The nation’s top two ranked teams went down to defeat in the opening games of the best-of-three Super Regionals on Friday.
Junior right-hander Karl Kauffmann (10-6) and Jeff Criswell, making his first relief appearance of the season, tossed a combined four-hitter as unranked Michigan (45-19) upset top-ranked and top-seeded UCLA (51-10) 3-2 at Jackie Robinson Stadium in Los Angeles.
UCLA’s Ryan Garcia (10-1) was tagged with the loss — his first of the 2019 season.
The Wolverines, who last appeared in the College World Series in 1984, have made seven trips to Omaha in the program’s history while winning the national championship in 1953 and 1962.
Minnesota, which captured the crown in 1964, was the last team from the Big Ten to win the College World Series.
Outfielder Kyle Gallagher, who belted a three-run homer, and infielder Erikson Nichols had four RBIs apiece and Matt Mervis and freshman Ethan Murray each knocked in three runs as the Duke Blue Devils (35-25) exploded for eighteen runs on fifteen hits in demolishing second-seeded Vanderbilt 18-5 in the Nashville Super Regional on Friday night.
It was Vanderbilt’s first loss in thirteen games. It was also the most runs allowed by a Vanderbilt team in the history of the NCAA Tournament.
In suffering their worst defeat of the season, the Commodores fell to 52-11.
Drake Fellows (12-1) suffered the loss for Vandy.
The eighteen runs by Duke, an ACC at-large team which won the Morgantown Regional last weekend, were the most since a 23-8 shellacking of Northwestern in late February.
Earlier in the day, eleventh-ranked Louisville (48-16) erupted for four runs in the bottom of the fourth, five in the fifth inning, and three more in the sixth in routing No. 10 East Carolina 14-1 before a crowd of 2,955 at Jim Patterson Stadium in Louisville.
East Carolina, which will now have to defeat Louisville on Saturday and Sunday to advance to the College World Series in Omaha for the first time in the school’s history, fell to 47-17 on the season.
The fourteen runs by the Cardinals were the most by Louisville in an NCAA Tournament game since a 15-3 thrashing of Ohio State in the 2016 NCAA Regional.
It was also the most runs in a Super Regional since 2007 when the Cardinals pummeled Oklahoma State 20-2 en route to the program’s first appearance in the College World Series.
“We played well today,” said head coach Dan McDonnell. “We got a great start from Reid (Detmers), we made plays in the field, and offensively we had a good day.”
Detmers (12-4) allowed just one run — a solo home run in the sixth — on five hits in seven innings.
The Cardinals pounded out eighteen hits in the contest, including six doubles and a triple. Freshman Alex Binelas smacked a double and triple and drove in a pair of runs while junior infielder Tyler Fitzgerald was 4-for-5 at the plate with two RBIs.
The second game in the best-of-three series is slated for noon today.
Texas Tech (43-17) is just one win away from securing its fourth CWS appearance in the past six years after the Red Raiders defeated Oklahoma State 8-6 in the Lubbock Super Regional on Friday.
Falling behind early, Oklahoma State (39-20) cut into the lead several times yesterday, but couldn’t get over the hump in dropping to 39-20 on the season.
With the exception of Florida State, Oklahoma State has appeared in the College World Series more than any of the remaining 16 teams in this weekend’s Super Regionals, but the Cowboys will have to defeat Texas Tech today and tomorrow if they hope to make their twenty-first appearance in Omaha.
Game two in the series is scheduled for 5 p.m. today.
