{"id":10671,"date":"2015-06-02T09:21:02","date_gmt":"2015-06-02T13:21:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=10671"},"modified":"2015-10-21T11:09:35","modified_gmt":"2015-10-21T15:09:35","slug":"2015-cws-regional-results-and-super-regionals-pairings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=10671","title":{"rendered":"2015 CWS Regional Results and Super Regionals pairings"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Here&#8217;s a recap of our CWS coverage so far for 2015:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>College Baseball 2015 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=10233\">Previews and pre-season Rankings<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=10642\">Regular Season Wrap up<\/a> for DC Local College teams<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=10646\">Field of 64<\/a> announcement<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Now we&#8217;re through the Regionals and the field has been winnowed from 64 to just 16.<\/p>\n<p>College CWS tournament references:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.baseballamerica.com\/college\/regionals-roundup\/\">Baseball America&#8217;s Regional Roundup<\/a><\/li>\n<li>d1baseball&#8217;s tournament <a href=\"http:\/\/www.d1baseball.com\/news\/2015-college-baseball-postseason-index\/\">Post season Index<\/a><\/li>\n<li>d1baseball.com&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.d1baseball.com\/2015\/regionals2015.htm\">Tournament Summary page<\/a><\/li>\n<li>d1baseball&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.d1baseball.com\/2015\/NCAAteams2015.htm\">Regional participant information<\/a><\/li>\n<li>d1baseball.com&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.d1baseball.com\/2015\/daily\/0529.htm\">daily scoreboard<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.collegebaseballdaily.com\/\">CollegeBaseballDaily.com<\/a> has coverage as well.<\/li>\n<li>Ncaa.com&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ncaa.com\/interactive-bracket\/baseball\/d1\">interactive full 64-team bracket<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p>We&#8217;ll review the 16 regionals in order of the national seeds.\u00a0 <strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Bold<\/span> <\/span><\/strong>is the host city, <strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Blue<\/span> <\/strong>is the host team and <strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Red<\/span><\/strong> is the winner.\u00a0 We&#8217;ll also highlight significant players and\/or guys who are big names in the upcoming draft as we get to them (<a href=\"http:\/\/m.mlb.com\/news\/article\/127337766\/mayo-whilenathan-kirby-sits-mlb-draft-prospects-in-play-at-regionals\">MLBpipeline.com summarizes their top 200<\/a> ranked players here: i&#8217;ll just talk about the 1st round talents and players w\/ local ties).<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>In the <strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Los Angeles<\/span><\/strong> regional (host: #1 seed <strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">UCLA<\/span><\/strong>), the big story wasn&#8217;t the tourney&#8217;s #1 overall seed, but lowly #3 seed Maryland, who upset SEC power Ole Miss and then handled the #1 team in the land 4-1 to advance to the regional final.\u00a0 UCLA made its way through the loser&#8217;s bracket and beat Maryland on 5\/31\/15, setting up a winner-take-all game to advance on 6\/1, but <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Maryland<\/strong> <\/span>prevailed in a 2-1 nailbiter.\u00a0 This sets up a most amazing super-regional matchup; read on.<\/li>\n<li>In the <strong>Baton Rouge<\/strong> regional (host: #2 seed <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>LSU<\/strong><\/span>), #2 overall seed <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>LSU<\/strong> <\/span>breezed into the region final, where they beat UNC-Wilmington 2-0 to advance.\u00a0 Players of note: likely upper 1st round pick <strong>Alex Bregman<\/strong> had a relatively quiet regional at the plate.<\/li>\n<li>In the <strong>Louisville<\/strong> regional (host: #3 seed <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Louisville<\/strong><\/span>), Louisville made quick work of this regional, winning 3 straight games to become one of the first teams to advance.\u00a0 Ace <strong>Kyle Funkhouser<\/strong> was thrown, oddly, in the opener against tiny Morehead State and was good but not great (2ER in 7ip), another sign that his draft stock is falling.\u00a0 Nonetheless, <strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Louisville<\/span><\/strong> did not look stretched in this regional, beating Michigan 13-4 to advance.<strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>In the <strong>Gainesville<\/strong> regional (host: #4 seed <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Florida<\/strong><\/span>), <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Florida<\/strong> <\/span>(who I thought could have been the #1 overall seed) made quick work of its regional, defeating each of the other 3 participants en route to a 2-1 victory over Florida Atlantic in the final.<\/li>\n<li>In the <strong>Coral Gables<\/strong> regional (host: #5 seed <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Miami<\/strong><\/span>), Miami seemed to be in control of the regional, but was stunned by Ivy league champ Columbia, who forced a winner-take-all game on 6\/1.<strong>\u00a0<\/strong> In that final game, Columbia finally ran out of gas and <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Miami<\/strong> <\/span>embarrassed the Ivy Leaguers 21-3.\u00a0 Players of note: Miami&#8217;s ace (and Nats 2014 2nd round pick)<strong> Andrew Suarez<\/strong> threw 7innings of 2-run ball to get the win in the opener.<\/li>\n<li>In the <strong>Champaign<\/strong> regional (host: #6 seed <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Illinois<\/strong><\/span>), the host team cruised to the region final, where they face upstart Wright State on 6\/1\/15.\u00a0 In the final, <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Illinois<\/strong> <\/span>handled Wright State to advance.\u00a0 Players of note: Illinois closer <strong>Tyler Jay<\/strong>,whose usage this season has been deplored by scouts, did not even appear in his team&#8217;s first two wins, each a complete game by the starter.\u00a0 In the region final, he closed out the game and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.baseballamerica.com\/college\/2015-regionals-jay-gives-want\/\">showed off his arm<\/a>, giving up 1 hit and a walk in four innings of work.\u00a0 Jay is projected as an upper 1st round pick and a future starter &#8230; why he&#8217;s not being used as such in college is beyond me.<\/li>\n<li>In the <strong>Fort Worth<\/strong> regional (host: #7 seed <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>TCU<\/strong><\/span>), NC State upset the host team to make the region final, but TCU fought their way out of the losers brack and forced a deciding 6\/1\/15 game.\u00a0 After forcing the winner-take-all game, <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>TCU<\/strong> <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.baseballamerica.com\/college\/2015-regionals-tcu-moves-huge-rally\/\">rallied from an 8-1 deficit<\/a> in the 8th inning to force extra innings and <a href=\"http:\/\/espn.go.com\/ncaa\/baseball\/cws\/gamecast?gameId=351521198\">win on a walk-off<\/a> to advance to the super-regional in perhaps the tourney&#8217;s best game.<\/li>\n<li>In the <strong>Springfield<\/strong> regional (host: #8 seed <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Missouri State<\/strong><\/span>), <strong><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Missouri State<\/span> <\/strong>lived up to its national seeding by cruising through the regional without a loss.\u00a0 Players of note: Missouri State Ace <strong>Jon Harris<\/strong> threw 8 innings of 1-run ball to get the win over Canisius in the opener.\u00a0 Harris has quietly put together a strong year and looks to be a back-of-the first round pick.<\/li>\n<li>In the <strong>Stillwater<\/strong> regional, (host: #9 seed <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Oklahoma State<\/strong><\/span>), 2nd seeded <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Arkansas<\/strong> <\/span>made quick work of the regional, with host Oklahoma State not even making the regional final.\u00a0 The 4th seeded St. Johns team pushed Arkansas but ultimately lost 4-3.\u00a0 Players of note: Arkansas projected 1st rounder <strong>Andrew Benintendi <\/strong>went 4-11 for the regional but took an o-fer in the regional final.<\/li>\n<li>In the <strong>College Station<\/strong> regional (host: #10 seed <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Texas A&amp;M<\/strong><\/span>), California (whose baseball program was one step from the grave a few years ago) upset the host to make the regional final, but TAMU forced a deciding 6\/1 game.\u00a0 In that game, <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>TAMU<\/strong> <span style=\"color: #000000;\">won a well played 3-1 game that had both sides wishing these two teams played more often.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li>In the <strong>Nashville<\/strong> regional (host: #11 seed <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Vanderbilt<\/strong><\/span>), Vanderbilt awaits local team Radford, who lost to Indiana early but got revenge to make the regional final.\u00a0 In the final though, Radford ran out of gas and <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Vanderbilt<\/strong> <\/span>advanced by the amazing score of 21-0.\u00a0 Players of note: <strong>Carson Fulmer<\/strong><strong>\u00a0<\/strong>pitched 7 innings of 1-run ball in the opener for the victory, potential first overall pick <strong>Dansby Swanson<\/strong> connected for his 14th homer in the 2nd game, and <strong>Walker Buehler<\/strong> was removed after 5 innings thanks to his team&#8217;s 10-run 5th inning.\u00a0 Note: most of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ruhighlanders.com\/roster.aspx?path=baseball\">Radford&#8217;s squad is VA-based<\/a>; I&#8217;ve never covered players heading there since it isn&#8217;t a destination baseball program.\u00a0 But tourneys like this can lift up a program&#8217;s credentials, so we&#8217;ll take note of Radford commits more closely going forward.<\/li>\n<li>In the <strong>Dallas<\/strong> regional (host: #12 seed <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Dallas Baptist<\/strong><\/span>), local entry VCU made some waves early by reaching the winners bracket final, taking out host Dallas Baptist and Oregon State easily.\u00a0 The host team made its way back to the regional final and has to sweep a 6\/1\/15 double-header to advance.\u00a0 DBU forced the winner-take-all game, but <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>VCU<\/strong> <\/span>outlasted them in the final to be the only #4 seed to advance t his year, and perhaps one of the most unlikely #4 seeds to win a regional in the tournament&#8217;s history.\u00a0 Note:\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/vcuathletics.com\/sports\/bsb\/2014-15\/roster\">VCU&#8217;s squad<\/a> is a lot more national than I would have guessed, but do have some players with local ties.<\/li>\n<li>In the <strong>Tallahassee<\/strong> regional (host: #13 seed <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Florida State<\/strong><\/span>), College of Charleston had to sweep a 6\/1 DH from the host to advance, but they couldn&#8217;t get going an <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Florida State<\/strong> <\/span>advanced easily.\u00a0 Player of note <strong>Taylor Clarke<\/strong> (Ashburn native and Broad Run HS grad) got hit hard in the opener against Auburn but did not factor in the decision.<\/li>\n<li>In the <strong>Fullerton<\/strong> regional (host: #14 seed <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Cal State-Fullerton<\/strong><\/span>), host <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Cal State-Fullerton<\/strong> <\/span>pounded upstart Pepperdine 10-1 to win the regional in three straight games.<\/li>\n<li>In the <strong>Houston<\/strong> regional (host: #15 seed <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Houston<\/strong><\/span>), host Houston lost a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.riceowls.com\/sports\/m-basebl\/stats\/2014-2015\/05312015.html\">20-inning heartbreaker<\/a> to city rival Rice to be eliminated; this was one of those games you see and cringe, because both teams had guys come out of the bullpen to throw 9 innings (as far as I can tell, both teams used mid-week starters, and did not have middle relievers suddenly throwing 110 of the highest leverage pitches of their lives).\u00a0 Rice has to sweep <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Louisiana-Lafayette<\/strong> <\/span>twice on 6\/1 on about 6 hours of sleep in order to advance, but couldn&#8217;t even win the first, losing 5-2 to send the Rajun&#8217; Cajuns to the super-regional.<\/li>\n<li>In the <strong>Lake Elsinore<\/strong> regional (host: #16 seed <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>UC Santa Barbara<\/strong><\/span>), <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>UVA<\/strong> <\/span>showed how badly it was under-seeded by advancing to the final by taking two close games.\u00a0\u00a0 <strong>Connor Jones<\/strong> (Great Bridge HS in Chesapeake) gave up just 1 run in nearly 8 innings to win the opener and <strong>Brandon Waddell<\/strong> pitched even better to beat San Diego State.\u00a0 The regional final was wild, with UVA scoring 3 in the 8th to tie it and then 5 in the 11th to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.virginiasports.com\/gametracker\/launch\/gt_mbasebl.html?event=1429332&amp;school=va&amp;sport=mbasebl&amp;camefrom=&amp;startschool=&amp;\">win 14-10<\/a> over USC to advance.\u00a0 In the 3rd game, UVA threw out all kinds of names familiar to readers here:\u00a0<strong>Alec Bettinger<\/strong> (Hylton grad from Woodbridge) got the start but failed to record an out.\u00a0 He was relieved by <strong>Tommy Doyle <\/strong>(Vienna VA, Flint Hill) and got the game to UVA&#8217;s middle relievers.\u00a0 <strong>Josh Sborz<\/strong> finished all three wins off.\u00a0 <strong>Joe McCarthy<\/strong> struggled on the weekend, going just 1-6 in the final.\u00a0 Nathan Kirby remains sidelined but could return for the Super-Regionals, bad news for whoever they face.\u00a0 Other players of note in the regional: Upper-1st round draft talent <strong>Dillon Tate <\/strong>had 11 strikeouts in 8 innings, but gave up 4 runs and was out-dueled by San Diego State&#8217;s\u00a0<strong>Bubba Derby<\/strong> in what was likely his last amateur appearance.\u00a0 UCSB was badly exposed, getting crushed in its loser&#8217;s bracket game and becoming the only seed to go 2-and-out.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<hr \/>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Summary of Regionals statistically<\/strong><\/span>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>11 of 16 hosts advanced, including 7 of 8 National seeds.\u00a0 This is a far cry from 2014, which lost most of its national seeds early.\u00a0 This tournament is setup to be much more &#8220;chalk&#8221; than in years&#8217; past.<\/li>\n<li>5 = number of regionals forced into the &#8220;extra&#8221; deciding game.\u00a0 Most of them were good; a couple were laughers.<\/li>\n<li>10 of the 16 regionals were extended to Monday games, some thanks to weather, some thanks to the regional getting extended to the &#8220;extra&#8221; deciding game.<\/li>\n<li>11 number one seeds, 1 number two seeds, 3 number three seeds and 1 unlikely number four seed (VCU) advanced to the supers.<\/li>\n<li>6 number of #4 seeds who didn&#8217;t finish 4th in their regional: lots of overseeded 2\/3 seeds ended up going two-and-out.\u00a0 In fact, three #4 seeds pushed their way to the regional final: VCU (who won), St. Johns and Pepperdine (clearly under-seeded).<\/li>\n<li>1 host that went 2-and-out: the clearly undeserving host UC Santa Barbara.\u00a0 Now, they were the 16 seed, but college pundits howled at their selection as host over a team like College of Charleston.<\/li>\n<li>9 = the number of extra inning games, including the epic 20-inning Houston-Rice game and the NC State-TCU winner-take-all extra innings affair.<\/li>\n<li>6 of the regionals went pure chalk, a good indication of the job the seeding committee did this year.<\/li>\n<li>Biggest upsets: Maryland over #1 overall seed UCLA is the clear big-time upset.\u00a0\u00a0 Arkansas beating #9 Oklahoma State (who some thought should have been a national seed) probably was the 2nd biggest upset.<\/li>\n<li>Most surprising regional winner:\u00a0 VCU, who becomes just the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.d1baseball.com\/postseason\/2015-super-regional-field-analysis\/\">5th #4 seed<\/a> to advance out of a regional since the field expanded to 64 in 1999.\u00a0 But VCU is the most surprising team; the other #4 teams who advanced at least had prospects.<\/li>\n<li>My Predictions: I was wrong about Illinois and Missouri State but was right about TCU struggling to get by NC State.\u00a0 I was right in saying the rest of the national seeds should win but wrong on UCLA; nobody saw that coming.\u00a0 In the 9-16s, I was right about UC Santa Barbara, wrong on Fullerton and right about Dallas Baptist &#8230; just wrong on which team was going to win.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.d1baseball.com\/postseason\/2015-super-regional-field-analysis\/\">Conference Breakdowns of the teams in the Super Regionals<\/a>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>4 ACC teams (out of 7 that made full field).<\/li>\n<li>5 SEC teams (out of 7 that made full field).<\/li>\n<li>2 Big-10 teams (out of 6 that made the full field).<\/li>\n<li>0 Pac-12 teams (out of 5 that made full field).\u00a0 Per the d1baseball post above, this is the first time since the 64-team expansion that a Pac-12 team failed to make the super-regional field.\u00a0 In fact, there&#8217;s just one team west of Texas in the super-regional (Cal State-Fullerton), who will be a big underdog at Louisville.\u00a0 For me, this confirms what I&#8217;ve often thought; Pac12 baseball tends to get overrated.<\/li>\n<li>The remaining 5 super-regional teams are from one-bid conferences: TCU, Missouri State, Fullerton, Louisiana-Lafayette and VCU.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Its clearly an ACC\/SEC kind of year.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Super Regional Matchups<\/strong><\/span>:\u00a0 <span style=\"color: #000000;\">The super-regional hosts were announced just after the last regional ended.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Maryland at UVA (guaranteeing at least one non-top 16 seed makes the CWS this year)<\/li>\n<li>#2 LSU vs Louisiana-Lafayette<\/li>\n<li>#3 Louisville vs #14 Cal State-Fullerton<\/li>\n<li>#4 Florida vs #13 Florida State<\/li>\n<li>#5 Miami vs VCU<\/li>\n<li>#6 Illinois vs #11 Vanderbilt<\/li>\n<li>#7 TCU vs #10 Texas A&amp;M<\/li>\n<li>#8 Missouri State at Arkansas<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Super Regional Thoughts<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<p>What an amazing set of circumstances: our two local teams (UVA and UMD) both fly 3,000 across the country to &#8230; setup a repeat of last year&#8217;s UVA-held super regional.\u00a0 Who would have thought.\u00a0 I&#8217;m not quite sure why Arkansas gets to host over national seed Missouri State; that&#8217;s got to be a point of contention for that deserving program.\u00a0 Three great intra-state matchups featuring great teams from Florida, Louisiana and Texas.\u00a0\u00a0 The super-regionals could be pretty fun.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Predictions<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<p>UVA gets Kirby back and holds off Maryland.\u00a0 LSU and Louisville cruise.\u00a0 Florida outclasses the over-achieving Florida State rival.\u00a0 Miami pounds the &#8220;just happy to be here&#8221; VCU team.\u00a0 Vanderbilt &#8220;upsets&#8221; by seed Illinois, who can&#8217;t handle the talent level Vandy puts out.\u00a0 Texas A&amp;M beats TCU and Missouri State blasts Arkansas after being insulted by losing hosting rights as a national seed.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here&#8217;s a recap of our CWS coverage so far for 2015: College Baseball 2015 Previews and pre-season Rankings Regular Season Wrap up for DC Local College teams Field of 64 announcement Now we&#8217;re through the Regionals and the field has been winnowed from 64 to just 16. College CWS tournament references: Baseball America&#8217;s Regional Roundup [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,2411],"tags":[1768,2789,2792,2464,2494,2794,2532,1769,2719,2746,2644,2791,2540,2620,2486,2429,2340,2790,2534],"class_list":["post-10671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-college","category-local-baseball","tag-alec-bettinger","tag-alex-bregman","tag-andrew-benintendi","tag-andrew-suarez","tag-brandon-waddell","tag-bubba-derby","tag-carson-fulmer","tag-conner-jones","tag-dansby-swanson","tag-dillon-tate","tag-joe-mccarthy","tag-jon-harris","tag-josh-sborz","tag-kyle-funkhouser","tag-nathan-kirby","tag-taylor-clarke","tag-tommy-doyle","tag-tyler-jay","tag-walker-buehler"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10671"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10671\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11397,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10671\/revisions\/11397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}