Pac-12 Baseball Weekend Recap (6/4): Regional Edition
By Mike Vamosi
Regional play saw four of five Pac12 schools advancing to this week’s Super Regionals which will be hosted be hosted by three teams from the conference. The only team not to advance to the next round was Oregon State who played on the road.
Los Angeles Regional – UCLA (45-14) entered the tournament as the number two national seed cruised through the regional getting great pitching and offensive production. The Bruins opened with a 3-0 victory over Creighton which Adam Plutko threw a complete game two hitter on Friday night.
Saturday, UCLA defeated New Mexico 7-1 with Nick Vander Tuig threw a one hitter over eight innings with David Berg throwing the last inning. Jeff Gelalich and Trevor Brown combined to drive in four of the seven runs against the Lobos. In the regional finals the Bruins took down the ‘Jays 13-5 in which Gelalich hit a two homeruns and drove in four runs.
Eugene Regional – Number five national seed Oregon (45-17) trailed heading into the ninth inning against fourth seeded Austin Peay before scratching out a win in the bottom of the inning. Brett Thomas tied the game with a single, Kyle Garlick reaching on an error allowed Aaron Payne to score and the Ducks to win 6-5.
On Saturday Oregon scored the game’s first six runs, four in the first and one in the second then another in the fourth. The Ducks benefitted from four Cal State Fullerton errors but the Titans got back in with a five-run fifth, leading 6-5 they added one more run in the eighth to win 7-5. Sunday in a rematch with Austin Peay, Jake Reed two-hit the Governors in an 8-1 regional clinching win.
Palo Alto Regional – Stanford (41-16) defeated Fresno State 9-1 behind a complete game from Mark Appel who allowed one run on four hits. Austin Wilson lead the offense with three RBIs and Kenny Diekroeger drove in two.
Pepperdine jumped on Brett Mooneyham for four runs in the third inning before Stanford started the comeback. The Cardinal put three on the scoreboard in the sixth inning to tie the game up and Diekroeger doubled down the line to put Stanford in front 5-4, which they held onto. The Waves met the Cardinal again on Sunday which they also put four runs up early but Stanford put five runs up in the fourth and held on for an 8-7 win.
Tucson Regional – Arizona (41-17) demolished their way through the regional outscoring opponents 15 runs to 3 in the three games played. In the opener the Wildcats took out Missouri 15-3 Joey Rickard went 3-for-5 with three runs scored and four RBIs.
In the winners bracket match-up against Louisville, Arizona’s offense pounded out 23-hits in a 16-4 victory. The same teams met in the regional finals and the Wildcats again pummeled the Cardinals pitching scoring 4-runs in three innings and three in another winning 16-3.
Baton Rouge Regional – Oregon State (40-20) who was the only Pac12 team not to host a regional traveled to Baton Rouge, home of the number seven national seed LSU Tigers. In the opener the Beavers defeated Belmont 2-1, with OSU breaking a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the sixth.
Saturday the Beavers took on LSU and fell 7-1 as Oregon State starter Dan Child was touched up for five runs (four earned) on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings. Against Louisiana-Monroe the OSU offense woke up in an 11-2 elimination game. In their second crack at the Tigers, the Beavers took a 5-4 lead to the ninth which LSU tied the game up and won in the tenth.
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