Day 1 Regional Recap | Day 2 Regional Recap | Wright State Bullpen Feature
CHAMPAIGN,
Ill. – Throughout this long season, the players, coaches and fans
of the third-ranked Illinois Fighting Illini have come to expect
clutch, game-winning performances from their dynamic, all-everything
closer, Tyler Jay. On Sunday afternoon, they received a performance
of that magnitude from one of their elite starting pitchers.
Senior
right-hander Drasen Johnson overcame some early woes and stuck around
right until the end, firing a complete-game, five-hit shutout to lead No. 6-seed national seed Illinois to a 3-0 win over Notre Dame in the
winner’s bracket final of the NCAA D-I Champaign Regional at chilly
and overcast Illinois Field.
Illinois
(49-8-1), the Champaign Regional’s No. 1 seed, will face No. 3
Wright State (42-16) – the 4-0 winner of Sunday night’s
elimination game against No. 2 Notre Dame (37-22) – in the
Regional’s championship game Monday. If Illinois loses that game, a
second “if necessary” game will be played. With a best-in-the-nation .853 winning percentage, losing hasn’t come the Illini’s way very
often this season.
“This
team is so unselfish,” Illinois head coach Dan Hartleb said
postgame. “There’s not one person who cares who gets the
attention. All they care about is winning and that’s why we’ve
won at a high level. At different times during the year, you’ve had
different guys that have gotten a lot of attention. Drasen doesn’t
care (about that). … All he cares about is what happens with this
team.”
Johnson
(10-3) was shaky at the outset, although Notre Dame couldn’t
capitalize. He loaded the bases in the bottom of the first on an
error, a hit batsman and a walk, and then gave up singles to Zak
Kutsulis and Cavan Biggio in the second. The Irish left all five
runners on base, three in scoring position.
The
strong defensive play of the Illini’s infielders in those first two
innings benefitted Johnson greatly, and he also took care of a couple
of things on his own.
“As
long as I can get past the third (things) usually improve from
there,” he said. “Just the bad pitches I made early on – I got
some key strikeouts when I had to just to keep them from crossing
home.”
After
the early struggles, it was smooth-sailing for the 6-4, 200-pound
righty from Chillicothe, Ill. Johnson said there was no discussion
about him finishing the game – it was his third complete game –
despite the fact that Hartleb had Jay up in the bullpen throughout
the eighth and ninth innings. Fans and scouts might have been
disappointed they didn’t get to see Jay, but Johnson was committed.
“We
didn’t even talk about that,” he said. “I’m sure (Hartleb)
had something in mind but I was fully prepared to finish that game.”
Notre
Dame sophomore right-hander Ryan Smoyer (9-1) was tagged with his
first loss of the season but he didn’t pitch poorly. He did a nice
job of keeping the ball down in the early innings and retired the
first six Illini batters he faced, four on ground-ball outs.
That
streak ended when Big Ten Player of the Year David Kerian delivered a
base-hit to lead-off the top of the third. Illinois didn’t score in
that frame and Smoyer threw a scoreless fourth before the Illini
finally found their stroke in the fifth.
Will
Krug laced a one-out single through the left side and came around to
score the game’s first run when No. 9-hitter Ryne Roper dropped a
double into the leftfield corner. Lead-off hitter Adam Walton
followed with a single up the middle, scoring Roper, and Ryan Nagle
pushed a single of his own through the right-side of the infield to
put runners on first and third. Walton then scored on a sacrifice fly
from Reid Roper to give the Illini a 3-0 lead heading into the bottom
of the fifth. And that’s the way it finished.
“I
felt good today; I had four pitches working,” said Smoyer, who gave
up the three runs on nine hits over 7 2/3 innings of work. “I got
out there … and we were just putting zeros up on the board. They
get a couple of timely hits … (and) there’s nothing you can do
about it. Give credit to them, they just made timely hits when they
needed them.”
Nagle,
Fletcher and Kerian each had two hits to lead the Illini’s 10-hit
attack, and Fletcher and Kerian doubled. All five of the Irish’s
hits were singles, and Biggio and Ryan Bull each had a pair.
– Jeff
Dahn
College
of Charleston 3, Auburn 2
Rain
effected changes to the schedule at the Tallahassee Regional, forcing
a delay to the elimination matchup between College of Charleston and
Auburn while also forcing both of the Regional championship games (if
both are needed) to Monday.
The
Cougars only managed four hits in this game, and three were off the
bat of first baseman Nick Pappas, two of which were home runs; a solo
shot in the second and a two-run blast in the seventh that proved to
be the deciding blow.
As
a result, Charleston will play Florida State on Monday, with the
winner of the Regional advancing to play Florida in the Super
Regionals in Gainesville.
Notable
Prospects:
Anfernee
Grier, Auburn
– Grier led the SEC in hits and doubles this season, but he had a
rough go of it during Regional play. Grier is lean and extremely
athletic, especially on defense in center field. He was getting great
jumps on balls hit to the gaps and showed very efficient routes to
the ball. While batting Grier struggled to find his groove. He was
very pull-happy and kept getting underneath the ball resulting in
weak pop-ups or a swing and miss. He was showing bunt a lot as well
which seemed to have him disrupt his own timing and made him unsure
of his plan of attack at the plate. Still, Grier is a very athletic
player in all phases of the game and will be playing over the summer
for Team USA.
– Chris
King
National
Notes
•
Mother Nature continued
to grapple with the 2015 college baseball season as rain forced
postponements across the nation the past two days. As a result, only
five teams have punched their tickets to Super Regional play. Here
are the teams that have already advanced:
-
Louisville
(host, Louisville, Ky., Super Regional)
-
Cal
State Fullerton (will play Louisville)
-
Florida
(host, Gainesville, Fla., Super Regional)
-
Missouri
State (host, Springfield Mo., Super Regional)
-
Arkansas
(will play Missouri State)
-
Virginia
(will play the winner of the Los Angeles Regional)
•
Rain washed out Sunday
afternoon's game between Radford and host Vanderbilt, the winnter of
which will advance to play the winner of the Illinios Regional as
detailed above. Radford advanced to the Regional championship by
knocking off Indiana, 5-3, earlier on Sunday as Kyle Palmer and Ryan
Meisinger combined to provide 4 2/3 scoreless innings of relief.
•
Evan Hill delivered 6
2/3 strong innings in a 3-1 elimination win for Michigan over Bradley
early on Sunday before Louisville beat them soundly later in the day,
13-4. Josh Rogers worked the first seven for the Cardinals, striking
out six without issuing a free pass as Louisville advanced to the
Super Regionals, where they once again will serve as host.
•
Louisville will host
Cal State Fullerton who had no problems knocking off Pepperdine 10-1.
Connor Seabold was sharp, striking out nine Waves' hitters without
allowing a run in six innings of work. Five Titans hitters enjoyed
multi-hit games.
•
Missouri State
continues their impressive 2015 season by advancing to Super Regional
play, once again hosting on their own home turf, with a 3-2 win over
Iowa Sunday evening. Jordan Knutson gave the Bears yet another
impressive starting performance, scattering three hits and a walk,
which led to three runs in seven innings of work. The Bears also made
the most of only three base hits, although they did draw six walks
off Iowa pitching.
The
loss ends a pretty amazing season for the Hawkeyes, who did rally for
two runs in the top of the eighth but fell just short as their season
came to a close. They did rally in extra innings to beat Oregon 2-1
earlier in the day to advance to this game on an RBI single off the
bat of Daniel Aaron Moriel.
•
After losing to
Arkansas on Saturday Oklahoma State got bounced from the tournament
on Sunday with a 2-1 loss to St. John's. The Johnnies scored both of
their runs in the bottom of the eighth inning on RBI singles by
second baseman Robert Wayman and left fielder Michael Donadio.
The
win allowed St. John's to advance and play Arkansas for the Regional
crown and a trip to Springfield to play Missouri State in the Super
Regionals. St. John's battled back again in this game, rallying for
two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning and another run in the
seventh, but ultimately lost to Arkansas after the Hogs scractched
across a run in the top of the ninth inning on an RBI groundout by
Joe Serrano. Zach Jackson, as he has been all year, was electric out
of the bullpen for the Razorbacks, striking out the side to secure
the win and the Super Regional berth, Arkansas' first since 2012.
•
Florida advanced to
Super Regional play, again in Gainesville, with a 2-1 win over
Florida Atlantic. Third baseman Josh Tobias had three of the Gators'
eight hits and one of the two runs, while Alex Faedo picked up the
win by tossing six strong innings, allowing just three base hits, a
walk and the one earned run while striking out six.
•
Florida will host the
winner of the Tallahassee Super Regional which won't be determined
until Monday after Sunday's games were delayed due to rain. The
Seminoles will face the College of Charleston for the Regional
Championship, with the Cougars needing to win two games to advance.
•
TCU stayed alive early
on Sunday beating Stony Brook in an elimination game, 8-3. Brian
Howard got the start for the Horned Frogs, working the first 4 1/3
innings while saving both Tyler Alexander and Alex Young for the two
games they would need to win to advance to Super Regional play.
Alexander
more than did his part on Sunday evening, going the distance in the
win as TCU stayed alive yet again in a 8-1 win over N.C. State to
force the deciding game on Monday. Alexander allowed only two runs
(one earned) on three base hits without issuing a walk while striking
out six.
•
The other half of the
Super Regional pairing proved to be another wild ride between Texas
A&M and California as they exchanged blows into extra innings for
the second straight day in College Station. Texas A&M took this
contest 4-3 in 12 innings in a game that ended in a rundown between
home plate and third base, and pulled ahead in the top of the inning
on an RBI single by Nick Banks. The two teams will play again on
Monday.
The
Aggies had clawed back after losing's Saturday night's heartbreaker
at the hands of the Bears by beating Coastal Carolina in an
elimination game 8-1. The offense pounded out 13 hits, including
three from Banks, one of which was a home run, while Andew Vinson
delivered 7 2/3 scoreless innings.
•
Cory Taylor tossed an
absolute gem against Texas to keep the host Patriots Super Regional
hopes alive with a complete game three hitter in which he allowed
just one run while striking out nine Longhorns in the 8-1 win. The
win propelled them to a night game against Oregon State, who lost to
VCU earlier in the day, with DBU coming out on top once again, 7-1.
Drew
Smith provided 3 1/3 scoreless, one-hit innings with four punchouts
in relief of starter Sean Stutzman, who allowed just one run over the
first 5 2/3 innings. Dallas Baptist will need to beat Virginia
Commonwealth twice on Monday to advance to Super Regional play.
•
Three Columbia Lions
pitchers – Bryce Barr, Zack Bahm and Adam Cline – combined to
two-hit the mighty Hurricanes offense in a big 3-0 upset in Coral
Gables. Columbia had beat Florida International earlier in the day,
4-3, to advance, and now will play one more contest against Miami on
Monday to determine the Regional champion.
The
winner will face the winner of the Dallas Regional between Dallas
Baptist and VCU.
•
The Baton Rouge
Regional will also be determined on Monday with LSU and UNC
Wilmington set to play one another for possibly two games if the
Seahawks claim game one. UNCW put a six-spot on the board in the
third inning on their way to a 8-2 win over Tulane.
•
The University of
Louisana rallied for a pair of runs in the bottom ninth for a 2-1
walkoff win over Houston. The win spoiled a dominant start by
freshman Seth Romero, who pitched into the ninth inning after
allowing only one base hit, and was responsible for the first of the
two runs that scored.
The
win pushed the Ragin' Cajuns into Monday's Regional championship, and
the loss pushed Houston into an elmination game against Rice, who
beat Houston Baptist earlier in the day, 3-1. Houston's Corey Julks
hit a huge home run in the bottom of the eighth to tie the game 2-2,
but Houston end up losing 3-2 in 20 innings to the Owls after Leon
Byrd hit an RBI double. Rice's Austin Orewiler tossed what was
effetively a complete game out of the bullpen, providing 9 1/3
scoreless innings, allowing just three hits and a walk while striking
out seven to carry Rice through those long innings while picking up
the win.
Rice
will now face Louisiana on Monday for the championship.
•
UCLA staved off
elimination against Bakersfield on Sunday to force themselves into
the Regional championship against Maryland. Shortstop Kevin Kramer
and left fielder Ty Moore both hit home runs for the Bruins' in their
9-1 win before getting another shot at the Terps.
And
the Bruins were able to carry that momentum through Sunday evening's
contest against Maryland, winning 4-2 to force an extra game on
Mondy. Kramer (2-for-5) and Moore (3-for-4) were once again the
offensive heroes for UCLA.
•
USC and San Diego State
played a wild elmination contest that the Trojans ended up winning
12-11, in a game that saw the two teams collect 18 and 14 hits
respectively. USC fought back late after the Aztecs took a 11-7 lead
by scoring eight runs in the sixth and seventh innings, scoring five
runs of their own over the final two frames to secure the victory.
Eight of the nine Trojans hitters recorded mult-hit wins as Tyler
Gilbert delivered 2 1/3 scoreless innings to close out the game.
The
win propelled Southern California to a game against Virginia for the
Regional championship which the Cavaliers claimed with a 14-10
victory in another high-scoring affair. Virginia's Nos. 1 through 5
hitters combined to go 7-for-21 with 11 runs scored and nine driven
in.