Day 2 of the College World Series in Omaha started much like the way Day 1 started: with a Cinderella team struggling to stay with the big conference team.

Kent State was Saturday’s Cinderella, facing Arkansas and ace DJ Baxendale (who was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the MLB draft in the beginning of the month). Baxendale cruised through the Golden Flashes lineup before giving up a single in the 5th inning.

Kent State starter David Starn struggled with his command from the very beginning and the only thing that kept him and his team in the game was the three double plays turned while he was in the game.

Arkansas had a run in and the bases loaded before Starn induced a DP to end the first inning. Jake Wise homered with two outs in the second inning. In the 3rd inning after a leadoff single, Starn induced another DP. In the 5th inning with a run in, Starn induced another inning-ending DP.

Jimmy Rider homered off Baxendale in the 6th inning to get Kent State on the board and cut the deficit to 3-1.

However Arkansas went back to work against Starn, scoring two runs in the bottom of the 6th inning on a Matt Vinson two-run double.

Baxendale was done with two on base in the 7th inning. He allowed one run on three hits and a walk over 6.1 innings. He struck out five. Brandon Moore came in and escaped the jam and finished out the game. He allowed just one hit over 2.2 innings.

» Continue reading “Arkansas, South Carolina Win on Day 2 of CWS”

The Florida Gators, the number one team in the country, survived a hard fought battle from NC State and are headed to their third straight College World Series. The Gators defeated the Wolfpack, 9-8 in ten innings.

Daniel Pigott broke the 7-7 tie with a solo homerun to lead off the 10th inning. Tobias Harris added much needed insurance with a two out RBI single.

NC State came right back in the bottom of the 10th inning. Trea Turner drove in a run to cut the deficit to one run with a sac fly. With the tying run on second base, Chris Diaz was called out on strikes and the dog pile celebration began for Florida.

So how did they get into extra innings and a 1pm ET start ending so late (after 7pm ET)?

The game in Gainesville started with a quick pitcher’s duel between Florida’s Jonathon Crawford (who threw a no-hitter in his last start) and NC State’s Carlos Rodon (who is a Golden Spikes Award finalist). Into the bottom of the third inning, the only base runner for either team reached on an NC State error. Then the lightning and rain came, halting the game for well over two hours.

» Continue reading “Florida Headed to Third Straight CWS”