NCAA Tournament: Aggies oust TCU in wild regional final; Texas advances to Super Regionals

Texas A&M 15, TCU 9

(TCU ELIMINATED)

COLLEGE STATION — Dylan Rock hit a three-run homer in a five-run seventh and added a two-run double in a seven-run ninth as No. 5 overall seed Texas A&M rallied to win the College Station Regional with a 15-9 victory over TCU on Sunday, earning the Aggies a berth in the Super Regionals.

Texas A&M (40-18) beat Oral Roberts, Louisiana and the Horned Frogs (38-22) on its way to the title.

Sloppy fielding by the Aggies allowed TCU to score an unearned run in the bottom of the third and two more in the fourth for a 3-0 lead.

The Aggies pulled within a run in the sixth before grabbing a 7-3 lead on Rock’s homer. The Horned Frogs answered with four runs in their half of the seventh — on a RBI single by Tommy Sacco followed by Brayden Taylor’s three-run homer — to tie it a 7-7.

The Aggies went up 8-7 in the eighth on Trevor Werner’s run-scoring single. TCU retook the lead in the bottom of the inning on Sacco’s two-run homer.

Troy Claunch singled in the first run of the ninth for the Aggies. Jack Moss added a two-run single and Austin Bost drove in Rock with a base hit for the final run.

Texas 10, Air Force 1

AUSTIN — Dylan Campbell hit two solo home runs, Ivan Melendez added a two-run shot and No. 9 overall seed Texas rolled to a 10-1 victory over Air Force Academy on Sunday to win the Austin Regional and earn a berth in the Super Regionals.

Melendez, who is batting .404 this season, hit his home run in a five-run first inning. Trey Faltine added a two-run ground-rule double and the Longhorns (45-19) never looked back.

Campbell homered in the fourth for a 7-0 lead. Silas Ardoin had a RBI double in the fifth, Campbell homered again in the seventh and Faltine capped the scoring for Texas with an RBI double in the ninth.

Four Longhorn pitchers combined for a six-hitter. Second man up Jared Southard (4-1) got the win, allowing a hit and a walk in three shutout innings, striking out six.

Braydon Altorfer hit a leadoff homer in the bottom of the ninth for the Falcons (32-29). Starter Stevan Fairburn Jr. (0-2) retired just two batters, yielding five runs on five hits and three walks.

Notre Dame 2, Texas Tech 1

(TEXAS TECH ELIMINATED)

STATESBORO, Ga. — Jack Findlay got the final four outs, surviving a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the ninth inning, and Notre Dame won the Statesboro Regional with a 2-1 victory over Texas Tech on Sunday.

The Fighting Irish (38-14), the No. 2 seed in the regional, beat third-seed Texas Tech twice by a run and No. 16 overall seed and tourney host Georgia Southern 6-4 in winning a berth in the Super Regionals.

Findlay entered the game in the eighth with two outs, two on and a run in after Alex Rao walked the only batter he faced in relief of starter John Bertrand (9-2). Findlay struck out Owen Washburn to end the threat.

Parker Kelly singled with one out to get the Red Raiders (39-22) going against Findlay in the ninth. Cooper Swanson walked and Kelly moved to third on Easton Murrell’s fly out to right field. Swanson stole second and Findlay plunked Cole Stilwell on a 1-2 pitch to load the bases, but Findlay induced a ground out to first by No. 3 batter Jace Jung for his second save of the season.

Notre Dame took a 1-0 in the third when Spencer Myers doubled and scored on Ryan Cole’s single to left. The Irish scored again in the fourth when Zack Prajzner doubled and scored on a two-out single by Cole.

Texas Tech scored when Murrell doubled with one out and scored on Jung’s two-out single.

Bertrand worked the first 7 2/3 innings for Notre Dame. He allowed one run on nine hits, striking out seven without a walk.

Florida 7, Oklahoma 2

GAINSVILLE, Fla. — Reliever Carsten Finnvold worked out of a jam in the first inning and threw what amounted to a complete game as Florida, the overall No. 13 seed, defeated Oklahoma 7-2 on Sunday, setting up a Monday showdown for the Gainsville Regional title.

Gator starter Timmy Manning hit the first batter, threw two wild pitches and then walked the bases loaded in the bottom of the first. Finnvold relieved and got two popups and a flyout.

Finnvold finished the game, allowing five hits and two runs. Four of the hits came came in the sixth when the Sooners (39-21) tied the game 2-2. A ninth-inning single was erased on a game-ending double play.

BT Riopelle broke the tie in the seventh with a single, scoring Sterlin Thompson who had doubled. Those were the only two batters reliever Carson Atwood (2-4) faced in taking the loss.

Florida (42-23) added four more runs in the eighth, starting with Jud Fabian’s leadoff homer. Fabian also opened the scoring with a home run in the fourth, giving him 10 multi-homer games in his career.

Oklahoma State 14, Arkansas 10

STILLWATER, Okla. — Aidan Meola had a go-ahead two-run single in the 10th inning, Nolan McLean followed with a two-out two-run homer and No. 7 overall seed Oklahoma State rallied to beat Arkansas 14-10 on Sunday to stay alive in the Stillwater Regional.

Oklahoma State (42-21) and Arkansas (40-19) will square off for the third time on Monday with a berth in the Super Regionals on the line. The Razorbacks beat the Cowboys 20-12 in the first matchup.

Oklahoma State led 6-3 after five innings, but the Razorbacks battled back to take an 8-7 lead in the eighth when Michael Turner’s two-run homer capped a three-run inning.

The Wildcats came right back, scoring three runs in the ninth on David Mendham’s two-run double and a RBI double by Marcus Brown for a 10-8 lead. A throwing error at shortstop by Brown led to Brady Slavens driving in two unearned runs with a two-out single that sent the game to extra innings.

Riggio had three hits for the Cowboys, including an RBI single and a two-run homer. Mendham also had three RBIs. McLean (2-1) allowed the two unearned runs in two innings of work to get the win.

Brady Tygart (3-4) took the loss for Arkansas. He surrendered four runs on four hits, striking out the only two batters he retired. Cayden Wallace had three hits, including a solo homer, driving in three.

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