The NCAA Tournament field began with six Big 12 teams, but Regionals weekend saw four of the teams depart the field, leaving two teams among the final 16 standing at this point.
Kansas State Wins Fayetteville Regional
Kansas State was leading Louisiana Tech on Friday night before rain, followed by a 90-minute weather delay forced the suspension of the game until Saturday morning. The delay occurred before the start of the sixth inning with the Wildcats in front 9-4.
When play resumed roughly 13 hours later on Saturday morning it was all Kansas State.
The Wildcats plated 10 runs over the final four innings of play to claim a 19-4 victory. The Kansas State offense was led by the duo of Chuck Ingram and Kaelen Culpepper. Ingram went 3-for-5 with a season-high five RBI while Culpepper hit for the cycle in the game.
Left-hander Owen Boerema allowed just two hits over 4 1/3 innings pitched to lead Kansas State on the mound.
The win set up a matchup with host No. 5 Arkansas on Saturday night in a winner's bracket game against Razorbacks ace Hagen Smith.
Kansas State, playing the game as the home team, trailed 2-0 going to the bottom of the fifth inning.
Ingram and Brendan Jones each delivered RBI singles to tie the game. Leading 3-2, Culpepper launched a three-run home run to right-center field on the way to a six-run inning against Smith.
Kansas State went to right-hander Tyson Neighbors with two outs in the sixth inning and needing six outs.
Leading 6-4 in the eighth inning, Nick English homered to left field just inside the foul pole for what proved to be the winning run. Arkansas added two runs in the ninth inning before Neighbors slammed the door on the Razorbacks giving the Wildcats a 2-0 advantage with the 7-6 victory and sending Arkansas to the loser's bracket.
Kansas State faced SEMO on Saturday afternoon after the Redhawks had eliminated Arkansas earlier in the day.
The Wildcats rolled to a 7-2 victory over SEMO to claim the Fayetteville Regional with three-straight wins. Pitchers Ty Ruhl, Cole Wisenbaker, Blake Dean, and JJ Slack tossed eight scoreless innings in the victory. Jones was 3-for-5 with three RBI in the game and Ingram also had three hits. David Bishop drove in two runs as well.
Five Kansas State players were named to the NCAA Fayetteville Regional All-Tournament Team: Culpepper, Ingram, Neighbors, Jaden Parsons, and Jackson Wentworth.
Culpepper, who hit .583 with two home runs and seven RBI, was named the Fayetteville Regional’s Most Valuable Player.
Kansas State has reached a Super Regional for just the second time in program history, and the first time since 2013, also the first under head coach Pete Hughes.
Hughes was asked Sunday night what the moment meant to him.
"It means everything," Hughes said. "We came here to win Regionals and go to Super Regionals and raise the standard of Kansas State baseball."
West Virginia Wins Tucson Regional
Derek Clark pitched a complete game on Friday against Dallas Baptist to lead West Virginia into the winner’s bracket in Tucson. Clark struck out eight Patriots batters, allowed four hits and no walks, and threw only 101 pitches to set the Mountaineers bullpen up for the rest of the weekend.
Catcher Logan Sauve provided all the offense West Virginia needed with a three-run home run in the third inning over the batter’s eye in center field.
Tyler Switalski made his best start of the season Saturday in a 5-2 win over Grand Canyon to put the Mountaineers in control of the Tucson Regional. Switalski allowed one run over 7 2/3 innings. Brodie Kresser went 2-for-3 three with three RBI to lead the West Virginia offense.
West Virginia defeated Grand Canyon 10-6 on Sunday to advance to a Super Regional for the first time in program history.
Sauve and JJ Wetherholt each delivered three hits with Sauve driving in three runs. Sam White, Reed Chumley, and Grant Hussey each drove in two runs while Ben Lumsden, Spencer Barnett, and Skylar King all added two hits for the Mountaineers in a complete team victory.
Aidan Major allowed just one run in 4 2/3 innings, making his first appearance since May 5. Carson Estridge struck out four batters over 3 2/3 innings pitched. And after throwing a complete game on Friday, Clark came in to get the final two outs of Sunday's clincher, striking out two of the three batters he faced.
Clark was named the Tucson Regional Most Outstanding Player while Sauve, Chumley, and Switalski were named to the NCAA Tucson Regional All-Tournament Team.
West Virginia head coach Randy Mazey was asked after Sunday's victory about reaching the first Super Regional in West Virginia's program history.
"To win a regional like this, we represent a ton of people," Mazey said. "Not just our university and the community but 1.8 million people in the state of West Virginia that I know are really proud of all of these guys right now and all they accomplished."
Stillwater Regional
Oklahoma State lost the Stillwater Regional in seven games. After opening the Regional by thumping Niagara 19-7, the Cowboys got a complete game from Brian Holiday on Saturday to lead Oklahoma State to a 7-1 win over Florida and starter Jac Caglianone in the winner’s bracket. Florida rebounded on Sunday to 5-2 to set up a deciding game seven on Monday.
Florida took Monday afternoon's final game 4-2 to advance to a Super Regional as the Cowboys could muster just two runs in defeat.
Holiday, Ian Daugherty, Nolan Schubart, and Zach Ehrhard were named to the NCAA Baseball Stillwater Regional All-Tournament Team for Oklahoma State.
College Station Regional
Texas defeated Louisiana 12-5 on Friday to open Regional play. A seven-run fifth inning was the difference for the Longhorns; the big inning was spurred by a Jalin Flores grand slam. Kimble Schuessler also had a big day at the plate going 3-for-4 with two doubles and two walks.
Texas took a 1-0 lead against Texas A&M on Saturday night when Jared Thomas hit the first pitch of the ballgame over the wall in the left-center field. The game was decided ten innings later as the Aggies won a thriller that took 11 innings to decide, 4-2. Lebarron Johnson Jr. battled for five innings and Gage Boehm for four innings with each allowing just one run, though the run against Boehm was unearned.
Texas was ousted from the College Station Regional after winning their first game on Friday when Louisiana defeated the Longhorns 10-2. Ace Whitehead was outstanding for the Longhorns over 6 2/3 innings allowing just two runs. A seven-run eighth inning was more than enough for Louisiana in the win.
The loss meant the end of the road for Texas in the Big 12.
Schuessler was the only Texas player named to the NCAA Bryan-College Station Regional All-Tournament Team.
Tallahassee Regional
UCF opened their Regional with a 8-7 win over Alabama on Friday. Braden Calise was 4-for-5 for UCF and Andrew Sundean drove in the go-ahead RBI with a two-out pinch-hit single in the top of the ninth inning. The Knights then lost to Florida State on Saturday 5-2 to fall into the loser's bracket.
UCF started their Sunday with a 5-2 victory over Stetson to remain alive in a game that was delayed by rain in the bottom of the eighth inning. Sundean tied the game in the seventh inning with another pinch-hit RBI, this one a double, and Jack Zyska followed with a go-ahead two-run home run. Wiley Hartley pitched a terrific game for the Knights in the win, throwing six innings and allowing just two runs and four hits.
The wheels fell off for the Knights late Sunday in a rematch with Florida State and the Seminoles ultimately prevailed 12-4 to advance to a Super Regional.
Zyska was named to the NCAA Tallahassee Regional All-Tournament Team for his performance over the weekend. Over the four games, Zyska hit .600 with four doubles, two home runs, and eight runs batted in.
Norman Regional
Oklahoma shutout Oral Roberts 14-0 on Friday. Kyson Witherspoon allowed one hit over six innings and Carter Campbell allowed two hits over three innings on their way to the shutout victory.
The Sooners were outdueled on Saturday and lost 4-1 to UConn in a winner’s bracket game. The Sooners scored their lone run on seven hits while the Huskies got to Oklahoma ace Braden Davis for three runs over 6 1/3 innings. Davis also struck out 10 UConn batters in the loss.
Oklahoma then eliminated Duke 4-3 on Sunday afternoon before defeating UConn 6-4 on Sunday night to force a game seven. Monday night was all UConn as the Huskies rolled to a 7-1 victory and a berth in a Super Regional.
As with Texas, the loss Monday night meant the end of the road for Oklahoma in the Big 12.
Scott Mudler, Michael Snyder, Bryce Madron, Easton Carmichael, and Jett Lodes were all named to the NCAA Norman Regional All-Tournament Team for Oklahoma.
Super Regional Schedule
On Tuesday, the NCAA announced the schedule for the Super Regionals this weekend.
2024 NCAA Charlottesville Super Regional (Best of Three)
Kansas St. (35-24) at No. 12 Virginia (44-15)
Friday, 6 p.m. CT (ESPNU)
Saturday, 2 p.m. CT (ESPNU)
Sunday, 2 p.m. CT (ESPNU)
2024 NCAA Chapel Hill Super Regional (Best of Three)
West Virginia (36-22) at No. 4 North Carolina (45-14)
Friday, 6 p.m. ET (ESPN2)
Saturday, 8 p.m. ET (ESPN2)
Sunday, 3 p.m. ET (ESPN2)
Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on X and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content!
Comments