, a junior right-hander from Houston, made the most of his first career NCAA Tournament appearance, struck out 11, just one shy of his career high, in improving to 9-7.

Tulane had the chance to rally from a 4-2 deficit in the ninth, as Michael Aubrey led off with a double and Gerald Clark drew a one-out walk to put the tying run on base. Turner Brumby then grounded out with a half-swing to move the runners up into scoring position, pinch hitter Bryan Stelmack took a called third strike to end the Green Wave’s season.

LSU had opportunities in each of the first two innings to break the game open, but failed to do so both times. In the first, the Tigers got back-to-back singles from Aaron Hill and Wally Pontiff and a walk to Matt Heath to load the bases, but the bases would remain loaded when Rocky Scelfo grounded into a force play.

Back-to-back doubles in the second by David Raymer and Chris Phillips did score the game’s first run in the second, but LSU missed an opportunity with two runners on and one out as Hill and Pontiff popped up to leave it only 1-0.

Tulane tied the game in the bottom of the second on Brumby’s RBI single, but the Tigers would regain the lead in the top of the third when Scelfo singled home Sean Barker, who led off the inning with a double into the right field corner.

Raymer led off the fourth inning with a home run to right field to make it 3-1 and drive Tulane starting pitcher Kris Kline from the game after Kline had given up three runs on seven hits in three-plus innings.

Reliever Joey Charron struck out Phillips and got Holt to ground out, but he soon dug the Green Wave a further hole when Hill homered over the left field bleachers to extend LSU’s lead to 4-1.

Charron gave up a single to Pontiff and a double to Barker, but avoided further damage by getting Heath to fly out to right, and the Wave left-hander would go on to retire 14 of the next 16 batters he faced in the remainder of the game.

Tulane, however, could not take advantage, as their only other run came in the fifth on a Tommy Manzella solo home run.



COASTAL CAROLINA 9, LOUISVILLE 1
ATLANTA, GA. - The University of Louisville baseball team saw its most successful season in school history come to an end with a 9-1 loss to Coastal Carolina in the first elimination game of the NCAA Regional in Atlanta.

The loss was the fourth straight, the longest losing streak of the season for the Cards, who finished with a school record 39 wins to go with 18 losses. The regional marked the first time a Louisville baseball team advanced to postseason play.

Louisville scored first when junior outfielder Dave Williams Jr. lead off the game with a single and scored on an RBI single by first baseman Morgan Bojorquez.

The Chanticleers answered with two in the bottom of the first on a solo home run by Chad Felty and an RBI double by catcher Randy McGarvey Jr. for a 2-1 advantage.

Brandon Powell tripled in two runs in the second, and DH Jeff Baker doubled in a run in the third for a 5-1 Coastal lead.

Adam Keim's solo home run in the fourth made it 6-1, and sac fly by Felty and an RBI double by Pinnochio in the fifth made it a seven run game.

An unearned run in the sixth closed the scoring.

Seamus Donovan went the distance for Coastal, giving up nine hits and three walks, while striking out three to improve to 9-3.

Cardinal starter Scott Barber(4-6) exited after just two innings, allowing five runs on six hits and a walk, he struck out one in the loss.

Garrett Estabrook allowed two hits in a third of an inning and Carlos Fernandez was touched for three run on five hits and two walks in 2.1 frames. Fernandez struck out one.

Senior Grant Williams tossed the final 3.1 innings, giving up an unearned run on three hits and a walk, setting down four by way of strikeout.

Fernando Isa, Williams Jr.and Bojorquez each had a pair of hits for the Cards. Isa was joined by Williams, Estabrook, Mike Budak, Scott Gerlach and Josh Ring as the departing senior class of 2002.

The Louisville squad set a defensive record for fewest errors in a season with 62, eclipsing last season's total of 63.

Head Coach Lelo Prado will now head to Tucson, Arizona to lead the USA Baseball National Team as its head coach into a U.S. and international tour before the World Championships in Italy this summer.


SUNDAY SCHEDULE

CLEMSON REGIONAL
East Carolina vs. Clemson, 2:00 p.m. EDT

MESA REGIONAL
Houston vs. Arizona State, 4:00 p.m. EDT

TALLAHASSEE REGIONAL
South Florida vs. Florida State, 2:00 p.m. EDT