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Monday - June 12, 2006

Super Regionals - Day 4

The field is now set.

The Owls put a 5-spot on the board in the bottom of the 6th. That made all the difference as Rice sent the last Big 12 team in the hunt (the Sooners) home. Final score: 9-5.

Georgia, ahead 4-3, scored 7 in the 7th and went on to beat South Carolina 11-6. I didn't have much invested in this game one way or the other. Two SEC schools, after all. But, I was kinda rooting for the Gamecocks since they were the underdogs. And, they'd put on that home run clinic on Saturday. But...eh.

Ole Miss sent their closer (Garrett White from Round Rock...he must've played with Nick Peoples since they went to the same high school and they're both Juniors) to the mound in the 6th with 1 out and a runner at 1b (John Jay) after Miami tied things up on a sac fly. (Miami, by the way, sent their closer in at the top of the 5th...must be "do or die" time, eh?) Jay promptly stole 2b and then 3b on the first two pitches thrown by White. On the steal of 3b, the ball bounced in the dirt short of the third baseman and ricocheted off Jay's right foot as he was sliding head-first into the bag and he easily made it all the way home for the go-ahead score. Damn! (Aside: I really like the name of the Miami first baseman. Yonder Alonso. Yonder. Yonder? Heh heh. I like it!) In the 7th, Chris Coghlan took the first pitch he saw over the rf fence. Game all tied up. How exciting. But then. But then. Miami scored 5 in the bottom of the 7th. All with 2 outs. Four of those runs on a grand slam (the 2nd home run of the night by Danny Valencia). Ole Miss did not go down quietly. They loaded the bases on consecutive singles to open the 9th. They managed to get one run across. That was it, though. Miami won 14-9. Heart break for the Ole Miss crowd. Second year in a row they lose a Super Regional after winning the 1st game. At home. Poor guys. Wow.

So, that leaves me rooting for Oregon State and Rice as we head into the CWS. Go, Beavers! Go, Owls! Heh. Not very fierce sounding, eh? Ah well...

Posted by Joanna at 9:40 PM