timesleader.com

June 8, 2007

Super regionals are set

Oregon State and Louisville are unlikely hosts for best-of-three competitions.

The Associated Press

The defending College World Series champions are alive and well — and two wins from a third straight trip to Omaha.

Oregon State (42-18) will host surprising Michigan (42-17) in one of eight best-of-three super regionals this weekend. Not bad for a team that wasn’t even sure it would make the field of 64.

The Beavers, who received an at-large bid despite finishing sixth in the Pac-10, have won nine straight elimination games — dating to the six they won at the College World Series en route to the national championship last season.

Oregon State won the Charlottesville Regional as the No. 3 seed, beating Rutgers in the opener before losing to top-seeded Virginia in 13 innings. The Beavers eliminated Rutgers before beating Virginia twice to advance to the super regionals.

“Our kids played their hearts out,” coach Pat Casey said. “We played a very, very good Virginia team that was battling some injuries that certainly didn’t help them out. I thought it was just going to come down to a flat-out let’s-get-it-on, who’s-going-to-fight-hardest, in-the-dirt scrap. I think we’re pretty pumped up right now.”

Oregon State, which thought it had played its last home game a few weeks ago, will have plenty of fans on hand — and its hands full — at Goss Stadium at Coleman Field when its series against Michigan begins Saturday.

The Wolverines beat Memphis and then won two of three against top-ranked Vanderbilt to advance to the super regionals for the first time. Michigan won in 10 innings when pinch-hitter Alan Oaks homered off David Price, the No. 1 draft pick Thursday, to win it.

“I had no idea that we’d ever get a shot at them, and then the incentive of the media saying that this would be the easiest regional was a positive from our standpoint,” Michigan coach Rich Maloney said. “But that wasn’t why we won this tournament. We made plays at the right time, and I tip my hat off to this group because they believed and we were fortunate to win this.”

Other super regionals that begin Saturday include: UC Irvine (43-15-1) at Wichita State (53-20), Mississippi (40-23) at Arizona State (46-13) and UCLA (33-26) at Cal State-Fullerton (36-23).

The four super regionals starting Friday are: Oklahoma State (41-19) at Louisville (44-21), South Carolina (45-18) at North Carolina (51-12), Clemson (41-21) at Mississippi State (36-20) and Texas A&M (48-17) at Rice (52-12).

Rice (No. 2), North Carolina (No. 3) and Arizona State (No. 5) are the only top-eight national seeds remaining in the tournament, the fewest in the super regionals since the NCAA went to the current format in 1999.

Louisville has made a spirited run through the NCAA tournament under first-year coach Dan McDonnell. The Cardinals had been in the field of 64 just once before — in 2002 — and never had won a tournament game.

That all changed this season.

Louisville upset Miami before losing to top-seeded Missouri and falling into the losers’ bracket. Then, the Cardinals bounced back and eliminated Miami and won two games against Missouri. Even more shocking was the news Sunday night that they were going to play in front of their home crowd again.

“We were watching ‘Entourage’ and the coaches told us we were hosting and it was crazy,” third baseman Chris Dominguez said. “Louisville is kind of known for basketball and football. Now they can include baseball.”

The Tar Heels were knocked out of the tournament by the Gamecocks the last three times they’ve faced each other. North Carolina doesn’t anticipate a similar outcome this time around.

“Before, there were kind of guys who would say, ‘Here we go again,”’ Tar Heels pitcher Robert Woodard said. “But this year it’s more, ‘Bring it on.’ We understand (that) to get where we want to get to, we have to go through the best, and we’re prepared.”

The winners of each of the eight super regionals advance to the College World Series, which begins June 15 in Omaha, Neb.