Mountaineers, Cowboys Stay Hot; Warhawks On Fire (5/23)

Each day this week, we’ll take a look around the country at some of the biggest games from conference tournament week.

West Virginia was picked sixth in the Big 12 preseason coaches’ poll. Oklahoma State was picked fifth.

The Mountaineers and Cowboys not only have played their way to the winners’ bracket final of the Big 12 tourney, but they’ve also squarely put themselves into the NCAA hosting discussion. WVU, with an RPI of 11, could host for the first time since 1955, and OSU, at 7, looks to be in great shape to join Texas Tech (RPI 10).

On Thursday, the Mountaineers got eight innings of one-run ball and 10 strikeouts from ace Alek Manoah to beat the top-seeded Red Raiders 5-1. West Virginia has won six in a row and nine of 10. The Cowboys’ duo of Jensen Elliott (6 IP, 2 H, 4 K) and Peyton Battenfield (3 IP, 1 H, 6 K) combined on a three-hit shutout of Baylor (RPI 27) in a 5-0 win. Oklahoma State, which opened eyes with its three-game sweep at Oregon State earlier this month, also has won nine of 10.

Over in Hoover, Drake Fellows and Ethan Small were brilliant in Vanderbilt’s 1-0 win over Mississippi State. The Commodores’ Fellows allowed five hits and struck out eight in six scoreless innings, and the Bulldogs’ Small allowed three hits and one earned run and struck out 11 in seven innings. In fact, all the pitching was pretty outstanding at the SEC tourney on Thursday – 13 total runs were scored in the day’s four games.

In Durham, Virginia lost 10-3 to Miami and saw its RPI fall five spots to No. 48. The Cavaliers will be sweating come Monday morning, wondering if two straight losses in the ACC tourney will doom their NCAA dreams. Louisville (RPI 9) went 0-2 after losing to Clemson; while the Cardinals likely will host a Regional, their national-seed prospects are now in question.

And how about the run the ULM Warhawks are on… ULM won its Sun Belt play-in game on Tuesday against South Alabama before blanking top-seeded Texas State behind 7.2 scoreless innings from Trey Jeans. The Warhawks did it again Thursday, piling up 17 hits in an 18-5 win over No. 4 UT Arlington. Trent Tingelstad went 4 for 6 with a double, homer, three runs and seven RBI, and Chad Bell added three hits, including a double and a homer, and four RBI. ULM and second-seeded Georgia Southern, a 10-3 winner over Little Rock, moved on to Saturday’s semifinals and await the winners of Friday’s games.

Elsewhere of note…

• In the A-10, Fordham trailed Richmond 6-1 in the sixth inning on Tuesday before rallying for a 10-inning win. On Wednesday, the fourth-seeded Rams took down the No. 1 Rams of VCU 2-1, thanks in large part to John Stankiewicz, who tossed seven innings with three hits and one earned run. Kyle Martin earned his 10^th save with two innings and four strikeouts. VCU later was eliminated by its rival Richmond, and with an RPI of 56, the Rams’ two-and-out could have cost them a chance at an at-large bid.
• UNCW is doing its best to send skipper Mark Scalf on a high note. The fifth-seeded Skyhawks got 11 strikeouts from Landen Roupp and rattled Elon’s George Kirby for eight earned runs to stay unbeaten in the CAA tourney. Scalf, UNCW’s longtime coach, announced his retirement earlier this year and has his team in the winners’ bracket after two straight wins.
• Creighton (RPI 22) overcame a 9-7, ninth-inning deficit to beat Seton Hall 10-9. Jared Wegner had a two-run single to tie the game and scored on an error for the game-winner. Next up is St. John’s, which got a combined shutout from Joe LaSorsa (7.1 IP) and Gavin Hollowell (1.2 IP) in a 2-0 win over Xavier.
• The top seed is out in the A-Sun tourney as No. 5 North Florida eliminated FGCU (RPI 127). Jacksonville and Stetson are in the winners’ bracket final after posting extra-inning wins Thursday. The Dolphins (RPI 70) scored three times in the top of the 10^th to beat Liberty (RPI 50) 9-6. Angel Camacho had a sac fly, and Jacob Southern drove in two with a double in the decisive inning. The Hatters led Lipscomb 4-0 in the ninth before the Bison scratched for four, two coming on Haddon Adams’ single to tie the game. Eric Foggo had a sac fly to give Stetson the lead in the 10^th, but Lipscomb rallied again. Foggo then won it 6-5 in the 12^th with his third RBI, an infield single.
• Fourth-seeded Connecticut (RPI 29) scored twice in the ninth, getting a go-ahead single from Pat Winkel, who earlier had homered, to knock off Wichita State 9-7. The Huskies advanced to the semifinal round for the fifth straight year. Joining them is Cincinnati, which got three hits and two RBI from Wyatt Stapp and a homer and three RBI from Mitch Holding. The Bearcats and Huskies await the winners of today’s losers’ bracket games.
• Top-seeded Stony Brook trailed UMass Lowell 6-2 in the bottom of the eighth before rallying for three in the eighth and winning it 7-6 on Chris Hamilton’s two-run homer. Coach Matt Senk called it “one of the all-time comebacks in our program’s history” after the game.
• The NEC tourney featured a pair of shutouts, with league POY Steve Theetge allowing three hits and striking out nine as Bryant beat Sacred Heart 4-0 and Tom Curtin allowing six hits and striking out five in Central Connecticut’s 5-0 win over Wagner.
• Indiana (RPI 34) and Illinois (RPI 29) were eliminated from the Big Ten tourney and await Selection Monday. Both appear to be in good shape for now. Michigan (RPI 41), which beat the Fighting Illini 5-4 Thursday, helped its cause in a big way.
• The top two seeds are on a collision course at the C-USA Tourney. FAU, with an RPI of 36, appears to be in good shape for an at-large bid if it doesn’t win in Biloxi. The Owls topped Western Kentucky 6-1 Thursday. Second-seeded Southern Miss, with an RPI of 51, may need to win the tourney to get in. The Golden Eagles beat Marshall 10-5 Thursday.
• Top-seed Jacksonville State and second-seeded Austin Peay are in the drivers’ seat in the OVC, with the Gamecocks edging Belmont 6-5 in 10 innings. Defending champ Morehead State stayed alive when Ryan Layne it a walkoff homer in the ninth to eliminate Murray State 2-1.
• Illinois State (RPI 23) has opened MVC tourney play in Normal, Ill., with two wins. In Thursday’s 10-7 win over No. 3 Indiana State, Aiden Huggins went 3 for 3 with two runs and two RBI.
• At the Southland tourney, Gavin Stone tossed eight scoreless innings as No. 2 Central Arkansas blanked Stephen F. Austin 11-0 for its second straight shutout. Of note, Stone has been the Bears’ closer for much of the year and was only his second start of the year. McNeese got a 4-for-4 day with a run and two RBI from Jake Dickerson in a 7-2 win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to join Central Arkansas as the unbeatens in the tourney.