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Texas rolls, sets up NCAA matchup against Texas A&M

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DJ Petrinski electrified a sold-out crowd with a three-run homer as the top-seeded Texas Longhorns routed the No. 4 Texas Southern Tigers 10-0 Friday night at Disch-Falk Field in the NCAA Austin Regional.

As a result, the Longhorns advanced into a Saturday night slot in the winners’ bracket against the in-state rival Texas A&M Aggies. Texas A&M won earlier in the day, knocking off Indiana, 10-3.

Now that a playoff game against the Aggies has been assured — first pitch is set for 6 p.m. — Texas fans have seen just about everything in David Pierce’s second season as head coach.

To this point, the season has included a shaky start in the non-conference phase of the schedule, a surge that resulted in a Big 12 regular season title, and then a head-scratching stumble at the conference tournament.

But against Texas Southern, Texas showed that it may indeed have found its playoff footing.

The Longhorns, listed as a No. 13 national seed, beat the Tigers with pitching, defense and even with an offense that flashed both power and speed.

By the end of the sixth inning, Texas starter Chase Shugart had shut out Texas Southern on four hits, its defense had turned the 64th and 65th double plays of the season, and its offense had scored on both a long home run and a steal of home plate.

Petrinski hit his seventh homer to highlight a four-run third. In the fifth, David Hamilton caught Texas Southern relief pitcher Mason Furlong by surprise, stealing home for the third run of the inning and a 9-0 lead.

In the top of the sixth, Shugart showed his own athleticism, bare-handing a ground ball to start a double play.

He wheeled and threw to the bag at second and watched as Hamilton came across to take throw before firing to first to end the inning.

Shugart finished his day with six innings pitched. He allowed only four hits and struck out six. Petrinski was 2 or 3 with 4 RBIs.

Records

Texas 38-20
Texas Southern 27-27

Aggies storm past Hoosiers, 10-3, at the NCAA Austin Regional

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Zach DeLoach and Logan Foster produced three hits apiece in a 14-hit attack Friday afternoon as the third-seeded Texas A&M Aggies scored seven runs runs in the fourth inning and rolled to a 10-3 victory over No. 2 Indiana in the NCAA Austin Regional.

Nine different A&M players got hits during a game played in 100-degree heat at Austin’s UFCU Disch-Falk Field, the home of the Texas Longhorns. DeLoach drove in three runs and Foster had two.

Luke Miller led Indiana with a pair of solo home runs against the A&M bullpen.

But the Hoosiers never got into any sort of rhythm offensively against Aggies lefthander John Doxakis, who struck out a career-high 12 in six innings. Doxakis earned the victory by yielding only one hit and one run, which was unearned.

The Aggies broke the game open in the fourth against Hoosiers starting pitcher Johnathan Stiever.

They sent 10 batters to the plate and stroked six hits, including two by DeLoach, who led it off with a single up the middle and later cleared the bases with a triple to center field.

With the victory, the Aggies stayed in the winners’ bracket in the four-team regional and set themselves up to play against either the host and No. 1 seeded Longhorns or the fourth-seeded Texas Southern Tigers.

UT and Texas Southern played later Friday.

Records

Texas A&M 40-20
Indiana 38-18

Texas Tech rolls past New Mexico State, 9-2, at Lubbock Regional

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Zach Rheams smashed a two-run homer in a three-run first inning Friday afternoon, and the Texas Tech Red Raiders rolled to an easy 9-2 victory over New Mexico State in the NCAA Lubbock Regional.

It was the team-leading 14th home run of the season for Rheams, a senior from Brazoswood.

“That was huge,” said San Antonio’s Josh Jung, a Texas Tech infielder. “Rheams hitting that home run really helped us settle in, just have fun. You can come into these games a little antsy, a little back on your heels, but with that home run, it got us going.”

With the victory in the tournament opener, Tech remains in the winners’ bracket and will play Saturday against either Louisville or Kent State.

Asked if he felt any sense of relief as the top seed in the regional to win the first game, Jung brushed off that suggestion, saying, “I wouldn’t say it’s a sense of relief.

“We came in here pretty confident we were going to get after it today,” he said. “Just get through the first round, put up a good game like we did today, to get going, get it rolling.”

Caleb Kilian (8-1 2.30) is scheduled to start on the mound for the Red Raiders on Saturday.

Against New Mexico State, Tech suffered some adversity early when starting pitcher Dylan Dusek had to come out after two innings because of a blister on his throwing hand.

Ryan Shetter came in to relieve starting in the third.

After getting two out, he gave up a solo home run to Joey Ortiz, cutting the Tech lead to 3-1.

But he settled down to keep the Aggies scoreless on two hits the rest of the way in his five-inning stint.

The Red Raiders scored two more runs in the third, pushing the lead to 5-1. The No. 1 seeds and tournament hosts were never seriously threatened again.

San Antonio’s Josh Jung figured into Tech outbursts in both the first and third innings.

Jung, a sophomore from MacArthur who entered the game batting .381, singled and scored in both innings.

Connor Queen, a sophomore from Boerne, also figured into Tech’s victory. He pitched two innings scoreless innings to close the game.

Queen, Tech’s fourth pitcher of the day, yielded three straight singles in the eighth but he got out of a bases-loaded jam with a double-play ground ball.

TLU’s baseball team finishes as a national runnerup in Division III

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Crushed emotionally last fall with death of a former teammate, some members of the Texas Lutheran Bulldogs faced a struggle just to get mentally ready to play this spring.

But with youthful resilience and a lineup stocked with talented pitchers, hitters and defensive wizards, they conjured up the greatest season in school history.

The Bulldogs, playing in the NCAA Division III World Series for the first time, finished as the national runnerup.

UT Tyler claimed the title Tuesday afternoon by sweeping TLU 8-1 and 9-6 in the D-III championship round.

Clearly, it was the Patriots’ day in Appleton, Wis.

They powered to one big inning in the opener (a five-run explosion in the fourth) and two more in the second game to sweep the Bulldogs in the best-of-three series.

In Game 2, Blake Maddox and Alex Bishop both smashed two-run homers for the Patriots.

Maddox’s blow highlighted a four-run fourth, and Bishop’s shot off the right field foul pole keyed a five-run seventh.

Trailing by five runs after seven, TLU didn’t fold, scoring twice in the eighth to pull within the eventual final score.

But Patriots reliever Alexander Masotto blanked the Bulldogs in the ninth to set the victory celebration in motion.

TLU senior Keaton Boysen, playing his last college game, went down swinging. He was 3 for 5 at the plate and scored a run.

Sophomore catcher Cameron Wilson produced two hits and two RBI. Seniors Riley Schaefer and Eric Rabinowitz each had a hit and two RBI.

Sedillo dominates in Game 1

Simon Sedillo pitched a complete game in leading UT Tyler’s 8-1 victory in the first game.

The Patriots scored two runs in the top of the first against All-American Nathan Malinovsky, who shut out Wooster, Ohio, on the first night of the tournament last Friday.

But after the first inning against UT Tyler, that was it for Malinovsky, who was pulled with an apparent throwing arm injury.

In the fourth, UT Tyler broke through against the Bulldogs’ bullpen, scoring five runs for a 7-1 lead.

Jared Pauley smashed a two-run double and Josh Burns added a two-run single to highlight the outburst.

Records

UT Tyler 40-18
Texas Lutheran 42-12

Quotable

From TLU pitcher Dylan Murrell

“Well, we fell short of being the national champions today, but that doesn’t change how much we accomplished this season. This team was something so special, (and) I would go to war with any of these men. These are memories we will never forget. It’s been a hell of a ride.”

Notable

The Bulldogs won 14 of their last 15 games leading into the championship round against UT Tyler. That stretch included a 4-0 sweep for the NCAA Spokane Regional title and a 4-1 run to win Pool B at the World Series..

Playing for a friend

The Bulldogs dedicated their season to former TLU star Keaton Bohrmann, who died last October in an automobile accident.

Bohrmann was a four-year player and a three-time, all-Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference performer who played out his eligibility in 2016.

Henry Sanchez wins a title

UT Tyler second baseman Henry Sanchez, a junior from San Antonio, hit .476 in six games at the DIII World Series. Sanchez was 10 for 21 at the plate. The former standout at St. Anthony High School scored seven runs and had two RBI.

–

UT Tyler beats TLU 8-1 in Game 1 of national title series

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Simon Sedillo pitched a complete game Tuesday in leading UT Tyler’s 8-1 victory over the Texas Lutheran Bulldogs in Game 1 of a best-of-3 series for the NCAA Division III baseball title.

Game 2 is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. Tuesday. A third game, if necessary, would be played Wednesday. The tournament is taking place at Fox Cities Stadium in Appleton, Wis.

The Patriots scored two runs in the top of the first against TLU starting pitcher Nathan Malinovsky, who left the game after the inning with an apparent throwing arm injury.

In the fourth, UT Tyler broke through against the Bulldogs’ bullpen, scoring five more times for a 7-1 lead. Jared Pauley smashed a two-run double and Josh Burns added a two-run single to highlight the outburst.

The Patriots played a near flawless game. While Sedillo pitched well, the defense also sparkled, turning three double plays. They also stroked 11 hits against three TLU pitchers.

Sedillo worked nine innings and gave up one earned run on six hits. He struck out five and walked none.

From here, it will be an uphill battle for a Texas Lutheran program seeking its first national title in baseball. But it’s not likely that the Bulldogs will go down without a fight.

After all, TLU bounced back from a Saturday night loss to Concordia to win three straight games en route to the Pool B championship.

In each of those games, the opponent scored first before the Bulldogs rebounded to win.

Records

UT Tyler 39-18
Texas Lutheran 42-11

Texas Lutheran wins, moves into Division III national title series

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Tyler Cauley belted a tie-breaking solo home run in the bottom of the eighth inning Monday, leading Texas Lutheran University to a 5-4 victory over Concordia Chicago and a berth in the championship round of the NCAA Division III World Series.

Seeking the first national title in TLU baseball history, the Bulldogs will play the UT Tyler Patriots in a best-of-three series starting Tuesday.

A doubleheader is scheuled to get underway at 11 a.m. in Appleton, Wis. A third game, if necessary, would be played Wednesday.

Showing up last week as a first-time entry in the DIII World Series, the Seguin-based Bulldogs have made themselves right at home at Fox Cities Stadium in Appleton.

They have won four out of five games since Friday night to win Pool B and earn the right to play for the championship.

After losing 8-3 to Concordia Saturday night, the Bulldogs claimed three straight wins in elimination games.

First, they downed Swarthmore, Pa., 3-2 in 13 innnings on Sunday afternoon. Next, they beat Concordia 9-7 in a game that started Sunday night and lasted until about 1 a.m. Monday.

Next, they won their biggest game of the year in dramatic fashion late Monday afternoon, with Cauley breaking a 4-4 tie in the bottom of the eighth on a solo homer off reliever Cody Caballero.

In the ninth, Dylan Murrell enterered as TLU’s fourth pitcher of the day following Dylan Drgac, Cade Killingsworth and Drew Waller.

Joe Silva greeted Murrell with a single to open the inning.

From there, the junior righthander fired strikes and let his defense do the work, first on a fly ball out, and, finally, on a spectacular, game-ending double play.

Second baseman Ben Marvin ranged to his left and gloved a ground ball, spun and whipped a throw to Eric Rabinowitz.

Rabinowitz, a senior from Schertz Clemens, fired a rocket to first base to beat Mitch Wilson by a half step for the last out.

Quotable

From TLU’s Tyler Cauley:

“Going into the at-bat I was kind of struggling throughout the day, barely missing balls and stuff. I talked to Riley Schaefer right before the (at) bat, and he said, ‘Just trust what you know, and see what pitch you can get right over the plate, and just let it fly.’ Right when I hit it, I knew it was gone.”

Notable

TLU athletics has not played for a team sport national championship in a one-on-one game setting since 1981, when the Bulldogs’ women’s volleyball team played for the AIAW-II national title. The volleyball team finished as the runnerup.

Records

Texas Lutheran 42-10
Concordia Chicago 40-15

UT Tyler’s journey

The Patriots have won three of four to win Pool A and move into the championship series. They defeated Oswego State (N.Y.) 10-5 on Friday and Misericordia (Pa.) 7-3 on Saturday.

Trying to sweep through the top bracket, they stumbled Sunday and lost 6-1 to Randolph Macon (Va.) But in bouncing back on Monday, UT Tyler exploded for six runs in the fifth inning to beat Randolph Macon, 8-6.

A rematch for the title

UT Tyler and TLU met in Seguin in February, and the Patriots swept the three-game series. In the second game, the Patriots beat TLU ace Nathan Malinovsky, handing him his only loss of the season.

Starters for Tuesday’s game haven’t been announced, but Malinovsky (12-1) has had three days rest since he shut out Wooster, Ohio, 7-0, on Friday night.

Trailing by three runs, TLU came to life in the fifth inning on an RBI double from Eric Rabinowitz and a two-run single by Riley Schaefer. Scoring off Schaefer’s hit, Rabinowitz slid head first at home to tie the game, 3-3.

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