Author Archives: Jerry Briggs

UT’s NCAA Regional includes an old rival — Texas A&M

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The possibility of a playoff game — or games — between the rival Texas Longhorns and Texas A&M Aggies loomed Monday as the NCAA baseball tournament’s 64-team bracket was unveiled.

Texas will host a regional starting Friday that will include A&M, Indiana and Texas Southern University.

On opening night in the double-elimination format, No. 2 seed Indiana will play third-seeded A&M at 4 p.m. and top-seeded Texas will play No. 4 Texas Southern at 8.

If the Longhorns and Aggies both win — or, if they both lose — they would play Saturday.

The tournament games will be held in Austin on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and, if necessary, also Monday, at the UFCU Disch-Falk Field.

Other teams from the state that made the tournament include Texas Tech, Baylor, Houston and Dallas Baptist.

Texas Tech is the only other program in the state that will host on opening weekend.

The TCU Horned Frogs, who have played in the past four College World Series, were left out of the 64-team field after they made it to the Big 12 tournament title game and lost to Baylor.

Sam Houston State and Rice were among other notable programs missing from the national bracket.

Last year, the Bearkats made a surprise run to the NCAA Lubbock Regional title and advanced to play Florida State in the Tallahassee Super Regional.

This year, they won the Southland Conference regular-season title but failed to win the SLC tournament.

Rice, under outgoing coach Wayne Graham, posted a losing record in the regular season and failed to win the Conference USA tournament title for the automatic bid.

Thus, Rice had its streak of 23 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances snapped. It was the third-longest streak in the nation.

In Austin, fans will get to see NCAA tournament baseball live for the first time since the Longhorns hosted a Super Regional in 2014.

It’s the first time Texas has hosted on the first weekend of the tournament since 2011.

Tournament time in Texas

Regional openers are set for Friday

Texas — No. 13 national seed, No. 1 regional seed, hosts in Austin and opens against Texas Southern

Texas Tech — No. 9 national seed, No. 1 regional seed, hosts in Lubbock and opens against New Mexico State

Baylor — No. 2 regional seed at Palo Alto, Calif., plays opening day against Cal State Fullerton

Texas A&M — No. 3 regional seed at Austin, opens with Indiana

Houston — No. 3 regional seed at Chapel Hill, N.C., opens with Purdue

Dallas Baptist — No. 3 regional seed at Fayetteville, Ark., opens with Southern Miss

Texas Southern — No. 4 regional seed at Austin, opens with Texas

TLU advances with two victories at the DIII World Series

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The Texas Lutheran Bulldogs entered play at the NCAA Division III World Series on Sunday afternoon needing a victory simply to avoid elimination.

But after an amazing 11-hour stretch during which they won two games at Appleton, Wis., they moved into position to claim a berth in the championship series.

First, TLU beat Swarthmore, Pa., 3-2, in 13 innings.

Next, the Bulldogs took about a four and a half-hour breather before starting a second game Sunday night against the Concordia Chicago Cougars.

Finally, they knocked off the Cougars 9-7 in a game that ended at about 1 a.m. Monday.

TLU’s dramatics set up a day in which champions from both brackets will be decided Monday afternoon.

Randolph Macon, Va., is scheduled to take on UT Tyler at noon. TLU will meet Concordia Chicago for the third time in three days at about 3:30 p.m.

The winners of those two games will open the best-of-three national title series on Tuesday.

TLU remains in the championship discussion after surviving a shaky start, hitting their way into a 9-6 lead and then hanging on at the end for the victory.

Concordia hung three runs on the board for a 3-0 lead in the first inning against TLU starter Zach Perry.

But after Clint Johns relieved in the second and started throwing strikes consistently, the Bulldogs battled into the lead.

They led 6-4 and 6-5 before Concordia came back to tie it 6-6 in the bottom of the eighth.

In the top of the ninth, TLU exploded for three more and then held on in the last inning for the win.

Concordia, in its last at bat, scored once to make it a two-run game against Drew Waller.

But with runners at first and second base and two out, Waller got Keegan Tyrell to ground sharply toward third.

Thomas Varner made a diving stop, came up firing and beat the runner with his throw by half a step.

Keaton Boysen produced three hits and scored twice for TLU. All-American Riley Schaefer had two hits and three RBI.

Varner, Matthew Lemon and Spencer Brandt all slapped two hits apiece.

Records

Texas Lutheran 41-10
Concordia Chicago 40-14

Texas, Texas Tech to host in NCAA baseball first round

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Texas and Texas Tech have been named as a hosts for the first round of the NCAA playoffs.

The announcement came Sunday night from the NCAA Division I Baseball Committee.

The 16 regional sites, with host institutions and records, are as follows:

Athens, Georgia – Georgia (37-19)
Austin, Texas – Texas (37-20)
Chapel Hill, North Carolina – North Carolina (38-18)
Clemson, South Carolina – Clemson (45-14)
Corvallis, Oregon – Oregon St. (44-10-1)
Conway, South Carolina – Coastal Carolina (42-17)
DeLand, Florida – Stetson (45-11)
Fayetteville, Arkansas – Arkansas (39-18)
Gainesville, Florida – Florida (42-17)
Greenville, North Carolina – East Carolina (43-16)
Minneapolis, Minnesota ­– Minnesota (41-13)
Lubbock, Texas – Texas Tech (39-17)
Oxford, Mississippi – Ole Miss (46-15)
Raleigh, North Carolina – NC State (40-16)
Stanford, California – Stanford (44-10)
Tallahassee, Florida – Florida St. (43-17)

By being awarded a regional, all 16 host institutions have also been selected to the 64-team championship field.

Each regional field features four teams, playing in a double-elimination format.

All 16 regionals are scheduled to be conducted from Friday, June 1 to Monday, June 4 (if necessary).

The remaining at-large teams, top 16 national seeds, first-round regional pairings and site assignments will be announced Monday at 11 a.m.

A one-hour program will be shown live on ESPNU.

The committee will set the entire 64-team bracket through both the super regionals and the first round of the College World Series and will not reseed the field after play begins.

TLU outlasts Swarthmore, 3-2, in 13-inning thriller

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Drama led the way at the NCAA Division III World Series on Sunday afternoon.

But exhaustion wasn’t far behind.

In the end, the Texas Lutheran University Bulldogs celebrated a 3-2 victory in 13 innings over Swarthmore, Pa., in Appleton, Wis.

Riley Schaefer ripped an RBI single in the top of the 13th to give the Bulldogs the lead.

Drew Waller came out of the bullpen to get the final two outs in the bottom half, as TLU advanced to play Concordia Chicago tonight in the national semifinals.

TLU will need to beat Concordia twice to advance to the championship round.

Finding a rhythm at the plate

Schaefer earned redemption in the 13th when he singled to left field, driving in Andrew Whitten from third with the winning run.

In the 11th inning, he laced a one-out single into the gap in right center, but in trying to stretch it into a double, he was thrown out.

Schaefer collected three hits in seven at bats Sunday.

Coming into the game, TLU’s batting average leader was zero for seven in the World Series.

After breaking out against Swarthmore, he’s now hitting .420 in 50 games this season.

Playing a role off the bench

Andrew Whitten entered the game in the fifth inning as a pinch hitter for Matthew Lemon.

In extra innings, he helped win the game for TLU with his defensive savvy, his throwing arm and his bat.

His dramatics started when Swarthmore’s Matt Palmer hit a ball off the left field wall to lead off the bottom of the 12th.

Whitten played the carom, turned and threw a one-hopper to second base to get Palmer for the first out.

In the top of the 13th, he led off with a double and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt.

Whitten scored the winning run on Schaefer’s single off Swarthore reliever Jack Corkery.

Records

Texas Lutheran 40-10
Swarthmore, Pa. 38-11

Concordia Chicago hands TLU its first World Series loss

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Concordia Chicago scored the first six runs of the game, and Keaton Conner and Mike Formella combined on a four-hitter Saturday night in defeating the Texas Lutheran Bulldogs 8-3 at the NCAA Division III World Series.

The Cougars produced one run in the first inning, another in the second and four in the third to take charge at 6-0. The Bulldogs rallied to within 6-3 but couldn’t get any closer.

When TLU scored a run in the third and two in the fifth, Concordia tacked on single runs in the sixth and seventh to put the game out of reach.

Bryan VanDuser, Joe Silva, Andrew Massey and Kevin Coppin each had two hits for the Cougars, who snapped the Bulldogs’ 11-game winning streak. Silva and Coppin each had a couple of RBI.

Conner (5-2) earned the victory by working six innings on the mound for the Cougars. He gave up three runs on three hits in outdueling TLU starter Dylan Drgac.

Drgac (11-2) suffered a tough outing, yielding six runs on five hits in two and 2/3 innings.

The tournament is being played at Appleton (Wis.)

Records

Concordia Chicago 40-13
Texas Lutheran 39-10

In the aftermath

It was a pivotal game for both teams in the tournament.

With the win, Concordia Chicago ran its record to 2-0, needing only one victory to win Pool B and advance to the championship series.

The loss drops TLU to 1-1 and into the losers’ bracket, from which it must win three games to reach the championship series.

TLU is scheduled to play Swarthmore (Pa.) on Sunday at 1:15 p.m. in an elimination game.

If TLU can win, it would play Concordia again on Sunday night.

Two wins on Sunday for TLU would force another matchup against Concordia on Monday for the Pool B title and the right to play in the championship series.

Charlotte wins 10-4 to end UTSA’s season

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Todd Elwood stroked two hits and produced three RBI Saturday as the Charlotte 49ers beat UTSA, 10-4, at the Conference USA tournament.

The setback ended the season for the Roadrunners.

Charlotte put the game away with five runs in the seventh inning.

Drew Ober capped the rally with a two-run double.

Trent Bowles hit a grand slam to give the Roadrunners a 4-2 lead in the third.

Records

UTSA 32-24
Charlotte 33-24

TLU sizzles in DIII World Series debut, defeating Wooster, 7-0

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Tyler Cauley slammed a three-run homer in the first inning Friday night, propelling the Texas Lutheran Bulldogs to a 7-0 victory over the College of Wooster (Ohio) at the NCAA Division III World Series.

In TLU’s first ever D-III World Series game, Cauley produced three hits in four at bats for five RBIs to back the pitching of Nathan Malinovsky, who went the distance and shut down the explosive Fighting Scots on four hits.

The Bulldogs started fast, scoring three runs in the first, one in the second and two in the third.

In the process, they knocked out starter Chandler Dippman after four innings and forced the Fighting Scots to use five pitchers on the night. In all, the Bulldogs raked Wooster pitching for 14 hits.

Malinovsky, a junior from New Braunfels, pitched a masterpiece against one of the best offenses in the nation. He struck out nine and walked three in improving his record to 12-1. Dippman took the loss and fell to 8-1.

“Obviously, Nate was pretty awesome tonight,” TLU coach Greg Burnett said in comments posted on the school’s website. “He didn’t walk many guys, and that was important against (Wooster), who puts up a bunch of runs.

“Tyler’s home run in the first inning was big because like a lot of teams we had jitters, and that allowed us to settle down.”

Records

Texas Lutheran 39-9
Wooster 40-9

Friday’s scores

UT Tyler 10, Oswego (New York) 5
Misericordia 4, Randolph Macon 2
Concordia Chicago 9 Swarthmore 4
Texas Lutheran 7, Wooster (Ohio) 0

Saturday’s schedule

Oswego State vs. Randolph Macon, 10 a.m.
UT Tyler vs. Misericordia, 1:15 p.m.
Swarthmore vs. Wooster, 4:30 p.m.
TLU vs. Concordia-Chicago, 7:45 p.m.

UTSA-Charlotte elimination game set for Saturday morning

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Officials announced Friday night that an elimination game between UTSA and Charlotte at the Conference USA tournament has been postponed because of weather concerns and will be played at 9 a.m. Saturday.

Southern Miss defeated UTSA 5-3 earlier in the day, sending the Roadrunners into the losers’ bracket.

UTSA is 1-1 in the tournament after beating Charlotte 11-1 on Thursday and then losing to Southern Miss, the top seed.

After losing to UTSA, Charlotte defeated UAB 2-0 in a game that started late Thursday night and finished early Friday mornning.

The tournament is being held at MGM Park in Biloxi, Miss.

The Southern Miss Golden Eagles choked off a ninth-inning UTSA rally Friday and downed the Roadrunners 5-3 in a winners’ bracket game at the Conference USA tournament.

With the loss, UTSA was sent tumbling into the losers’ bracket, where they will face the Charlotte 49ers tonight. Estimated game time is 9 p.m. The tournament is being played in Biloxi, Miss.

Slugging Matt Wallner hurt the Roadrunners with a home run and a single and two RBI. Hunter Slater also contributed three of the Golden Eagles’ 12 hits.

Tony Beam ripped a two-run homer for UTSA. But Southern Miss pitching held UTSA in check most of the day, allowing eight hits.

Lefthander Stevie Powers (5-1) earned the victory with seven innings of work. He left the game leading 4-2. Trent Driver pitched the last two inninngs for the save.

The Roadrunners made it interesting by scoring a run off Driver in the bottom of the eighth to pull within 4-3. The Golden Eagles retaliated in the top of the ninth with a run to account for the final margin.

In the bottom half, UTSA put two runners on base, only to ground into a game-inning double play. Southern Miss third baseman Luke Reynolds fielded a ground ball, tagged a base runner, executed a spin move and threw to first for the final out.

Starting pitcher Steven Dressler (5-4) worked five innings and took the loss for the Roadrunners.


Southern Miss third baseman Luke Reynolds, the C-USA Player of the Year, executes a sensational game-ending double play.

Records

UTSA 32-22
Southern Miss 41-15

Notebook

UTSA stroked 18 hits in defeating Charlotte 11-1 to open the tournament on Thursday. The bats weren’t quite as hot against Southern Miss.

Golden Eagles pitching limited the Roadrunners to eight hits.

UTSA senior and team RBI leader Ben Brookover hasn’t played in either game. No word yet on the reason for his absence.


UTSA second baseman Aldo Buendia, a former standout at Laredo Alexander, robs Matt Wallner of a hit with a leaping catch in the eighth inning. At the plate, Buendia is 3 for 8 in two games in the tournament. He is 6 for 16, hitting safely in his last four games overall.

Texas A&M pitching dominant again in 4-2 victory over Auburn

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Texas A&M held on Thursday night for a 4-2 victory over the Auburn Tigers to remain undefeated at the Southeastern Conference tournament.

The Tigers scored once in the ninth against A&M closer Nolan Hoffman to pull within the eventual final score.

But with two runners on base, Hoffman got Luke Jarvis on a ground ball to end the game.

A&M starter John Doxakis (7-5) outdueled Auburn star Casey Mize (9-5) for the victory.

Doxakis, a lefty, carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning before yielding a couple of hits and a run.

Armed with a big curve ball, he struck out 10 and walked none.

Mize, projected as a possible No. 1 overall pick in the amateur draft next month, also worked into the eighth.

But he left the game after giving up four runs on eight hits.

Hoffman, a side-winding, righthander, pitched the final 1 and 2/3 and earned his 14th save.

Texas A&M is now 3-0 in Hoover with victories over Vanderbilt (3-1), Georgia (7-0) and Auburn in the past three days.

In an interview with the SEC Network, Doxakis shrugged off the feeling of coming so close and then falling short of the no hitter.

“All good things come to an end,” he told the SEC Network. “Everybody wants to throw a no-hitter but you know how hard it is.”

With the win, A&M advances to the tournament semifinals. The Aggies will play Saturday against either Auburn or Ole Miss.

The Aggies won the SEC tournament in 2016, and coach Rob Childress likes his team’s competitiveness this time around.

“I’m just proud of the way we play when we come to Hoover, for the most part,” Childress “You know, there’s a ring and a trophy on the line, and everybody’s being competitive.

“I know there’s an (NCAA) regional next week, but to stay in the moment and try to play our best this week is awfully important.”

Records

Texas A&M 39-19
Auburn 39-20

SEC baseball tournament

Thursday’s scores

Ole Miss 5, Georgia 4 (10 innings)
LSU 6, South Carolina 4 (12 innings)
Texas A&M 4, Auburn 2

Friday’s schedule

Florida vs. Arkansas, 10 a.m. (winners bracket)
Ole Miss vs. Auburn, 3 p.m. (elimination)
LSU vs. Florida-Arkansas loser, to follow (elimination)

Saturday’s schedule

(Semifinals)
Texas A&M vs. Auburn or Ole Miss, 2 p.m.
TBD, to follow


(Texas A&M right fielder Allonte Wingate robs Auburn of extra bases and possibly a home run with a leaping catch at the wall in the third inning.)

UTSA starts fast, rolls past Charlotte 11-1 in Biloxi

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The UTSA Roadrunners backed Chance Kirby’s dominant pitching with 18 hits — including five by Bryan Arias — in rolling to an 11-1 victory over the Charlotte 49ers Thursday morning at the C-USA baseball tournament.

With the victory, UTSA advanced into the winners’ bracket.

The fifth-seeded Roadrunners are scheduled to play the top-seeded Southern Miss Golden Eagles on Friday at 12:30 p.m. at MGM Park in Biloxi, Mississippi.

Southern Miss advanced with a 2-0 victory over the UAB Blazers.

Quotable

“You never know what’s going to happen at 9 a.m. You don’t know if you’ll be asleep or if you’ll come out swinging.” — UTSA coach Jason Marshall.

Details, details

Bryan Arias is tearing it up at the C-USA tournament.

The UTSA junior from Marshall High School has five hits in five at bats in the tournament opener for both teams.

Highlights include a two-run homer in a nine-run third inning and a single and a stolen base in the seventh.

Kirby’s day

UTSA righthander Chance Kirby exited the game in the seventh inning, but not before he completely befuddled Charlotte’s offense.

Kirby worked 6 and 2/3 innings, giving up only a run on two hits. He no-hit the 49ers from the second through the seventh.

In the beginning

UTSA opened a 9-1 lead on Charlotte with a nine-run third inning.

Arias capped the explosion with a two-run homer over the left field scoreboard, his team-leading eighth of the year.

Charlotte took the lead on Kirby in the bottom of the first on an RBI single by Tommy Bullock.

Weather delays

UTSA and Charlotte were scheduled to play Wednesday night, but because of numerous weather delays, the game was scrapped and pushed back to Thursday morning.

Notes

Ben Brookover, who has a team-leading 47 RBI, did not play for UTSA.

Before the schedule change, lefthander Steven Dressler was the expected starter for the Roadrunners against Josh Maciejewski for Charlotte.

Neither player saw action.