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Texas Tech, Texas set to host in NCAA Super Regional round

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When the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the Texas Longhorns clinched NCAA regional titles in baseball on Sunday night, it appeared likely that both Big 12 Conference powerhouses would be playing on the road in the next round.

A day later, both moved into position to host best-of-three NCAA Super Regionals at their respective home fields this weekend.

By Tuesday morning, it was made official.

Texas Tech will host the Duke Blue Devils starting Saturday afternoon at Rip Griffin Park in Lubbock.

Texas also will host on Saturday, taking on the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles at Disch-Falk Field in Austin. UT has already announced a sellout.

Winners of the eight Super Regionals will advance to the College World Series.

Texas Tech, the No. 9 overall seed in the NCAA tournament, and Texas, the No. 13 seed, both won three straight games at home last weekend to win their respective first-round regionals.

When Texas Tech closed out its Lubbock Regional sweep with an 11-6 victory over Louisville on Sunday, fans figured the Red Raiders would be headed to Athens, Ga., to play the No. 8-seeded Georgia Bulldogs.

Duke had other ideas, eliminating Georgia by sweeping the Dawgs 8-5 and 8-4 on Monday to win the Athens Regional.

Texas was in a similar situation after it polished off Indiana 3-2 on Sunday night to claim the Austin Regional.

The Longhorns figured they would be headed to Oxford, Miss., to play the No. 4 Ole Miss Rebels.

But Tennessee Tech scrambled the picture by shocking the Rebels 15-5 and 3-2 on Monday to claim the Oxford Regional title.

Entering play on Monday, all that Georgia and Ole Miss needed was one victory on their home field against a lower-seeded program, and both would have hosted a Super Regional.

But as it so often happens in college baseball, what appeared likely didn’t actually come to pass, which in turn sent a pair of Super Regional series to the Lone Star State.

Lubbock Super Regional
Duke 44-16
at Texas Tech 42-17
Best of three, starting Saturday

Austin Super Regional
Tennessee Tech 52-10
at Texas 40-20
Best of three, starting Saturday

What ever happened to …

Here is what happened to the other five NCAA tournament teams from the state of Texas on opening weekend.

Texas A&M — The Aggies (40-22) endured a tough weekend in losing two of three at Austin. After walloping Indiana on opening night, A&M lost to Texas on Saturday and Indiana on Sunday, falling short of the Super Regional round for the first time since 2014.

Houston — The Cougars (38-25) went 2-2 in a spirited run at the Chapel Hill Regional. The American Athletic Conference champions beat Purdue twice but also lost twice to tournament host North Carolina. The Tar Heels pounded the Cougars 19-11 in the championship round Sunday.

Baylor — The Bears (37-21) went 1-2 at the Stanford Regional, losing to Cal State Fullerton, beating Wright State and then losing to host Stanford. Fullerton knocked off the tournament host Cardinal to win the regional.

Dallas Baptist — The Patriots (42-21) bowed out of the tournament with a 2-2 record at Fayetteville, Ark., but they did enjoy their moments. Following a 9-0 opening-night loss to Southern Miss, Dallas Baptist beat Oral Roberts 18-9 and Southern Miss 9-4 to reach the championship round, where it lost to Arkansas, 4-3.

Texas Southern — The Tigers (27-28) were swept out of the tournament in Austin, losing to Texas, 10-0, and to Indiana, 6-0. Texas Southern, from the Southwestern Athletic Conference, has now played in NCAA tournaments in 2015, 2017 and 2018.

Six teams in the state alive in NCAA baseball playoffs

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Six of the seven Texas-based teams in the NCAA baseball tournament remain alive through three days of regional play. Texas and Texas Tech are 2-0 in their regions. Here’s the breakdown leading into Sunday afternoon competition:

Texas — In the drivers’ seat in the Austin Regional. The No. 13 overall seed in the NCAA tournament is 2-0 and will play at home tonight against either Indiana or Texas A&M. This is a hot team. Might be tough to beat them two straight in Austin. So far, Texas has hammered Texas Southern 10-0 and beat up A&M 8-3.

Texas A&M — The Aggies are 1-1 in the Austin Regional and will play this afternoon to stay alive against the Indiana Hoosiers. A&M needs a quality start to steady the team. Will it be freshman lefthander Asa Lacy from Kerrville Tivy?

Texas Southern — The Tigers were swept out of the tournament in Austin, losing 10-0 to Texas 6-0 to Indiana. Texas Southern is a program on the rise, having played in NCAA regionals at College Station in 2015, at Baton Rouge in 2017 and now in Austin, all under coach Michael Robertson.

Texas Tech — The Red Raiders are 2-0 and playing for the regional title tonight in their own Lubbock Regional. Kent State and Louisville will meet this afternoon to determine Tech’s opponent. Either way, the No. 9 national seeded Red Raiders appear to be in good shape after beating New Mexico State 9-2 on Friday and Louisville 10-4 on Saturday.

Baylor — The Big 12 tournament champions are 1-1 and facing long odds in the losers’ bracket at the Stanford Regional. They’ll play the host and No. 2 overall seed Cardinal this afternoon in an effort to stay alive. Baylor needs to beat Stanford and Cal State Fullerton twice to win the regional. The Bears lost to surprising Fullerton 6-2 on Friday and then bounced back to defeat Wright State, 11-5, on Saturday.

Houston — The Cougars are 1-1 and facing elimination Sunday afternoon against Purdue in the Chapel Hill Regional. Houston must win three straight to advance. It must beat the Boilermakers and the host North Carolina Tar Heels twice. Houston started fast in the regional, knocking off Purdue 9-2 on Friday. The Cougars hit two home runs in their second game but fell to the Tar Heels 4-3 on Saturday.

Dallas Baptist –The hard-hitting Patriots slammed Oral Roberts 18-9 on Saturday to even their record to 1-1 in the Fayetteville Regional. They’ll take on Southern Miss, the Conference USA champions, on Sunday afternoon. If Dallas Baptist can win, it would move into the championship round against host Arkansas Sunday night. One of the hidden gems in NCAA sports in Texas, Dallas Baptist has played in four NCAA regionals since 2011.

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.

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

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.

Texas Tech set for tests this week at Arkansas, TCU

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Is Texas Tech really this good?

We’ll know more this week when the fourth-ranked Red Raiders play two on the road at No. 8 Arkansas.

The games between former rivals in the Southwest Conference are set for Tuesday and Wednesday in Fayetteville.

After that, Tech travels for a Big 12 series at TCU from Friday through Sunday.

The Red Raiders on Monday moved up one spot in the national rankings, according to Baseball America.

They did it after a 3-1 week overall, and a 2-1 series win over Oklahoma in the Big 12.

Sophomore third baseman Josh Jung from San Antonio (MacArthur HS) enjoyed a magical week for the Red Raiders, hitting .588 with three home runs and 13 RBIs.

He produced 10 hits, including seven that went for extra bases.

Last Tuesday, he became the sixth player in school history to hit for the cycle at New Mexico.

Last Friday, he scored the winning run against Oklahoma on a balk.

On third base, Jung faked a steal of home and caused an OU pitcher to make the mistake that moved runners up, giving Tech the victory.

Here’s the rest of this week’s Top 25, according to the magazine’s website:

1. Florida 34-8 SEC
2. North Carolina State 31-8 ACC
3. Stanford 30-5 Pac-12
4. Texas Tech 32-9 Big 12
5. Mississippi 32-9 SEC
6. Oregon State 29-6 Pac-12
7. East Carolina 30-9 American
8. Arkansas 28-13 SEC
9. UCLA 25-10 Pac-12
10. North Carolina 27-13 ACC
11. Vanderbilt 24-16 SEC
12. Duke 31-10 ACC
13. Kentucky 26-14 SEC
14. Clemson 29-11 ACC
15. Southern Miss 28-11 Conference USA
16. Coastal Carolina 28-14 Sun Belt
17. Florida State 29-12 ACC
18. Indiana 29-8 Big Ten
19. Texas 28-15 Big 12
20. South Florida 26-14 American
21. Tennessee Tech 34-5 Ohio Valley
22. Oklahoma 27-15 Big 12
23. Minnesota 25-11 Big Ten
24. Georgia 27-13 SEC
25. Jacksonville, Fla. 28-13 Atlantic Sun

Josh Jung hits for the cycle as Texas Tech routs New Mexico

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Josh Jung, a Texas Tech sophomore from MacArthur, etched his name in the school record books Tuesday afternoon in Albuquerque.

He became the sixth player in Tech history to hit for the cycle in a 20-9 victory for the fifth-ranked Red Raiders at New Mexico.

Jung continued with his season-long batting tear by going 5-for-5, hitting two homers and driving in eight runs against the Lobos.

Highlighting his performance, Jung singled in the first inning, doubled in the third, homered in the fourth and eighth, and then tripled in the ninth.

The outburst raised Jung’s batting average to .403 for the season.

He also has produced seven home runs and 52 RBI in 38 games for the Red Raiders (30-8).

Villanova downs Texas Tech to secure another Final Four berth

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All that bad mojo affecting top-seeded teams in the NCAA South and West regions didn’t seem to bother the Villanova Wildcats in the East.

No. 1 Villanova capped an impressive 4-0 streak in the tournament with a 71-59 victory over third-seeded Texas Tech Sunday afternoon at Boston.

With the win, the Wildcats earned a berth in the Final Four this week in San Antonio.

It is the second trip to a Texas-based Final Four for Villanova in three years.

The Wildcats won the 2016 title at Houston.

Villanova will play either Kansas or Duke in the semifinals on Saturday at the Alamodome.

For Texas Tech, the loss brought to an end the deepest run in the tournament in school history.

“I told the young guys that we’d be back,” Texas Tech coach Chris Beard told CBS television. “I told the seniors thanks for everything.”

Texas Tech beats Purdue, advances to NCAA Elite Eight

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The third-seeded Texas Tech Red Raiders ran away from No. 2 Purdue 78-65 Friday night in Boston, advancing to the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history.

Texas Tech will play No. 1-seed Villanova on Sunday for the East Region championship and a trip to the Final Four in San Antonio.

In a television interview, Texas Tech coach Chris Beard called it “one of our best defensive games” of the season and cited guard Keenan Evans for taking over “like he usually does.”

Evans hit clutch shots down the stretch in finishing with a team-high 16 points.

Perhaps more significantly, the Red Raiders held Purdue to 44 percent shooting and forced 17 turnovers.

Texas Tech had made it to the Round of 16 twice in the past 22 years but lost both times.

Tech’s victory places a third team from the Big 12 Conference in the Elite Eight.

The Red Raiders will join the Kansas State Wildcats and the Kansas Jayhawks, all with a chance to make it to San Antonio.

In Saturday’s Elite Eight games, Kansas State will play Loyola-Chicago in Atlanta for the South Region championship, while Florida State will take on Michigan in Los Angeles for the West title.

On Sunday, Tech will face off against talented Villanova in Boston, while Kansas will play Duke, in Omaha, for Midwest Region crown.

Tech might have as balanced of a team as any left in the tournament because of its athleticism, its defense and its ability to get shots close to the basket.

“We just gave up way too many layups,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “We couldn’t keep ’em out of the paint.”

Texas Tech beats Florida, advances to Round of 16

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Texas Tech advanced to the Round of 16 in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 13 years Saturday night following a 69-66 victory over Florida in an East Regional second-round game at Dallas.

It’s a stunning achievement for the Red Raiders, who were picked in the preseason to finish in the middle of the pack in the Big 12 Conference.

Second-year Texas Tech coach Chris Beard told a television reporter for TBS that he has always been driven to prove people wrong.

“We don’t have the McDonald’s All-Americans,” Beard said. “But we’ve got guys who have gotten better, and we’ve got guys who believe in themselves.”

As a result, third-seeded Tech (26-9) will move on to Boston next week to face either Purdue or Butler.

The Red Raiders last played in the Sweet 16 in 2005 when they defeated UCLA and Gonzaga in Tucson before losing to West Virginia, 65-60, in the regional semifinals at Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Bob Knight was in his fourth season as Tech’s coach at the time.

Houston’s heart-break

Jordan Poole hit a long three-pointer to beat the buzzer as the third-seeded Michigan Wolverines ousted No. 6 Houston 64-63 in a Round of 32 West Region thriller at Wichita, Kansas.

The Cougars had a chance to advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time in 34 years but couldn’t stop the Wolverines from making the winning play with a possession that started with 3.6 seconds remaining.

Michigan inbounded the ball from its own baseline. The pass went to Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman, who passed to Poole on the right wing.

Poole elevated with pressure from a Houston defender and, with legs splayed, hoisted the shot that lifted Michigan into the Sweet 16 for the second straight year.

Loyola-Chicago wins again

Clayton Custer’s jumper with 3.6 seconds left boosted the 11th-seeded Loyola-Chicago Ramblers into the Round of 16 with a 63-62 victory over No. 3 Tennessee in a South Region game at Dallas.

The Volunteers had a chance to win at the buzzer, but Jordan Bone misfired on a contested three from top of the circle.

With the victory, Loyola-Chicago emerged as the only double-digit seed to win a second-round game on Saturday, with three more — UMBC, Butler and Syracuse — playing Sunday.

Round of 32

Saturday’s scores / Sunday’s schedule

South

(16) UMBC vs. (9) Kansas State, Sunday, 6:45 p.m., TruTV
(5) Kentucky beat (13) Buffalo, 95-75

(11) Loyola-Chicago beat (3) Tennessee, 63-62
(2) Cincinnati vs. (7) Nevada, Sunday, 5:10 p.m., TNT

West

(1) Xavier vs. (9) Florida State, Sunday, 7:45 p.m., TNT
(4) Gonzaga beat (5) Ohio State, 90-84

(3) Michigan beat (6) Houston, 64-63
(7) Texas A&M vs. (2) North Carolina, Sunday, 4:15 p.m., CBS

East

(1) Villanova beat (9) Alabama, 81-58
(5) West Virginia vs. (13) Marshall, Sunday, 8:40 p.m., TBS

(3) Texas Tech beat (6) Florida, 69-66
(10) Butler vs. (2) Purdue, Sunday, 11:10 a.m., CBS

Midwest

(1) Kansas beat (8) Seton Hall, 83-79
(4) Auburn vs. (5) Clemson, Sunday, 6:10 p.m., CBS

(11) Syracuse vs. (3) Michigan State, Sunday, 1:40 p.m., CBS
(2) Duke beat (7) Rhode Island, 87-62