IU baseball hits wall against Stanford in NCAA Regional
Wayne Taylor’s pinch-hit, three-run homer in the top of the eighth inning helped Stanford stay alive with a 10-7 victory over Indiana in the NCAA’s Bloomington Regional on Sunday.
Stanford (33-24) and Indiana (44-14) will meet again for the regional championship at 6 p.m. today.
The Cardinal trailed 6-4 when Taylor sent Jake Kelzer’s pitch over the left-center field wall.
Stanford added three insurance runs in the ninth, including Zach Hoffpauir’s RBI triple. Hoffpauir and Austin Slater, who extended his career-best hitting streak to 21 games, each had three hits.
Indiana led the entire game until Taylor’s blast, jumping ahead with a three-run first inning. Sam Travis, Kyle Schwarber and Scott Donley each finished with two hits. Donley drove in two runs.
Hoffpauir and Brant Whiting hit back-to-back solo home runs for Stanford in the second inning.
A.J. Vanegas (3-3) earned the win after throwing a season-high 5 1-3 innings of relief.
In other regionals:
• Texas A&M 9, Rice 8 (10 innings): Krey Bratsen scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the 10th, capping a two-run rally as Texas A&M eliminated Rice in the Houston Regional.
Bratsen had an RBI single to tie it at eight before scampering home on a wild pitch by Matt Ditman (5-6).
The Owls (42-20) tied it at 7 in the ninth on a solo homer by Skyler Ewing, and took the lead against the Aggies (35-25) in the 10th on a controversial RBI single by Hunter Ropycinski. It looked as if Bratsen had made a diving catch on Ropycinski’s flyout, but the umpires ruled it a hit.
Texas A&M coach Rob Childress argued the call and was ejected. In a statement, umpire crew chief Frank Stanley said the call couldn’t be overturned, by rule, because a “no-catch” couldn’t be changed to a “catch” with less than two outs.
Cole Lankford hit a grand slam to cap Texas A&M’s five-run seventh.
• Alabama 4, Kennesaw State 1: Alabama junior left-hander Taylor Guilbeau, who hadn’t pitched more than three innings in a game all season, scattered five hits in his first career complete game as the Crimson Tide topped Kennesaw State in the Tallahassee Regional.
Alabama (37-23) won its third straight elimination game to set up another matchup today against Kennesaw State (39-22), with the winner advancing to the super regionals.
Kennesaw State’s nine-game winning streak ended.
With some from Kennesaw State’s defense, Alabama grabbed a 3-0 lead in the top of the fourth. Ben Moore scored from third base on a fielder’s choice when third baseman Matt Bahnick passed up getting Moore at the plate to instead try for an inning-ending double play. But Bahnick’s throw was dropped at second and Alabama was up 1-0 with two runners on. Casey Houghston laced a two-out liner off left fielder Jacob Bruce’s glove, driving a pair of unearned runs.
• Louisiana-Lafayette 11, Jackson State 1: Jace Conrad hit a grand slam and drove in six runs as Louisiana-Lafayette remained alive by beating Jackson State in an elimination game in the Lafayette Regional.
The Ragin’ Cajuns (55-8) led 8-1 going into the bottom of the fifth inning, then cruised after a 3-hour, 12-minute rain delay. Louisiana-Lafayette starter Chris Charpentier allowed four hits in four innings, then yielded to reliever Matt Hicks (8-1), who threw five shutout innings after the break.
Christopher Wingard (2-2) took the loss for Jackson State (32-25), which upset regional top seed and host Louisiana-Lafayette 1-0 on Friday night.
The Cajuns advanced to face Mississippi State later Sunday. A win by Mississippi State would put the Bulldogs into their third super regional in four years.
With the game tied at 1 in the second, Louisiana-Lafayette loaded the bases and Conrad hit his third grand slam of the season.