Vandy pitchers punch out Pirates again

NASHVILLE — Vanderbilt’s 1-2 pitching punch delivered a knockout in the NCAA baseball tournament’s Nashville Super Regional, and the Commodores are headed back to the College World Series as the reigning national champions.

Jack Leiter posted 10 strikeouts in seven innings on Saturday as national No. 4 seed Vanderbilt secured its spot this week in Omaha, Nebraska, with a 4-1 win over No. 13 seed East Carolina University, completing a sweep of the best-of-three super regional at Hawkins Field.

Leiter (10-3) allowed two hits, one of them a solo home run to Josh Moylan in the seventh. It was the only run the Commodores (4515) allowed during the series. Vanderbilt beat ECU 2-0 on Friday, when Rocker allowed three hits and struck out 11 in 7 2/3 innings.

“This is why you come to Vanderbilt, for moments like this,” said Leiter, the son of retired longtime Major League Baseball pitcher Al Leiter. “The season would have felt incomplete if we hadn’t made it this far.”

Vanderbilt will make its fifth trip to Omaha, all coming since 2011, and will try to add its third overall national championship. The Commodores won the title in 2014, were runners-up in 2015 and returned to the CWS in 2019 to win it all again. Last year’s NCAA baseball postseason — as well as much of the regular season — was wiped out amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

East Carolina starter Carson Whisenhunt (6-2) left the game while it was scoreless in the fifth inning, but he walked Javier Vaz and Jayson Gonzalez, who scored on Carter Young’s single off reliever Matt Bridges.

Enrique Bradfield Jr. added a one-run double for the hosts in the ninth, and Dominic Keegan’s bases-loaded walk made it 4-1.

The Pirates (44-17) dropped to 1-12 all-time in super regional games.

› N.C. State 6, Arkansas 5

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Jose Torres hit the first of three home runs in the fourth inning for North Carolina State, and the Wolfpack beat No. 1 seed and top-ranked Arkansas to avoid elimination.

N.C. State (34-18), which allowed 17 hits and 21 runs while losing Friday’s super regional opener to the Razorbacks, gave up just four hits Saturday to force a decisive third game Sunday.

The Wolfpack have won seven of their past eight games away from home and handed Southeastern Conference champion Arkansas (50-12) its seventh loss in 37 games at Baum-Walker Stadium this season.

Sam Highfill (8-2) pitched 6 1/3 innings, allowing four runs (three earned) with five strikeouts. He gave up just two hits — a two-run homer by Charlie Welch that opened the scoring in the second inning and a solo shot by Brady Slavens. Evan Justice struck out four batters over the final 2 2/3, giving up one unearned run on two hits with no walks.

Terrell Tatum singled to lead off the bottom of the fourth before Torres and Luca Tresh hit back-to-back homers. Two batters later, Vojtech Mensik hit another to give N.C. State a 5-2 lead.

After Tresh scored on a groundout by J.T. Jarrett to make it 6-2, Slavens homered to center field and Welch and Cullen Smith each scored after a throwing error in the seventh. Kevin Kopps came on in the bottom of the inning and pitched two perfect innings with two strikeouts. The senior, who is 12-0 with 11 saves and a 0.65 ERA this season, hasn’t allowed a run in 15 1/3 innings during four appearances in the month of June.

Mensik scored on a groundout by Tyler McDonough in the bottom of the third to pull the Wolfpack to 2-1.

› Stanford 9, Texas Tech 0

LUBBOCK, Texas — Brock Jones hit three home runs, Alex Williams pitched a shutout, and the ninth-seeded Cardinal completed a road sweep to win a super regional and return to the College World Series for the first time since 2008.

Jones went 3-for-5 and scored four runs. His homers — solo shots in the first and eighth innings and a grand slam in the sixth — accounted for all of his RBIs.

Williams (4-2) allowed two hits, walked one batter, hit another and tied a career high with 10 strikeouts. It was his second complete game in a postseason start. He went the distance in Stanford’s 12-3 win over Sacramento State to avoid elimination in the 2019 regional round.

The Cardinal (38-15) outscored Texas Tech 24-3 in the two-game set and now will prepare for their 17th trip to Omaha. They ended a frustrating stretch of being eliminated in the super regional round in 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2019.

For the Red Raiders (39-17), starter Patrick Monteverde (7-4) went 3 2/3 innings and struck out seven batters.

›Mississippi State 9, Notre Dame 8

STARKVILLE, Miss. — Logan Tanner hit a solo homer in the bottom of the seventh, and No. 7 seed Mississippi State rallied from a four-run deficit to beat No. 10 seed Notre Dame to open their super regional.

Tanner gave the host Bulldogs (44-15) their final margin, and Landon Sims struck out three in two perfect innings for his 10th save of the season. Preston Johnson (3-0) got the win after a giving up one run in 2 2/3 innings, and now Mississippi State is a victory away from its 12th trip to the College World Series.

Tanner Kohlhepp (7-2) took the loss, giving up four runs (three earned) in four innings for the Fighting Irish (33-12).

Rowdey Jordan went 3-for-5 with a home run, a double and two RBIs for the Bulldogs. Tanner Allen hit a solo homer in the first.

Zack Prajzner had a three-run homer in the fifth inning that gave Notre Dame a 7-3 lead.

›Dallas Baptist 6, Virginia 5

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Andrew Benefield homered in the seventh inning, and Dallas Baptist University rallied past Virginia in a super regional opener delayed almost four hours in the ninth inning due to weather.

It was the Patriots’ first win in a super regional game and puts them one win away from their first appearance in the College World Series.

DBU (41-16) erased a 5-2 deficit in the fifth and sixth innings, and Benefield’s homer in the seventh made it 6-5. Ray Gaither (3-2) struck out a combined four batters in the sixth and seventh innings to pick up the win.

Peyton Sherlin returned to the mound in the top of the ninth for the Patriots after striking out two in a scoreless eighth, but lightning was detected in the area. Zane Russell replaced Sherlin when play resumed, and he retired three straight batters after giving up a leadoff walk to record his second save of the season.

Zach Messinger (3-2) gave up two runs in two innings and took the loss for the Cavaliers (3325). Alex Tappen and Jake Gelof homered and Devin Ortiz had a three-run double in Virginia’s five-run fifth.