Friday's NCAA Baseball Championship Roundup

Brian Bormaster

The Killer B's of Brian Bogusevic and Brian Bormaster led Tulane to a 3-2 victory over Washington. Bogusevic threw 8 2/3 strong innings and Bormaster delivered the game-winning two-run single to advance the Green Wave past the Huskies. Southern Miss scored twice in the seventh and once in the eighth to rally past College of Charleston, 6-5. TCU played its first NCAA Tournament game since 1994, but dropped a 6-5 decision to Mid-Continent Conference champion Oral Roberts at the Austin Regional. East Carolina's opening game at the Kinston Regional against Stony Brook has been postponed until 7:00 p.m. on Saturday due to heavy rains and severe weather in the Kinston area.

TULANE 3, WASHINGTON 2
Sophomore southpaw Brian Bogusevic struck out three and scattered eight hits in a gutsy 8.2 inning start, and senior infielder Brian Bormaster hit a clutch, two-run single in the second as the Tulane University baseball team defeated second-seeded Washington 3-2 in the first game of the 2004 NCAA Oxford Regional Friday afternoon at Swayze Field.

Bogusevic was twice a strike away from recording his fourth complete-game of the season, but Nick Batkoski and Tyler Mach coaxed base hits to put a pair on in the bottom of the ninth. From there, Tulane head coach Rick Jones called in Daniel Latham from the bullpen, and the rookie got nine-hole hitter Ben Johnson to pop up to second where Joe Holland made the squeeze and the celebration was on.

"We are excited with the win, but there is still a long way to go in this tournament," head coach Rick Jones said. "It was a heck of a ballgame, and I'm glad we won. Brian (Bogusevic) was fantastic today. He had good stuff and we played well defensively.

"This was a win that came down to a few big pitches in the ninth inning. Pulling Brian was a tough decision, but we knew that Daniel Latham could do the job. Brian was running on fumes with all of the pitches he had to throw."

With the win, Tulane improves to 39-19 on the year and will face the winner of the Mississippi/Western Kentucky contest on Saturday at 3 p.m. Washington, meanwhile, falls to 37-19-1 in 2004 and will face the loser of the Rebels/Hilltoppers matchup tomorrow at 11 a.m.

Huskies starter Tim Lincecum made quick work of the Green Wave in the first innings, squeezing a walk between three strikeouts, and Washington took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the frame as Brent Lillibridge lead off with a single, stole second and scored on a two-out RBI knock by Kyle Larsen.

Lincecum pitched himself into a jam in the top of the second as junior catcher Greg Dini and freshman first baseman Mark Hamilton induced back-to-back walks to lead off the frame, and junior left fielder Wes Swackhamer was able to move the runners with a swinging-bunt groundout to second. Bormaster made the free passes hurt one batter later with a two-run single up the middle to give the Green Wave a 2-1 lead they would not relinquish.

Bogusevic and Lincecum hung zeros on the board over the next four innings, but Tulane got things going in the top of the seventh when sophomore centerfielder Nathan Southard and junior right fielder Matt Barket singled and Dini drew a two-out walk to load the bases. With the sacks full, sophomore third baseman Tim Guidry - who claimed the hot corner in the bottom of the fifth - watched four Lincecum pitches sail outside of the strikezone and drove in what proved to be the winning run without taking the bat off his shoulder.

Washington refused to go away, however, as Batkoski doubled to lead off the home half of the seventh, went to second on a fly ball to center and scored on an RBI groundout off the bat of Johnson to account for the final score.

Husky reliever Trent Baysinger, who came on following Guidry's bases-loaded walk in the seventh, retired all seven Green Wave batters he faced, and Washington had the tying runs on base in each of the final two innings. In the eighth, Zach Clem reached after getting hit by a pitch, but Bogusevic got an inning-ending double play by Larsen. Bogusevic sat down the first two batters he faced in the ninth before the Batkoski started the rally, but Latham came on to slam the door and earn his sixth save of the year.

For his efforts, Bogusevic claimed the win to improve to 9-5 in 2004. Lincecum gave the Huskies a 10-strikeout performance and allowed just four singles, but seven walks proved to be his downfall as the freshman right-hander was saddled with the loss to fall to 10-3.


SOUTHERN MISS 6, COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON 5
A wild pitch in the eighth inning by College of Charleston relief pitcher Brett Harker scored Southern Miss' Ryan Frith from third to give Southern Miss its first lead of the game, 6-5 and the victory in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, tonight, at Alex Box Stadium.

With the win, Southern Miss advances to play LSU in the winner's bracket at 3 p.m. Army faces College of Charleston in the elimination game at 9 a..m.

In the eighth inning, Frith walked to lead off the inning and moved to third on a one-out hit and run by Jason Lowery. The wild pitch scored Frith and moved Lowery to second before the Cougars retired the Golden Eagles.

Southern Miss scored two runs in the seventh inning to tie the game at 5-5. Jody Blount led off the inning with a walk, moved to second on Matt Shepherd's walk and both scored on Hoffpauir's double to left field.

Austin Tubb (8-0) picked up his eighth win of the season, pitching the final 1.1 innings of the game, not allowing a hit and striking out one. Harker (5-3) dropped his third decision of the year, giving up one run on two hits in 1.2 innings. Patrick Ezell started for Southern Miss and gave up four runs on nine hits, walked two and struck out three in five innings. Adam Smith pitched an inning of relief, giving up one run on three hits and striking out one. John Nicholas also saw 1.2 innings of relief, gave up one hit, walked one and struck out two.

Southern Miss (45-17) scored six runs on nine hits and commited an error, while College of Charleston (45-15) scored five runs on 13 hits and committed one error. The Golden Eagles had nine players finish with one hit each. Jarrett Hoffpauir finished with three RBIs and Carlos Velasquez had two.

College of Charleston took an early 3-0 lead in second inning. Brett Anderson walked to lead off the inning, moved to second on Jess Easterling's sacrifice to the pitcher, moved to third on Brian Hastings single to short and scored on Chris Campbell's single to right. Anthony Fairchild grounded out to first to score Hastings. Phillip Coker singled to center to plate Campbell.

Southern Miss cut the lead by one in the fourth inning, scoring two runs. Brad Willcutt hit a two-out double to right center, moved to third on Frith's single to right and both scored on Velasquez's double down the left field line.

The Golden Eagles scored one in the fifth inning to tie the game at 3-3. Beau Griffin hit a one-out single up the middle, moved to second on Matt Shepherd's single through the right side, moved to third on Marc Maddox's single through the left side and scored on Hoffpauir's sacrifice fly to right.

College of Charleston regained the lead with a run in the sixth inning. Campbell doubled to left center and scored on Coker's single to right. The Cougars added another run in the seventh inning to take a two-run lead. Brett Anderson was hit by a pitch to lead off the seventh, moved to second on Easterling's single to right and advanced to third on Brian Hasting's single to left. Anderson scored on Campbell's single through the right side.

Hoffpauir's three RBIs push his season total to 89, which marks a new school record, passing Fred Cooley (1989), who finished with 86. He also now has 105 hits for the season which ties him for second place with Todd Nace (1991). He needs one more to tie Michael Artman (1999) and two more to become the school's single-season leader. The Golden Eagles six runs tonight also gives them 501 runs, a new school record.


ORAL ROBERTS 6, TCU 5
The Horned Frogs ninth inning rally fell one run short as they dropped the opening game of the 2004 NCAA Austin Regional to the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles. The Frogs left two runners on and the tying run at third in the ninth inning. Shelby Ford led all Frog hitters, going 3-for-5 at the plate. Chad Huffman set a new single season hit record, breaking the old one with a base hit in the first inning. He now has 96 hits in his first season as a Frog.

The Horned Frogs got on the board first as they picked up two runs in the top of the first inning. Bo Cogbill got the first hit of the day for the Frogs and moved to third on a base hit by Chad Huffman. The hit by Huffman was his 95th of the year and broke the record for hits in a season previously held by Royce Huffman (1999) and Terry Trofholz (2004). Austin Adams continued his torrid hitting streak as he doubled to the right center gap, plating the two runs for TCU.

Oral Roberts cut the lead in half in the bottom of the second on a solo home run by Jeff Tuttle. The Golden Eagles took the lead in the third as they struck for three runs on four hits ending TCU starter Eugene Espineli's day. Espineli left with runners on first and second, but Chad Underwood did his job, striking out Jon Tackett to end the inning.

The Eagles picked up a run in two of the next three innings. An unearned run crossed the plate in the fourth on a throwing error by Underwood and Matt VanDerBosch doubled in a run in the sixth.

Golden Eagle starter Dennis Bigley settled down after the first inning and kept the Frogs from stringing together a big inning. Over the course of the next five innings, Bigley allowed only three hits, hit two batters and walked one. He left the game with a 6-2 lead after six innings of work.

Bigley handed the ball over to Adam Lesko in the seventh inning. Ramon Moses greeted Lesko with a base hit to center. Cogbill tripled to deep right center to plate Moses, cutting the Golden Eagle lead in half, 6-3. Huffman hit a ground ball to the short stop, Grant Plumley, who threw it away, plating Cogbill, making it a 6-4 ball game with no outs. After an Adams groundout, Ford laced a single to right field, but Lesko got Chris Neuman to ground into an inning-ending double play. But TCU was within two, 6-4.

The Frogs mounted a two-out rally in the ninth inning. Huffman reached on a fielding error by third baseman Tackett. Adams drew a walk to move Huffman to second. Ford delivered in the clutch, singling to center to plate Huffman and move the tying run to third base. Golden Eagle Justin Ramsey bore down and struck out Neuman to end the game.

Underwood and Chris White gave the Frogs quality innings in relief of starter Espineli (9-5). Underwood allowed two runs (one earned) on seven hits and struck out two. White allowed one hit in his lone inning of work and struck out one.

With the loss, the Frogs (38-24) drop into the loser's bracket in the tournament. The will play the loser of the Texas/Youngstown State match-up at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday morning.