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College  | Story  | 5/28/2016

Friday Conf. Tournament Recap

Blake Dowson      Jheremy Brown      Patrick Ebert     
Photo: MSU Athletic Communications




Perfect Game Top 25 | Conference Championships Hub | Field of 64 (May 18) | Video Vault
Conference Championship Recaps: Day 1 - Tuesday | Day 2 - Wednesday | Day 3 - Thursday


Big Ten Tournament

Michigan State 4, Maryland 3

It was the Justin Morris show for the first three innings of the Big Ten winners’ bracket matchup between Michigan State and Maryland. Morris, getting the start behind the plate for Maryland to give Nick Cieri a break, showcased his arm twice in the first two innings, throwing a couple darts right on top of the bag at second base to nail two Michigan State runners.

Morris followed his defensive plays up by driving in the first run of the game as well, pushing a single through the right side that scored Cieri to put Maryland ahead 1-0.

Taylor Bloom, the guy throwing to Morris, had a solid start for Maryland, but was saddled with the loss. Bloom didn’t overpower anybody, but every pitch he throws had movement on it and he was able to keep the Michigan State hitters off balance for the most part. He gave up four runs on the day (two earned) on seven hits, four strikeouts and no walks.

Cieri, who was plugged into the DH role, was 2-for-2 on the day with two walks and two runs scored. Fifth-year senior Anthony Papio went deep for Maryland, a towering home run that landed about 10 rows up in the right-center field stands.

The game ultimately belonged to Michigan State first baseman Jordan Zimmerman, who went 2-for-5 with two RBI, two runs scored and one mammoth home run. Zimmerman turned on a Bloom fastball and sent it over the bullpen in left field, almost carrying all the way to the concourse behind the left field bleachers.

Spartans starter Ethan Landon pitched well enough to win, going seven innings and allowing only two runs. Landon is a tall righty with a jerky arm motion, and it looked like the Maryland hitters were having trouble picking the ball up out of his hand.


Iowa 5, Ohio State 4

The Hawkeyes scored four runs in the bottom of the ninth and one more in the 10th to complete a comeback against the No. 4-seed Ohio State Buckeyes.

Buckeye starter John Havird had Iowa’s number all day, going eight strong innings and allowing only two hits. Havird didn’t throw a single pressure pitch all game, but his pitch count was at 95 after eight innings, so Ohio State head coach Greg Beals decided to pull him in favor of his bullpen.

The Hawkeyes strung together six hits, along with a hit-by-pitch, to bring four runs across in the inning. Devin Pickett, a reserve that Iowa coach Rick Heller typically only uses in pinch-run situations, delivered the final hit in the inning to tie the game. It was Pickett’s first career RBI.

The loss was given to Yianni Pavlopoulos, Ohio State’s closer, but Seth Kinker ran into the most trouble on the mound for the Buckeyes. Kinker was put in charge of the ninth, but only lasted two-thirds of an inning, giving up four runs on five hits.

Tyler Peyton, who hadn’t allowed a run in his last 23 innings on the mound for Iowa, came back down to Earth on Friday. Peyton went seven innings, allowing three runs on five hits with five strikeouts. He was dominant through three, but had a hiccup in the fourth and fifth, giving up three runs in that stretch, before throwing two more scoreless frames to round out his start.

The Hawkeyes sent 13 different hitters to the plate and used a total of 15 position players. Peyton and Mason McCoy both had multi-hit games for Iowa.


Maryland 3, Indiana 0

The tournament’s first shutout belonged solely to Maryland’s Brian Shaffer, who was brilliant during his nine innings of work. Shaffer is another guy that won’t blow you away with his stuff, but his smarts on the mound and ability to put pitches where he wants to makes him a tough guy to hit off. Shaffer only allowed two hits in the game, striking out nine Hoosiers and not walking any. The win gave Shaffer eight on the year and dropped his ERA to 2.60.

Maryland freshman left fielder Marty Costes had another big day at the plate, hitting what turned out to be the game-winning home run in the top of the first inning with a man on. Costes looks more like a Big Ten running back than a baseball player, and his power shows up at the plate quite often.

Seven Maryland starters registered a hit in the game, including leadoff guy Anthony Papio, who had three.

Evan Bell was not effective on the mound for Indiana. Bell only lasted 3 1/3 innings, getting knocked around for seven hits, the biggest one coming to Costes in the first.

With the loss Indiana has been eliminated from the tournament, meaning the top-three seeds have all been bounced from Omaha.



SEC Tournament

No. 2 Texas A&M 13, No. 9 Vanderbilt 3

Friday’s afternoon contest between Texas A&M and Vanderbilt couldn’t have been any different for the two squads in the elimination game. The Aggies came out swinging and didn’t let up as they scored a season high seven in the opening frame en route to beating the Commodores 13-3, ending after the seventh inning by mercy rule. Of the Aggies starting nine on offense, all but one collected a base hit and seven of nine collected at least one RBI. Kyle Simonds went the distance, and though he didn’t toss a no-hitter like he did last time he faced Vanderbilt, he did punch out 10 allowing just a single earned run. Texas A&M will play Ole Miss on Saturday for a chance to advance to the championship game on Sunday.


No. 5 Florida 12, No. 1 Mississippi State 2

The Gators bats came alive in 12-2 win over the top-ranked and top-seeded Mississippi State Bulldogs on Friday night, a game that was ended after seven innings due to the run rule. J.J. Schwarz had the biggest day at the plate, going 4-for-5 with a double, a triple and four RBI. Alex Faedo moved to 12-1 in going all seven innings for Florida who will face LSU in a re-match on Saturday for a chance to advance to Sunday’s championship game.



ACC Tournament

No. 20 Clemson 5, No. 4 Louisville 3

A day after knocking off the Virginia Cavaliers and their ace Connor Jones, the Clemson Tigers took down another top ranked team and their ace defeating Louisville and lefthander Brendan McKay 5-3 Thursday afternoon. Though McKay wasn’t his sharp, usual self, the Tigers still left a loud impression with their offense as half of their six hits came via the long ball including freshman Seth Beer’s 16th homer of the spring. Clate Schmidt nearly went the distance, allowing just three runs (two earned) on eight hits and walk while striking out six. Clemson returns to action Saturday morning against Wake Forest.


Wake Forest 10, No. 12 Virginia 9

Wake Forest handed the defending national champion Virginia Cavaliers their second one-run loss in as many games, taking the contest 10-9 to advance to the Saturday morning semifinal contest against Clemson. After finding themselves down by four runs early, the Demon Deacons used the long ball to climb back and finally take the lead as they connected for five home runs on the day from five different batters, three of which were two-run shots. Among the two-run shots, one came off the bat of star slugger Will Craig, who finished the day 3-for-4 and also picked up his eighth save of the year.


No. 19 NC State 7, Georgia Tech 5

Brock Deatherage hit a two-run homer in the top of the 12th inning to pull ahead of Georgia Tech and secure NC State’s 7-5 win. Johnny Piedmonte was summoned from the bullpen in the bottom of the frame and proceeded to strike out the side to end the game.



Big 12 Championship

Oklahoma 17, No. 6 Texas Tech 4

The top-seeded Texas Tech Red Raiders were upended and ousted from the Big 12 Conference tournament by the sixth-seeded Oklahoma Sooners, who did their best Texas Tech impression to pound out 17 runs in their 17-4 victory. Freshman righthander Dylan Grove wasn’t his sharpest but he did manage to go the distance and punched out six along the way. All nine of the Sooner batters recorded a hit, and eight had two base knocks, highlighted by leadoff man Alex Wise’s five RBI day.


Texas 12, No. 11 Oklahoma State 8

Down 8-3 heading into the bottom of the eighth inning, the Texas bats exploded for nine runs to move ahead for an eventual 12-8 win over Oklahoma State, bouncing the Cowboys from the tournament. Kody Clemens followed Bret Boswell’s two-run single with a two-run triple, which proved to be the difference in the game.

Oklahoma will face West Virginia and Texas will play TCU on Saturday for the opportunity to advance to Sunday’s championship game.



No. 25 Long Beach State 2, Cal State Fullerton 1

The Big West title will be determined on Saturday, with a potential tie looming as Long Beach State pulled within a game of Cal State Fullerton with a 2-1 win on Friday, the second game of the series. Sophomore righthander Darren McCaughan went 7 1/3, allowing just one run on six hits and a walk while striking out three to pick up the win and move to 10-1 on the year.




McCaughan is an athletic 6-foot-1, 195-pound righthander that has shown good improvement since high school. He shows more balance, extensions, rhythm and an overall more consistent delivery. Nothing he throws is straight, including an upper-80s fastball that touched 90-91 with late arm-side run and sink, and he maintains that late movement to both sides of the plate. He displays a fearless approach, attacking the zone with his full arsenal, which includes a short and late-breaking 80-82 slider that he shows good feel for and an advanced changeup.

It appears that McCaughan throws the change with a split grip, showing comfort throwing the pitch both to right and lefthanded hitters. The pitch shows good sink and arm-side fade at 81-84 mph. He scattered the six hits he allowed and avoided high stress innings and overall situations, exhibiting very good command and an advanced sense of commanding the pace of the game.




Austin McGeorge closed the game out for the Dirtbags, doing his best Sergio Romo impersonation by firing slider after slider. He threw the breaking pitch to the front door, back door, as a chase pitch and for called strikes. Obviously he shows a very good feel for the pitch, and of the 19 pitches he threw only three were fastballs (one at 87 mph and the other two at 90). His heater plays up since hitters are looking for the slider.

Sophomore lefty John Gavin started opposite McCaughan and lasted 5 1/3 innings, allowing just two unearned runs. Gavin is a prototypical crafty lefty, throwing in the mid- to upper-80s while moving the pitch around, hitting his spots and creating good deception out of the hand. With a lower three-quarters slot, Gavin throws a sweeping breaking ball, mostly to lefthanded hitters, and also shows good feel for a 72-76 mph that he used to neutralize righthanded bats.

Although not a save situation Titans closer Chad Hockin came on to pitch the final 1 1/3 innings for Fullerton. His fastball sat at 94-95 mph with the ball jumping out of his hand. He has more control than command of the pitch, with the ability to throw strikes without showing much of a plan of how to sequence it other than throwing it really hard. He has a solid and sturdy 6-foot-2, 200-pound frame.




There’s some effort in his delivery, as he definitely will continue to profile as a short reliever at the next level, but between his mid-90s fastball and power breaking ball – a power pitch thrown at 85-87 with short, sharp break – he could move quickly toward the big leagues once starting his professional career.



National Notes

• Alex Massey delivered eight scoreless frames, peaking in the low-90s with his fastball to record seven strikeouts in Tulane’s 5-0 win over UCF in the American Athletic Conference Championship. Tulane advances for a re-match against Houston on Saturday – who the Green Wave lost to on Thursday – in the semifinals. As a result UCF’s season comes to a close, as does the season of USF, who lost to Memphis by a score of 7-5. Memphis, who scored three runs in the top of the ninth – two of which came home on Jake Overbey’s two-run single – advances to play UConn in the semifinals on Saturday.

• Stetson, behind a huge performance by Cory Reid, advanced to the Atlantic Sun Championship Final with a 7-6 win over second-seeded North Florida. Reid was 3-for-4 in the game with a pair of home runs, a three-run shot in the third and a solo bomb in the fifth. The Hatters have enjoyed a successful run in the tournament so far, taking down each of the three top-seeded teams (Kennesaw State, Jacksonville and now North Florida), and head to the title game for the first time since 2006. UNF still has a chance to work their way back into the championship game, as they will take on Florida Gulf Coast – who beat Lipscomb later on Friday 8-6 – on Saturday morning for a chance to face Stetson once again.

• Ryan Wilson tossed a gem in Pepperdine’s 7-2 win over BYU on Friday, allowing two earned runs (only one earned) on eight base hits while striking out 11 in a complete game effort. The win pushed the Waves into a night game against Gonzaga, who were beat by Saint Mary’s, 13-4, in the second of the three WCC contests on Friday. Six different Gaels hitters had multi-hit games and Johnny York provided eight strong innings. Saint Mary’s will play Gonzaga again in the championship game on Saturday, who bounced back in the night game to beat Pepperdine 5-4. Center fielder Tyler Frost went 4-for-5 with a pair of solo home runs.

• Nine of the 25 conference championships will wrap up on Saturday, here the teams that will face another for the tournament titles with an automatic bid on the line:

Atlantic 10: Rhode Island vs. Davidson
Atlantic Sun: Stetson vs. the winner of North Florida/FGCU on Saturday
Big South: Coastal Carolina vs. Liberty
Colonial: UNC Wilmington vs. William & Mary
Horizon: Wright State vs. Valparaiso
Missouri Valley: Dallas Baptist vs. the winner of Bradley/Missouri State on Saturday
Summit: Fort Wayne vs. Oral Roberts
West Coast: Saint Mary’s vs. Gonzaga
WAC: Utah Valley vs. the winner of Seattle/New Mexico State

• Washington third baseman Chris Baker hit a run-scoring triple in the top of the ninth inning to pull ahead of Utah and go on to win 5-4. Baker also hit a run-scoring single in the fifth, giving him two hits and two RBI in the game. With the win the two teams are now tied atop the Pac-12 standings with a 17-11 record, as the series will determine the conference winner with games remaining to be played on both Saturday and Sunday.
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