Notre Dame pushed the No. 1 national seed Tennessee in the game of exclusion from the NCAA baseball tournament on Friday night. Texas A & M, East Carolina, and Oklahoma moved on their way to the College World Series.
The Irish have caused the biggest turmoil in the tournament so far, taking a big lead early on and holding volunteers 8-6 in Game 1 of the Three Super Regional Best 3 in Knoxville, Tennessee.
In the 9th inning, Troy Crunch’s base load single beat Louisville 5-4 on a walk-off to 5th Texas A & M. No. 8 East Carolina started the match against Texas with 5 runs and 8 innings, winning 13-7.
Oklahoma is the first supermarket since 2013, beating Virginia Tech 5-4 in 4th place, which is the 8th win in 9 games.
Notre Dame Cathedral was the second regional seed in Stateboro, Georgia last week, sweeping three games and moving forward, scoring a total of 11 runs.
The Irish climbed 8 to 1 in front of the orange full house at Lindsey Nelson Stadium after a three-run home run by Jack Branigan in the fourth inning. Notre Dame hit the best four home runs of the season, and all nine Jordan Beck home runs were allowed by freshman Jack Findlay for the last two innings.
Only the No. 1 National Seed in 1999 won the championship in the current tournament format. Vols coach Tony Vitello said he was confident that players could handle the pressure of Saturday’s elimination game.
“This is the time when crazy things happen,” he said.
The Irish throw ace John Michael Bertland, and volunteers miss All SEC outfielder and .365 batter Drew Gilbert. Drew Gilbert must sit after leaving the fifth inning.
Texas A & M left the base loaded in 4 of the first 8 innings against Louisville and then reloaded in 9 innings against Michael Prosecky. This time, Crunch pushed Prosecky’s first pitch from the right and led Aggie to victory from the CWS after not even qualifying for last year’s SEC tournament.
East Carolina has never hosted the College World Series in the last 31 NCAA tournament appearances. No team is missing so many times in a tournament.
Pirates won their 22nd victory in 23 games. But Cliff Godwin hasn’t forgotten 2016. His team won Texas Tech University’s Super Regional Game 1 and lost in the next two games.
“I take it every day,” Godwin said, now 2-6 with four Super Regional appearances. “This is a great group for me to join and I’m not looking too far ahead.”
A record crowd of 5,723 people appeared at Clark Leclerc Stadium, giving it a presence.
“I think the scores would definitely have been different if I had been playing in Texas,” Godwin said. “I’m grateful to be able to play in the home field and play in front of all the fans. They’ve been waiting for this and are back until I played here.”
Oklahoma jumped on Griffin Green, the starter of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. The green was the shortest start of the season, with only one inning and two batters, and the OU was 5-0 in the sixth inning.
The Hawkeys tried to return, and Carson Jones and Jack Harley each hit a two-run home run, but OU right fielder John Spykerman dived and caught Gavin Cross’s fly to end the game and win the Snurs. lead. CWS next week in Omaha, Nebraska.
I GOT IT, YOU GOT IT, NOBODY’S GOT IT
East Carolina stuck to an 8-7 lead in the 8th inning, with Alec Makarevich leading the bottom half of the home run. This would probably have been a flyout without confusion.
Left fielder Eric Kennedy seemed to catch near the fence, but center fielder Douglas Hod III cut in front of him and The ball flipped Hodo’s glove and entered the stand.
“I knew it would be a wall scraper,” Makarevich said. “Fortunately, the fans were screaming as loud as they were. [Kennedy and Hodo] I jumped up and bumped into each other, and it was over. “
This play reminded Texas coach David Pierce of Carlos Martinez’s famous home run against Jose Canseco and the Texas Rangers in Cleveland in 1993. Canseco went to the wall, the ball bounced off his head and crossed the fence.
“Except for the gloves, not the head, it was like Canseco,” Pierce said.
OL’HEAVE HO
Tennessee’s All-SEC outfielder Gilbert and pitching coach Frank Anderson have been sent off for claiming a strike call with referee Keren Levy.
Gilbert stood in Agape in his mouth after Levi threw him, and Anderson came out of the bargain to protest.
NCAA rules require Gilbert and Anderson, who have hit the team’s best .373, to be stopped for Game 2.
Crew chief Billy Van Rafost said in a statement that Gilbert claimed a few pitches from the center field in the top of the second inning. Van Lafosto said he warned Gilbert to send comments to the team, not the referee or Notre Dame.
“He said he’s okay, and he’s just excited,” Vanler Fost said. “During the five innings following strike 1, Tennessee batter Gilbert screamed explosively, followed by another explosive as he was sent off from the box.”
Saturday opener
The other four Super Regionals will open on Saturday. UConn (49-14) at No. 2 Stanford (45-15); Arkansas (41-19), 10 North Carolina (42-20); 11 Southern Mississippi (47-17), Mississippi (35-22) ). No.14 Auburn (40-19) at Oregon State University (47-16).
