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Fortunately for unheralded Bears, BCS no barrier to Omaha
From staff and wire
reports
If the sport had been
football, it almost certainly could not have happened.
Taking advantage of a
postseason system which is not gerrymandered, Southwest Missouri State
figuratively spat in the eye of the college sports barons on Sunday and
earned itself a berth in the College World Series.
The NCAA's even-handed
baseball playoff format, which encourages teams to earn a shot at the
national championship the old-fashioned way, gave SMSU the chance to prove
its worth where it counts on the field which it did in convincing
fashion with a 13-7 whipping of Ohio State.
Ironically, and perhaps
appropriately, the collegiate athletic program the humbly-financed Bears
dumped by the wayside in punching their first-ever ticket to Omaha was the
one that added the Bowl Championship Series' so-called national football
championship trophy to its overflowing treasure chest little more than five
months ago.
The Buckeyes defeated Miami in
January's Fiesta Bowl to claim what the BCS organization calls a national
football championship. The cartel of four bowls, aligned with six
conferences and television interests, stages the BCS each year in a format
that has never allowed a team from a league outside the group to compete for
its title or for that matter, in any of its lucrative non-championship
bowls.
The baseball tournament, on
the other hand, is conducted by the NCAA and is broadly patterned after the
wildly popular 64-team basketball playoff which invites programs from all
eligible Division I conferences.
SUPER REGIONALS ROUNDUP
In addition to SMSU's 13-7
defeat of Ohio State, Sunday's games produced the following results:
Miami 11, N.C. State 5
in 11 innings
Rice 10, Houston 2
LSU 20, Baylor 5 |
Cal State Fullerton 7,
Arizona State 1
Texas 8, Florida State 3
Southwest Missouri State 13, Ohio State 7 |
Stanford and South Carolina
advanced Saturday by winning their super regional series. Following are
recaps of each of Sunday's games:
Miami 11, N.C. State 5
CORAL GABLES, Fla. Erick San
Pedro's grand slam highlighted a six-run 11th as Miami defeated North
Carolina State and advanced to the College World Series.
The Hurricanes (44-15-1) swept
the super regional series against the Wolfpack (45-18) and are going to
Omaha for the 20th time and eighth in 10 seasons under coach Jim Morris.
Miami, which has won the national title in each of its last two trips to the
CWS in 1999 and 2001, will play either Florida State or Texas in the first
round.
With the score tied 5-5 in the
11th, Ryan Braun led off with an infield single and scored after errors on
consecutive plays. Gaby Sanchez was intentionally walked to load the bases,
and San Pedro connected on his fourth homer of the season two outs later.
Adam Ricks added an RBI single.
Chad Orvella had three hits
and scored three runs for North Carolina State, which failed in its bid to
reach its first College World Series since 1968.
Rice 10, Houston 2
HOUSTON Jeff Niemann
scattered four hits over seven innings for his 16th straight victory, and
Vincent Sinisi hit a three-run homer as Rice evened its super regional
series with Houston.
Niemann (16-0), who hasn't
lost since May 8, 2002, finished with 12 strikeouts. The Owls (52-11) also
got solo homers from Craig Stansberry, Paul Janish and Enrique Cruz.
The teams will play again
Monday, with the winner advancing to the College World Series. Houston
(37-29) is looking to making its first trip to Omaha since 1967, while Rice
is trying for its fourth appearance in seven years.
LSU 20, Baylor 5
BATON ROUGE, La. Clay
Harris' grand slam sparked an 11-run sixth inning that sent Louisiana State
to the College World Series. Ryan Patterson and Jon Zeringue also homered
for LSU (45-20-1), which will make its 12th trip to Omaha since 1986 and
first since winning the 2000 national championship.
The Tigers, who have won five
CWS titles, will play against Cal State Fullerton in the first round.
Baylor (45-23) was attempting
to get to Omaha for the first time since 1978, but the Bears used five
pitchers and walked six batters before they got out of the sixth inning.
Chris Durbin and Mark
Saccomanno both homered in the first to give Baylor a short-lived 3-0 lead.
Cal State Fullerton 7, Arizona State 1
FULLERTON, Calif. Dustin
Miller scattered three hits over 7 2-3 innings, and Cal State Fullerton
scored all of its runs in the first three innings and earned a trip to
Omaha.
Miller (9-2) allowed just one
run before giving way to Chad Cordero, who pitched the final 1 1-3 innings.
Danny Dorn and Kyle Boyer both homered and Shane Costa drove in two runs for
the Titans (48-14), who are making their second College World Series
appearance in three years.
The Sun Devils (54-14) entered
the series as the nation's top-hitting team (.352) and top-scoring squad
with 10.35 runs per game, but tied a season low with just five hits against
the Titans. It was only the fourth time this season and second during the
series Arizona State was held to one run.
Southwest Missouri State 13, Ohio State 7
COLUMBUS, Ohio Tony Piazza's
grand slam capped an eight-run sixth inning as Southwest Missouri State
earned its first trip to the College World Series with a 13-7 victory over
Ohio State on Sunday night.
Shaun Marcum also homered for
the Bears (40-24), who swept the super regional series at Ohio State's Bill
Davis Stadium and will play the winner of the Houston-Rice series in the
first round in Omaha.
Southwest Missouri State came
within a win of going to the College World Series in 1999, and again last
season.
The Bears led 3-0 before Ohio
State (44-21) scored the next six runs. But Southwest Missouri State broke
it open with seven unearned runs in the sixth, capped by Piazza's grand slam
and Marcum's solo shot.
Brett Garrard and Steve
Caravati homered for the Buckeyes.
Copyright 2003
Bonesville.net. Staff member Danny Whitford and The Associated Press
contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
02/23/2007 10:44:43 AM
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