South Carolina scored five runs in the ninth to rally past
defending national champion Miami in Game 3 of their NCAA super
regional and advance to the College World Series for the first time
since 1985.
The Gamecocks (53-15) will take on Georgia Tech in the first round
after the Yellow Jackets advanced by beating Florida Atlantic on
Saturday.
"I'll tell you this, our guys never shut it down," said coach Ray
Tanner, his eyes red. "You try and be the last team standing. This is
the last tournament and I hope we have the opportunity to be
Cinderella. Somebody has to be."
South Carolina had only four hits through eight innings and scored
just three runs off the Hurricanes in the previous 23 innings. But
South Carolina's offense came alive against closer George Huguet, the
first of four Miami pitchers in the ninth.
Pinch-hitter Trey Dyson hit an RBI double, and Brian Buscher scored
when the throw got away from second baseman Javy Rodriguez. Garris
Gonce doubled off reliever Luke DeBold (1-1) to tie it. Two outs
later, Andrew Cohn threw a wild pitch that scored Gonce, and two
pitches later, catcher Danny Matienzo had the ball bounce off his
glove to allow another runner to score.
Miami (34-29) was trying to make the College World Series for the
eighth time in nine years. With runners on first and second with two
outs, Jim Burt hit a long foul ball that Tim Seaton ran down to end
it.
"We are really disappointed with this," Rodriguez said. "We just
needed three outs and we're going back to Omaha. But we couldn't make
it happen."
Florida St. 12, Notre Dame 5
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Stephen Drew had a career-high five hits and
scored four runs, and Jerrod Brown had three RBIs as Florida State
beat Notre Dame to force a Game 3.
The deciding game will be played Monday at noon, with the winner
earning a trip to the College World Series.
The Seminoles (60-13), the overall No. 1 seed in the tournament,
took advantage of four walks from Notre Dame starter Pete Ogilvie
(7-4) and scored eight runs in the first inning.
Notre Dame (48-16), which lost for just the fourth time in 34
games, cut the lead in half with four runs in the first, but the
Seminoles added two runs in the fourth and another in the fifth to
pull away.
Nebraska 11, Richmond 6
LINCOLN, Neb. -- Justin Seely went 4-for-5 with a grand slam as
Nebraska clinched its second straight College World Series berth with
a victory over Richmond.
Shane Komine (10-0) pitched three innings of relief to earn his
second win in the best-of-three super regional. Jeff Leise, Jed Morris
and Jeff Blevins each drove in two runs for the Cornhuskers (47-19).
"This team has come a long way. I can tell you two months ago we
didn't know which way this team was going to go," coach Dave Van Horn
said. "This team has probably developed more in the last two months of
any team I've ever coached."
Matt Craig and Bryan Pritz each hit two-run homers for Richmond
(53-13), which was one win away from its first College World Series
appearance.
Richmond rallied from a 5-2 deficit to tie it on Pritz's homer in
the seventh, but gave up five runs in the eighth and never recovered.
"You have to tip your cap to them. They outplayed us and they
deserve to be there," Richmond coach Ron Atkins said.
Clemson 7, Arkansas 4
CLEMSON, S.C. -- Khalil Greene hit a home run and had three RBIs to
lead Clemson past Arkansas and into the College World Series.
Clemson (51-15) hit three solo homers over the final two innings to
eliminate Arkansas (35-28), which hasn't been to Omaha since 1989. The
Tigers will play Nebraska, which beat Richmond, in the first round.
"It was a tremendous battle," Clemson coach Jack Leggett said.
"None of the games were easy."
B. J. LaMura, who struck out the last two batters to save Clemson's
8-7 victory Saturday allowed one hit in 4 1/3 relief innings.
"I couldn't have planned it out better in any dreams I've ever
had," said LaMura (6-2).
Michael Johnson's homer in the eighth broke a 4-all tie, and Zane
Green added a solo shot in the ninth that was followed by Greene's
school-record 26th homer.
Trailing 3-0, Clemson scored four times in the fifth. Jarrod
Schmidt scored when shortstop Scott Hode couldn't handle David
Slevin's hard grounder, and Greene's two-run double tied it at 3. The
hit extended Greene's hitting streak to 33 games, and gave him a
school-record 85 RBIs.
"Clemson maybe had too much firepower for us," Razorbacks coach
Norm DeBriyn said.
Texas 5, Houston 2
AUSTIN, Texas -- Alan Bomer allowed two runs and seven hits in
seven innings to lead Texas to a victory over Houston and the
Longhorns' 29th College World Series berth.
Texas (53-15) will play in its second CWS in three years, and take
on Rice -- which beat Louisiana State on Saturday to advance -- in the
first round. The Longhorns won the last of their four national titles
in 1983, when Roger Clemens was their ace.
Texas coach Augie Garrido thinks the Longhorns have more to
achieve.
"Too many teams at this time think they've achieved their goal,"
said Garrido, who won three national titles with Cal-State Fullerton
before taking over Texas before the 1997 season. "It's still about the
fifth tournament. Everything else sets it up, teaching you how to
play, how to win."
Houston (48-17) came up one win short of its first CWS appearance
since 1967.
"What we saw this weekend was phenomenal pitching on their behalf,"
Houston coach Rayner Noble said.
Bomer, who transferred from Iowa State after the school dropped its
program last year, struck out five and didn't allow a walk in winning
his third start of the postseason. He didn't allow a baserunner past
second after giving up a run in the top of the first.