Texas Tech, Boston College force Game 3s in NCAA baseball super regionals
No. 5 national seed Texas Tech and Boston College kept their seasons alive with Game 2 wins in their super regionals, and UC Santa Barbara and Oklahoma State moved one step closer to the College World Series by winning their openers Saturday.
Eric Gutierrez's tiebreaking bases-loaded single with two outs in the top of the 13th inning led Texas Tech to a 3-1 victory that evened the series against East Carolina in Lubbock, Texas.
Boston College rode a four-run fourth inning to a 5-3 victory that squared its series with No. 3 national seed Miami at a game apiece in Coral Gables, Florida.
In other Game 2s on Saturday, TCU was at No. 4 Texas A&M, and Arizona at No. 6 Mississippi State.
In super regional openers:
Austin Bush hit his fourth homer of the postseason and UC Santa Barbara defeated No. 2 Louisville 4-2, the Cardinals' second loss in 38 home games this season.
Oklahoma State got another strong performance from Big 12 pitcher of the year Thomas Hatch in a 5-1 win over South Carolina in Columbia. The Cowboys have outscored their four NCAA Tournament opponents 32-5.
In other openers, Florida State was at No. 1 national seed Florida and Coastal Carolina was at No. 8 LSU.
Winners of the best-of-three series advance to the CWS in Omaha, Nebraska, starting next Saturday.
A look around the country:
BIG BATS
— Texas Tech's Gutierrez, the Big 12 player of the year, was 2 for 24 with no RBIs in the NCAA Tournament before he delivered his game-winning hit.
— Collin Theroux, batting No. 9 with a .161 average for Oklahoma State, hit a three-run homer in the ninth inning to break open the game.
— Louisville's Blake Tiberi went 2 for 4 with a two-run homer.
— Boston College No. 9 batter Mitch Bigras was 2 for 4 with two RBIs.
— Miami's Brandon Lopez was 3 for 4 with two runs scored.
MARVELOUS ON MOUND
— Oklahoma State's Thomas Hatch allowed four hits over shutout innings against a team that had scored 47 runs in its previous four games.
— UC Santa Barbara's Shane Bieber allowed two runs and struck out seven in seven innings.
— East Carolina reliever Matt Bridges has struck out eight of 15 batters faced in 4 1/3 innings over two games.
PROSPECT WATCH
— Louisville OF Corey Ray, fifth overall pick by Brewers, was 0 for 4 with a strikeout.
— Miami: C Zack Collins, 10th overall by White Sox, was 2 for 4 with a home run.
— Louisville C Will Smith, 32nd overall by Dodgers, went 2 for 3.