Penn, Oral Roberts, Rider take down national seeds in NCAA Tournament baseball games

By ERIC OLSON
AP Sports Writer

No. 1 Wake Forest and 10 other national seeds won their openers in the NCAA regionals on Friday before Penn began a late-night flurry of upsets.

The Quakers gave the Ivy League its first national tournament win over a Southeastern Conference opponent, beating No. 13 Auburn 6-3 in 11 innings.

Next, Oral Roberts took down No. 11 Oklahoma State 6-4 for its third win over the Cowboys this season and its nation-best 19th straight victory.

Minutes later, Rider finished an 11-10 win over No. 10 Coastal Carolina when Richie Sica made a diving catch of Caden Bodine’s flare to center with the bases loaded.

Penn, which hadn’t won in the tournament since 1990, took the lead on Ryan Taylor’s double and added two insurance runs on consecutive squeeze plays. Four pitchers limited Auburn to four hits and struck out 14.

The Ivy League had been 0-9 all-time against the SEC in the tournament. Now Penn will try to make a run like conference mate Columbia did last season, when it reached a regional final as a No. 3 regional seed.

Oral Roberts of the Summit League never trailed against the Big 12’s Cowboys while winning its NCAA opener as a No. 4 regional seed for the third time. The Golden Eagles beat Wichita State in 2002 and Baylor in 2012.

Rider, from the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, got four RBIs from Jack Winsett and survived despite four pitchers allowing 14 hits and walking eight. The Broncs had lost 15 straight in the tournament since 1987.

Wake Forest posted its nation-leading 10th shutout with its 12-0 victory over George Mason. Seth Keener and two relievers combined on a three-hitter and Justin Johnson homered twice and drove in six runs.

Nine of the Southeastern Conference’s record-tying 10 teams in the tournament won. The Atlantic Coast Conference was 6-2, the Pac-12 was 4-1, the Big 12 was 3-3 and the Big Ten was 3-0.

Six No. 3 regional seeds won: Washington, Texas Tech, North Carolina State, Samford, Troy and Indiana.

LSU RIDES SKENES, CREWS

LSU’s Dylan Crews and Paul Skenes performed like guys projected to be the top two picks in the amateur draft.

Crews was 3 for 5 with a double and an RBI in the Tigers’ 7-2 win over Tulane. Skenes scattered seven hits, walked none and struck out 12 in his first complete game.

Skenes also made one of the defensive plays of the day when he caught James Agabedis III’s line drive between his legs and threw to first to double off the runner.

“I got tired of them hitting the ball up the middle,” a grinning Skenes said, “and I wanted to catch one.”

100 RBI SEASON

Maryland’s Nick Lorusso became the first player in 20 years to drive in 100 runs in a season when he homered in the first inning in a 7-2 win over Northeastern. New Mexico State’s Billy Becher was the previous player with 100 RBIs in 2003.

BIG BATS

Max Kaufer, a .160 hitter coming into the tournament, had three hits and three RBIs in Texas A&M’s 12-7 win over Cal State Fullerton. … Duke’s MJ Metz homered on three straight plate appearances in a 12-3 win over UNC-Wilmington. … Billy Amick hit a grand slam to break open the game in the eighth and finished with five RBIs in Clemson’s 12-5 win over Lipscomb. … Alex Vergara homered twice for Lipscomb. … Brayden Taylor was 4 for 5 with a homer and six RBIs in TCU’s 12-4 win over Arizona. … Kendall Diggs’ bases-clearing single highlighted a five-run fourth inning in Arkansas’ 13-6 win over Santa Clara. … Dylan Campbell went 2 for 4 in Texas’ 4-2 win over Louisiana and set the Big 12 record with his 36th straight game with a hit. … Alberto Rios homered and had four RBIs in Stanford’s 13-2 win over San Jose State. … Griffin Merritt and Christian Moore drove in three runs apiece to lead Tennessee past Charlotte 8-1.

MOUND MARVELS

Four relievers combined to keep the Musketeers scoreless over the last five innings of Oregon’s 5-4 win over Xavier. The Ducks’ bullpen has a 1.44 ERA in five postseason games. … Virginia had a no-hitter going in its 15-1 win over Army until Braden Golinski singled with one out in the seventh off Cullen McKay, who took over for Brian Edgington at the start of the sixth. … Travis Smith and Mason Moore combined on a three-hitter in Kentucky’s 4-0 win over Ball State, the Wildcats’ first shutout in 31 all-time NCAA Tournament games. … Iowa edged North Carolina 5-4 after closer Luke Llewellyn got two strikeouts to end the game with the tying run at third base. … Micah McDowell went 4 for 4 with six RBIs as Oregon State beat Sam Houston State 18-2.

AROUND THE HORN

Jim Jarvis’ two-out RBI single gave Alabama its first walk-off victory of the season, 4-3 over Nicholls. … Florida got a two-run homer from Josh Rivera in the first inning and six shutout innings from Jac Caglianone in a 3-0 win over Florida A&M. … Grant Magill’s two-run single in the eighth gave No. 14 Indiana State its first lead in a 6-5 win over Wright State. … Virginia scored its most runs in an NCAA Tournament since 2016. The Cavaliers led 10-0 early and scored in all but two innings. … Wright State’s Andrew Patrick became the first Division I player this season to hit 20 homers and steal 30 bases. … Arkansas has won eight consecutive regional openers since 2014. Wright State has lost all nine of its regional openers since 2006. … Dallas Baptist’s Ryan Johnson gave up eight earned runs in six innings against Washington, the most in his career. … Edgardo Villegas and Yohandy Morales homered as Miami got out to a big lead early in a 9-1 win over Maine.

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