I hate to admit it, but I was dead wrong in my prediction on the Austin Regional.
Sure, I expected Texas to emerge victorious. But I never expected the Longhorns to dominate in the way that they did.
Last Thursday, in my NCAA Baseball Tournament preview article, I noted that the Austin Regional, though considered the weakest in the nation by several experts, was going to be more competitive than expected.
That is far from what happened.
Texas single-handedly rolled through the rest of the field, barely challenged in any of its three games. In fact, the only game of the regional that had fans on the edge of their seats came on Friday, when Arizona State’s Sean McLain hit a walk-off single to beat Fairfield 7-6.
The Longhorns, ranked No. 2 in the nation, defeated No. 4 seed Southern 11-0 to open the regional, before taking down Arizona State 10-3 on Saturday and Fairfield 12-2 to capture a spot in the Super Regional round. On top of that, the regional was marked by late-night games, as Texas’ final two contests concluded well past midnight, in part due to rain and in part due to a slow pace of play.
Expect the same late-night affairs at the Austin Super Regional. The first two games of the best-of-three series against South Florida will start at 8 p.m. CT. Monday contest, if necessary, will be played at either 3 p.m. CT or 6 p.m. CT.
But competitive baseball was not absent in the Lone Star State. Further north, chaos erupted at the Fort Worth regional on Saturday.
The regional, which featured top-seed TCU, No. 2 seed Oregon State, regional mainstay and No. 3 seed Dallas Baptist, along with No. 4 seed McNeese State, lived up to its expectations from the beginning.
DBU got past Oregon State 6-5 on Friday afternoon, but it was not the last time the two squads met. DBU led for the entirety of the contest following a two-run first inning.
Before the Patriots’ rematch against the Beavers, which occurred on Sunday, then Monday, DBU took on TCU in a must-see matchup. The Patriots got on the board first, going up 2-0 in the second behind an RBI double from former Round Rock Hairy Men outfielder River Town.
But the Horned Frogs, who won the Big 12 Tournament, countered quickly, with Hunter Wolfe driving a 2-0 pitch over the left field wall for a three-run home run, as TCU took a 3-2 advantage.
It appeared as if TCU would move onto the regional final headed into the bottom of the seventh, as the Horned Frogs, powered by a large home crowd, led 6-2.
But the Patriots showed tremendous fight, and went to work against the TCU bullpen, including reliever River Ridings, who had posted a sub-1.00 ERA entering the tournament. When it was all said and done, DBU had scored five runs in the inning, and took a narrow 7-6 lead that turned into an 8-6 advantage by the contest’s end.
TCU, perhaps shaken by Saturday’s frustrating loss, struggled through its Sunday matchup against Oregon State. Much to the surprise of fans across the nation, the Beavers pulled out a 3-2 win, scoring the game’s final three runs, as TCU was eliminated from its own regional.
Oregon State continued its tournament magic on Sunday night, forcing a second game against DBU, as Garret Forrester launched a walk-off home run in the first at-bat of the bottom of the ninth on a payoff pitch to give the Beavers a 5-4 win.
The Beavers luck ran out, or perhaps the Patriots talent won out, but by Monday evening, DBU was crowned regional champ, and secured a spot in the super regionals against Virginia, who defeated Old Dominion on Tuesday morning.
Oregon State jumped out to a 5-0 lead Monday, riding the momentum from Sunday’s walk-off win. In fact, DBU had yet to score by the time the sixth inning rolled around. But then, the offense ignited.
In a turning point in the eighth, with Oregon State leading 5-2, DBU’s Andrew Benefield connected on what was his only hit of the game. It proved to be the biggest hit of the game, too, as Benefield swatted a grand slam to put DBU in the lead, 6-5. Town added a two-run homer, extending the advantage in the eighth.
It marked DBU’s second trip to the Super Regional round and the first in 10 years. The victory on Monday notched the Patriots 40th win of the year, extending their streak of 40-win seasons to seven.
The Fort Worth regional was everything that the Austin Regional was not. It featured close games, stellar pitching with a mix of power hitting, and was far from one-sided. Even No. 4 seed McNeese State challenged Oregon State on Saturday afternoon, keeping the score tied at five until the eighth, when the Beavers mounted a five-run outburst to seal the win.
It was the picture of tournament baseball, and despite the fact that the host team was not playing in the regional final, over 4,000 fans descended upon Lupton Stadium for Monday’s decisive contest.
DBU certainly looks prepared for super regional action. After all, the No. 3-seeded Patriots took down two power conference teams in the same weekend, and displayed a knack for timely hitting.
On the other hand, I have doubts about Texas entering a super regional in Austin against South Florida. Though USF was the No. 4 seed in the Gainesville Regional, the Bulls more than proved their worth, upsetting top-seeded Florida, Miami, and South Alabama to reach the second weekend of play. And beating South Alabama on Monday was quite an achievement, considering it was the Jaguars who eliminated Florida on Saturday in dominant fashion by a score of 19-1.
But however they got here, DBU and Texas will be two of just sixteen teams still playing by the time next weekend arrives. And it just might be the toughest test either has faced this season.
Comments