June 5, 2007

Eight more advance in NCAA baseball tournament

Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - Eight more teams advanced from the regional round of the NCAA baseball playoffs on Monday, bringing the number of teams to qualify for the Super Regional round to 15.

North Carolina, Louisville, Clemson, UC Irvine, Michigan, Texas A&M, Wichita State and South Carolina all won their regions on Monday to move one step closer to the College World Series. Those schools join Rice, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Oklahoma State, UCLA, Arizona State and Cal-State Fullerton, all of which punched its tickets to the Super Regionals on Sunday.

There is just one more spot to be determined. Oregon State avoided elimination on Monday in the Charlottesville Region, defeating Virginia 5-3. That forces a final game to be played on Tuesday.

Texas, Florida State, Arkansas and San Diego are among the notable clubs not moving on to the next round. All four were ranked in the top eight at the start of the tournament.

North Carolina, the third ranked team in the tournament, won the Chapel Hill Region by defeating Western Carolina on Monday, 6-5.

Louisville captured the Columbia, MO Region with a 16-6 win over Missouri, the top seed in the bracket. The Cardinals also beat the Tigers on Sunday to force the final matchup -- this after losing to Missouri earlier in the week.

Clemson went undefeated through the Myrtle Beach Region, defeating top seed Coastal Carolina, 15-3, Monday.

Texas the fourth ranked team coming into the tournament was upset by UC Irvine on Monday, 9-6, in the Austin Region. Rain cause havoc to this contest, which was started on Sunday but was suspended until Monday. The Longhorns, who lost to Irvine earlier in the week, needed to beat Irvine twice on Monday in order to advance, but that didn't happen.

Rounding out Monday's results, Michigan downed Vanderbilt 4-3 to capture the Nashville Region, Texas A&M edged Louisianna-Lafayette, 5-2, for the College Station Region, South Carolina pounded Charlotte, 11-6, in the Columbia, SC Region, and in the Wichita Region Arizona fell to Wichita State, 3-0.

The Regional Round of the NCAA Tournament consisted of a double-elimination format.

The Super Regional round features best-of-three matchups with the higher ranked team as the host.

Rice hosts Texas A&M, Louisville will play Oklahoma State, Mississippi State takes on Clemson, North Carolina battles South Carolina, UC Irvine takes on Wichita State, Ole Miss visits Arizona State, UCLA plays Cal-State Fullerton and Michigan goes up against either Virginia or Oregon State.