The Tucson Regional was widely considered the toughest of the 16 in the NCAA Tournament. Host Arizona found out just how tough, becoming the first national seed eliminated.
Dallas Baptist knocked out the No. 13 Wildcats with a 7-0 win Saturday, less than 24 hours after Grand Canyon, the No. 4 regional seed, beat them 9-4.
Meanwhile, Evansville topped VCU 17-11 in Greenville, North Carolina, and is a win away from becoming the third No. 4 regional seed in four years to advance to the super regionals.
Arizona, picked ninth in the Pac-12 in the preseason, swept the conference regular-season and tournament championships and was made host of a regional including four teams with a combined .649 winning percentage.
The Wildcats had gone a combined 10-1 in the two previous regionals it hosted at Hi Corbett Field and made it to the College World Series both times (2012 and 2021).
But they went scoreless over their last 12 innings this weekend, and the loss to No. 2 regional seed Dallas Baptist marked only the second time they’ve been shut out this season.
The Wildcats were 12 for 64 (.188) in the two regional games, including 5 for 27 with runners on base.
“It’s glaring to me how good everybody is in college baseball,” Arizona coach Chip Hale said. “You look at Grand Canyon, We played them four times and they beat us three, and they’re supposedly a mid-major. It’s a great thing about college sports in general. We see it in the NCAA basketball tournament. We see big upsets. It’s fun for those teams. It’s not fun for us.”
Missouri Valley Conference champion Evansville, in the tournament for the first time since 2006, upset No. 16 national seed East Carolina on Friday and won a slugfest against VCU on Saturday. The Purple Aces homered four times, including Brent Widder’s grand slam, and finished with 15 hits. They scored 17 runs for the third time in six games.
The Aces will play East Carolina or VCU in the regional final Sunday and would have to lose twice to not join 2023 Oral Roberts and 2021 South Florida to advance as a No. 4 regional seed.
HIGH POINT’S, WELL, HIGH POINT
High Point’s 10-9 walk-off win over Vanderbilt marked the Panthers’ first victory in their program’s first regional appearance and a quick exit for the Commodores.
Vanderbilt went two games and out in the tournament for only the second time in 22 all-time appearances. The Commodores also went 0-2 in 2016.
“That’s kind of new territory for us,” coach Tim Corbin said. “But that falls on myself and you’ve got to look in the mirror and say it’s not good enough, for, at least from the standard that we’ve created.”
The Big South champion Panthers made it to Sunday when Miggy Echazarreta singled into right field to drive in Adam Stuart with one out in the bottom of the ninth.
“Incredible game for our program and for these young men,” coach Joey Hammond said. “We didn’t blink at any point in time. It’s who we are and it’s what we have been doing all year. We are not surprised by it.”
PIRATES PREVAIL
No. 16 national seed East Carolina defended its home field with a 7-6 walk-off win over 2023 College World Series participant Wake Forest. It was an odd elimination game matching probable top-15 picks in next month’s amateur draft, with Wake’s Chase Burns going against Trey Yesavage.
Burns allowed four runs in five innings; Yesavage gave up a run on one hit and four walks in 7 1/3. The game, however, came down to the ninth inning and light-hitting Luke Nowak. Wake scored five runs in the top half to go up 6-4, but the Pirates’ first five batters reached in the bottom half before Nowak, batting .191, ended it with a base hit to right.
BIG BATS
Vance Honeycutt hit his 25th and 26th homers in North Carolina’s 6-2 win over LSU. … Jacob Hinderleider went 5 for 5 against Coastal Carolina, making him the first Clemson player with five hits in a tournament game since 2002. … Garrett Pennington homered twice for North Carolina State in a 6-4 win over South Carolina. … Josh Cameron hit a grand slam as Southeast Missouri State ended a nine-game NCAA Tournament losing streak with a 9-3 win over Louisiana Tech. … Drew Burress hit his 24th homer of the season in Georgia Tech’s 4-2 win over Army. … Jimmy Keenan’s 12th homer for St. John’s, in the bottom of the ninth, forced extra innings and the Red Storm beat Penn 10-9 in 12 innings. … Indiana State’s Randal Diaz extended his hitting streak to 30 games and his on-base streak to 36 in 6-4 win over Western Michigan.
MOUND MARVELS
Trey Pooser matched his career high with seven innings in Kentucky’s 6-1 win over Illinois, allowing one run on five hits and two walks and striking out seven. … Luc Fladda allowed four hits over eight innings and Jacob Moore pitched a 1-2-3 ninth in Tulane’s 3-0 win over Nicholls in an all-Louisiana elimination game in Corvallis, Oregon. … Ben Adams, Sam Mettert and Jed Boyle combined for 5 1/2 innings of shutout relief for St. John’s against Penn. … Southern Mississippi’s Niko Mazza threw a two-hitter in a 6-0 win over Northern Kentucky, ending the Norse’s first NCAA appearance. … Zac Cowan pitched six shutout innings to earn his 10th win and lead Wofford to its program’s first win in the tournament, 5-2 over LIU.
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