2012 College World Series: Stony Brook Upsets LSU
By Ryan Wright
Sports fans that love to cheer for the underdog must be enthralled with Stony Brook’s improbable run during the 2012 college baseball post season. The No. 4 seed out of theMiamiregional upset SEC regular season champs and the No. 1 team in the nation, LSU, on Sunday.
The Seawolves entered the 64-team field unranked and overlooked. After dispatching regional host Miami, then ranked No. 22 by Collegiate Baseball, to advance to the Baton Rouge Super Regional the America East Conference champs were still an after thought on the national radar.
Ranked No. 16 on June 5, as the lowest ranked team left in the field of 16, Stony Brook beat LSU two games to one to clinch a spot inOmahafor the 2012 College World Series.
The Seawolves join traditional college baseball powers UCLA, Arizona, Florida, and Florida State in Omaha for a chance to win the NCAA Baseball Championship.
UCLA won two straight over visiting TCU (6-2 and 4-1) to advance to the College Worlds Series in Omaha for the fourth time in team history, third in the past four years.
The Bruins (47-14) beat the Horned Frogs (40-22) 4-1 on Sunday at Jackie Robinson Stadium behind David Berg’s three scoreless innings pitched in relief to secure the win. Berg has pitched in his national leading 47th game, second most in NCAA Division-I history.
UCLA’s 47 victories in 2012 are the second most in team history behind 2010’s school record 51 wins.
Stony Brook will face UCLA in the opening round of the CWS on Friday June 15.
The ACC regular season baseball champions Florida State Seminoles routed No. 9 Stanford in two straight games to advance to the College World Series for the 21st time in school history.
FSU (48-15) won Saturday’s contest 17-1 and followed up on Sunday beating the Cardinal (41-18) 18-7.
Seminoles head coach Mike Martin got eight runs from his team in the eighth inning of Sunday’s game highlighted by left fielder Seth Miller’s grand slam.
Miller’s homerun was his third of the year and his third grand slam of the year tying a school record with four former Seminole players- J.D. Drew (1997), Jeremy Morris (1997), Dennis Guinn (2006), and Buster Posey (2008).
The Cardinal out hit FSU 18 to 13 but looked frustrated on the field committing four errors on Sunday.
Florida State will face Arizona in the first round of the CWS.
Florida (47-18), the top seed in the NCAA Baseball Tournament, won a back and forth heavy weight fight on Sunday at McKethan Stadium against North Carolina State (43-20) 9-8 to advance to the CWS.
The prize fight lasted six hours and eight minutes, aided by a two hour rain delay, and ended with Wolfpack shortstop Chris Diaz getting a called third strike that he did not agree with.
Regardless of Diaz’s protest to the home plate umpire the Gators stormed the field and had a dog pile on the diamond.
Sunday’s win pushed the Gators into the CWS for the third straight year after Florida won the first game of the series 7-1.
Florida will play the winner of the South Carolina vs. Oklahoma series that was suspended due to weather on Sunday. The Gamecocks took game one against the Sooners 5-1 on Saturday.
Two other series are scheduled to be decided today when Arkansas and Baylor square off and Kent State plays Oregon.
Arkansas had a rare and dramatic bottom of the ninth inning comeback ending with two consecutive Razorback batters being hit by a pitch with the bases loaded driving in the tying and winning runs for a 5-4 victory.
With the series tied 1-1 the Razorbacks take on Baylor at Baylor Park starting at 7:00 p.m. EST Monday for the right to play in the College World Series.
Oregon staved off elimination by beating Kent State 3-2 on Sunday.
The Ducks (46-18) ended the Golden Flashes (45-18) winning streak at 21-games Sunday by rallying with three runs in the seventh inning to win 3-2.
The rubber game between Oregon and Kent State is tentatively set for 7:00 p.m. EST at PK Park but might be changed for television purposes Monday morning.
Kent State won game one of the series 7-6.