Will Scott is in Fort Worth covering the TCU regional. Here is his recap from day 2.
(3) Dallas Baptist 6, (4) Central Connecticut State 5 (elimination game)
Another day, more home runs for DBU. The Patriots smashed five long balls in the win over the Blue Devils, making their home run total eight through two days at the Fort Worth regional.
"This park doesn't usually play that way, but it has the first two games this weekend. Those proved to be big for us today, but looking ahead, we need to start stringing hits together and be able to manufacture some runs," DBU head coach Dan Heefner said after the win.
DBU carried a 5-4 lead into the 8th inning, when Delvin Granberg hit his 2nd home run of the regional to extend the lead to two. Central Connecticut plated one in the 9th to make it 6-5, before Dewaine struck out with the tying run at second to end the game.
"Well, it was only a few hours ago that we were sitting here," CCSU coach Charlie Hickley joked in the postgame press conference. The Blue Devils first game against TCU didn't wrap up until after 1 am CT last night, and the first pitch of today's game was less than 11 hours later.
"I couldn't be more proud of our team and our program today. It was a lot of fun going out and playing against a high quality opponent and coming down to the last strike. As a coach, you hope for these experiences. That your kids can come and play in the NCAA tournament and play well," Hickley said after being eliminated. "It's gonna hurt a little bit, but we're always going to remember coming out here, having a wonderful time at TCU." This was Central Connecticut's first NCAA tournament appearance since 2010.
Dallas Baptist will play Virginia in the elimination game today at 2:00.
Like his teammate Mitchell Traver last night, TCU pitcher Jared Janczak was on fire for the Frogs. He threw eight innings with six strikeouts, only allowing 1 run, and improved to 9-0 on the season.
"Outstanding night of college baseball right there," TCU head coach Jim Schlossnagle said after the game. "Obviously Jared was outstanding. He had command of his pitches, especially in the early and middle stages of the game. He was able to use their somewhat aggressiveness to his advantage...if you don't make pitches to those guys, it can be a long night really quick."
The sophomore RHP shut down a loaded Virginia lineup that came into the regional ranked 4th in the country in team batting average. I asked him about his strategy preparing for the Hoos: "We knew going into it that they were aggressive hitters. Knowing that for me, I gotta rely on my movement and deception...using their aggressiveness against them, getting quick outs."
With his pitch count only at 87, Janczak returned to the mound to start the 9th inning before being pulled after allowing a walk to the leadoff batter for Virginia. "I was over-amped I guess. Was a little too excited," Janczak said. "That's why we have Durbin [to close] I guess," he said with a chuckle.
Virginia starting pitcher Daniel Lynch was pulled after only 2.2 innings, after allowing 4 runs on 5 hits. "We were just trying to get that ball on the outer half, and hit they breaking ball up and stay on it, and go to left field", TCU's Evan Skoug told me. "We were trying not to swing at that inside pitch until 2 strikes. We were preparing for that all week, cause we also faced the lefty from Central Connecticut State, so that was just part of our game plan." Skoug went 2-4 with an RBI.
"Well overall I thought that it was a very good college baseball game," Virginia head coach Brian O'Connor said after the loss. "I thought they did a nice job first time through the lineup, making an adjustment to what Daniel Lynch was doing to them. To their credit, they were getting really good two strike swings."
"[Jared Janczak] was tremendous. He really took control of the game. He's a great college pitcher, he really is," said O'Connor.
UVA pitcher Daniel Lynch gave credit to the fans at Lupton stadium, "They had a great crowd tonight. It's tough to pitch when that many people are that loud."
Virginia will take on DBU at 2:00 CT in an elimination game. They beat the Patriots on Saturday 6-3.
"Very aggressive ball club. Certainly well coached. They are very, very aggressive at the plate and they swing hard. And you have to make your pitches against them and limit your opportunities. So it will be a tough ballgame for us tomorrow," Coach O'Connor told me at the postgame press conference.
The winner of the DBU-UVA game tomorrow will take on TCU in the regional championship tomorrow at 7:00 CT. If TCU loses that game, there will be another game on Tuesday that determines who goes to the Super Regionals. Check back after the conclusion of the second game tomorrow for another full recap from Will Scott.
