… and the celebrations continue.

The North Carolina State Wolf Pack make a wolf pile after beating Vanderbilt in the Regional finals on Monday.

Five more free passes to the Super Regionals were handed out on Monday, including Stony Brook continuing its incredible run with a 10-6 win over Central Florida, matching Kent State in the you-gotta-be-kiddin’ me department and Oklahoma pulling out two wins over upstart Appalachian State. TCU downed Ole Miss in another mid-major smackdown of a BCS bully, while on the flip-side of that Dallas Baptist couldn’t pull of a second straight minor miracle and fell to Baylor.

The Doctor of College Baseball was on hand in Raleigh to see North Carolina State beat Vanderbilt to earn their way to another weekend of baseball. Oh, and while we’re at it, we’re also putting on the tweed jacket with the leather patches over the elbows and handing out the Regional grades.

Read on.

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HERE’S WHAT THE DOCTOR OF COLLEGE BASEBALL SAW AT THE RALEIGH REGIONAL.

We’ll get to the Regional grades in a minute, but here’s what the good doctor sent from his time at the North Carolina State-Vanderbilt game.

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RALEIGH REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

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LINESCORE.

N.C. State – 102 000 033 – 9  13  1

Vanderbilt – 105 010 000 – 7  11  4

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Starting Pitchers

NC State- Logan Jernigan (5-1) 4 IP, 8 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 2 BB, 3 K

Vanderbilt- Jared Miller (3-0) 1.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K

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WP- Ryan Wilkins (5-2) 4.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 6K

LP- Will Clinard (7-3) 1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 K

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Game Summary:

Tarran Senay didn’t start the game for North Carolina State, but the Wolfpack junior left fielder certainly ended it. Senay, who came in as a defensive replacement as part of a five player switch in the 7th inning, blasted a three run home run off reliever Philip Pfeifer over the right field wall in the 8th inning to get NC State to within one run at 7-6. Then in the top of the 9th, Senay drilled a bases loaded single to score the tying and go-ahead runs, accounting for 5RBI in all.

Trailing 7-6 entering the 9th inning, NC State (which was the visiting team despite being the regional host) got a leadoff single by Andrew Ciencin off of Will Clinard. Jake Fincher laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance pinch runner Bryan Adametz, but reached based himself on a throwing error by Vandy 3B Riley Reynolds. After Brett Austin grounded out to 1st base, Logan Ratledge was intentionally walked to load the bases and set up a double play. Senay then had his clutch 2-run single that proved to be the difference. The Wolfpack added their final run on a single by Trae Turner. Ryan Wilkins, who earned the victory with 4+ innings of scoreless relief, struck out Connor Harrell to set off the NC State dog pile (Wolf Pile?) and sent NC State to the Gainesville Super Regional to face overall No. 1 seed Florida.

It was a battle between the penultimate representative of the Atlantic Coast Conference against one of six representatives still alive from the Southeastern Conference on the final day of the Regionals.  Vanderbilt had pulled off a stunner in the winner’s bracket game on Saturday, storming back from an 8-3 deficit in the eighth inning with five runs to tie the game, and then winning it 9-8 with a Tony Kemp RBI single in the bottom of the 9th.

The Wolfpack battled back on Sunday with an overwhelming 17-5 victory against UNC Wilmington in the elimination game before settling the score with a 6-5 win over Vanderbilt to send it to a final game.

In tonight’s deciding game, North Carolina State struck first in the top of the 1st inning when leadoff batter Trae Turner singled off the leg of Vanderbilt pitcher Jared Miller and eventually scored on a bloop single by Danny Canela. The Commodores answered with a solo HR by Mike Yastrzemski to tie it at 1-1 in the bottom of the 1st.

After NC State tacked on 2 runs in the 3rd inning, Vandy had its biggest inning of the night with a five run outburst to take a 6-3 lead. The key hits were RBI singles by Mike Yastrzemski and Conrad Gregor and a 2-run double by Connor Castellano. The Commodores added a run in the 5th on another double by Castellano before Senay’s heroics won it for the Wolfpack later on.

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Top Offensive Performers

NC State

- Tarran Senay 2-2, 1 R, 3 run HR, 2 run single, 5 RBI

- Trea Turner 3-6, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 SB

- Danny Canela 2-6, 1 R, 1 RBI

- Andrew Ciencin 2-5, 1 RBI

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Vanderbilt

- Mike Yastrzemski 4-5, 2 R, 2 RBI, HR, 2 SB

- Connor Castellano 2-4, 2 doubles, 3 RBI

- Riley Reynolds 2-4, 1 run

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Top Pitching Performers

NC State

- Ryan Wilkins 4.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB , 6 K

Vanderbilt

- Tyler Beede 5.1 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 8 K

(two of his runs came when reliever Philip Pfeifer gave up Sanay’s 3-run HR)

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NOTES:

- Jared Miller made only his third start of season for Vanderbilt and left in the 2nd inning.

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- Vanderbilt’s Tim Corbin has a strange routine of putting a nonparticipating pitcher in the starting lineup as the DH, then replacing him with a pinch hitter the first time his turn at bat comes up.

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- The blasting air conditioner made the press box feel like an icebox. After someone finally opened up a window about halfway through the game, one of the local newspaper writers commented that the extra strain on the AC from the heat would make it start snowing in the press box.

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- NC State fans are especially vocal, and like South Carolina fans seem to live and die by every pitch. The guys in the press box were chuckling all night about some of the things the fans just below the press box were yelling during the game.

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- After the game ended, the NC State fans chanted “ACC, ACC…” to mock the vanquished foe from the SEC, seemingly forgetting that the SEC put twice as many teams into the Super Regionals as the ACC (4 to 2).

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- Attendance was a packed-in 3,018. It was belly buttons to assholes with the standing room only crowd, and many more were looking unsuccessfully for tickets outside. But one lucky fan I spoke to (who admitted to being a UNC Tar Heel loyalist but also just a big college baseball fan) said he happened to find a ticket laying on the ground, figured it was from a previous game, but then looked and saw it was for the championship game and he got in free of charge.

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- I met Ray “Lefty” Freeman, who as a junior at N.C. State College, as it was known at the time, struck out Babe Ruth in an exhibition game in 1935. He is reportedly the last man alive to strike out the Babe, who retired from baseball a few months later with the Boston Braves.

Ray "Lefty" Freeman, the last living man who is known to have struck out Babe Ruth.

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- Both shortstops, Chris Diaz and Anthony Gomez, were among the five finalists for the Brooks Wallace Award for the SS of the Year.

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- The game duration was 3-hours, 44-minutes

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PICS

A few images from today’s Regional-clinching game.

A packed-to-the-gills crowd of 3,018 was on hand to see the program-affirming win.

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Mike Yastrzemski gets a nice glamouring from his teammates after a 1st inning home run. Eventually, VU would build up a 7-3 lead they thought was safe.

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Vandy freshman Tyler Beede, a former 1st round draft pick last summer, went 5.1 inns. striking out eight.

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Ryan Wilkins was the winning pitcher in tonight's game.

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At one point the scoreboard read that the Commodores were in the lead in the 9th inning and were three outs away from advancing.

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In what turned out to be the game-winning hit, Tarran Senay scored two runs on this single in the top of the 9th.

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Ryan Wilkins lets out a primal scream as he gets Conrad Gregor swinging-and-missing for the last strike of the game.

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In one of the smartest moves I've ever seen, Pack pitcher Ryan Wilkins (far right) bailed on being at the bottom of the dogpile, letting freshman catcher Brett Austin (#11) take the brunt.

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Now that the Regionals are completed, here are the grades for each team.

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GAINESVILLE REGIONAL

- Florida: A

How can you argue the Gators performance? A no-hitter on Friday and two good wins over Tech. No muss, no fuss. The challenge from N.C. State will be slightly tougher.

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- Georgia Tech: C+

This wasn’t a vintage Jacket squad, so it’s not a shock they couldn’t give the Gators much of a tussle. But a nice 3-hitter in the 3-0 elimination win over CofC.

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- College of Charleston: C

The Coogs went 1-2 with both losses coming vs. Tech. Daniel Aldrich went 3-for-3 with a HR in the win over BCU, then 2-for-9, 0RBI in the two losses.

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- Bethune-Cookman: F+

Aye! Tough weekend. This wasn’t the usually tough Wildcat club, winning *only* 34 games. But it was shocking to see the Cats get just two hits in two games.

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RALEIGH REGIONAL

- North Carolina State: A-

Wow. The youth of the Wolfpack never tripped them up. In fact, they came up clutch with a huge come-from-behind win on Monday. Now, taking on a veteran team like Florida? This’ll be tough.

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- Vanderbilt: A-

Their magical late-season surge finally came to an end. But what a whirlwind this team was on. Not enough lock-down pitching as the weekend went on. But nothing to be ashamed of here Vandy.

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- UNC Wilmington: D

Every game a blowout. The Seahawks gave NC State the school-record for most runs ever in NCAA tournament game in the 17-5 loss. Also lost to Vandy 8-2.

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- Sacred Heart: F+

The Pioneers surrendered 31 hits and 29 runs in the losses to N.C. State and UNCW. But on the plus side, SHU went 11-4 down the stretch to make it here.

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COLUMBIA REGIONAL.

- South Carolina: B

The Gamecocks had two titanic struggles with Clemson, but you have to think they relished the fact that those two one-run wins were daggers to their rivals.

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- Clemson: B

Can’t fault the Tigers’ effort, beating Coastal twice and playing 1-seed South Carolina to the hilt. But a few key plays/calls went awry, meaning the Tigers sit home.

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- Coastal Carolina: C

A decent showing from the Chanticleers, but you know this wasn’t the typically strong CCU team. We didn’t see enough of them this weekend, but we’ll see more from them in the future.

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- Manhattan: D-

Not exactly like the 2006 run in Lincoln. Granted, the Jaspers didn’t have an easy task but they scored just one run in 18 innings.

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CHARLOTTESVILLE REGIONAL

- Oklahoma: A-

Shades of 2010. Think about what this team did. A game one loss, two straight one-run wins, then to go and beat Appy State twice in one day. Wow. Carolina, you’ve been warned.

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- Appalachian State: B+

This team was tough all season, and nearly came away from this weekend with a stunning Regional title. Too bad Ryan Arrowood couldn’t pitch every game. Great season though.

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- Virginia: D

I had my doubts about the Cavs going into this one, thinking their stronger days are ahead, but it’s still frustrating to lose a pair of one-run games to Appy State and OU.

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- Army: C-

Thought we might get a little more tremors from these guys, but the 41-win Knights couldn’t pull a stunner out of its pocket, though that 10-inning loss to OU came close.

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WACO REGIONAL

- Baylor: A-

A great recovery after losing the opening game to ORU. The offense came alive and the pitching clamped down, earning the Bears a home spot in the Supers next week.

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- Dallas Baptist: A-

Wow. We nearly had deja vu again with the Patriots. They hit .392 in their first two games, but Baylor’s pitching was too much for them, holding them to .188 in the last two games.

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- Oral Roberts: B-

A great Friday upset over Baylor pulled some headlines, but they couldn’t cash in on the momentum. Still, the Eagles reached the NCAAs for the 15th straight year.

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- UT-Arlington: D-

Eight different pitchers to zero effect. The Mavs actually had a lead mid-way through the elimination game with Baylor, but the arms corps couldn’t hold it.

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HOUSTON REGIONAL

- Arkansas: B+

The Hogs are still a mystery team, great one moment (one run allowed in last 18 innings) and ordinary the next (just two hits vs. Rice). But their talent can still take them to Omaha.

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- Sam Houston State: B+

Great season under new coach David Pierce, 40 wins during a rebuilding year. The Bearkats gave up just 13 runs in their 2-2 showing. Nearly upset Arkansas in game one.

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- Rice: D-

The offense migrated completely South for the Owls, gaining just four runs in 27 innings. Even the opening round win over PV was nip-and-tuck at 3-2. Dang me.

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- Prairie View A&M: C+

The Panthers acquitted themselves quite well, even rehashing their ghosts of 2006 where they almost upset Rice. Future looks bright for the purple gang.

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EUGENE REGIONAL

- Oregon: B

The George Horton factor is starting to take hold as the Ducks are two wins away from a CWS appearance. But it wasn’t easy, including a controversial win in game one vs. APU.

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- Austin Peay: A

What a great run for the 40-win Govs. Back-to-back shutouts vs. ISU and CSUF were impressive. Can you imagine if they could’ve pulled that stunner in the opener vs. Oregon? Wow. Strong work Governors.

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- Cal State Fullerton: D

The sticks became noodles by the end of the Regional here as the Titans got just five hits vs. Oregon and three hits vs. Austin Peay. How does that happen? Yuck.

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- Indiana State: D

The MoValley champs didn’t show up well enough here, especially in getting just five hits in the loss to APU. But a 41 win season is a great rebound from 2011. Well done… just not here.

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GARY REGIONAL

- Kent State: A+

Team of the weekend? Can we say? (And by the way, they were also one of my upset picks. Thanks Flashes). Don’t sleep on these guys, especially since Oregon isn’t a heavy-hitting team. Danger Ducks, danger.

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- Kentucky: B-

You have to wonder if this would’ve been the Cats weekend had they been able to pull out that 21-inning marathon. Still, to come back to the title round is pretty good.

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- Purdue: D+

The white-hot spotlight got ‘em. This wasn’t the same confident team I saw at UCLA in early May. But good crowds showed up for games an hour-and-a-half from campus, so hopefully a bigger fan following was forged.

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- Valparaiso: D

Sure they got beat pretty badly, but let’s big-picture this thing. I had Valpo picked for 5th in the 6-team Horizon in the pre-season, and they went out and won 35 games. Well done.

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LOS ANGELES REGIONAL

- UCLA: A-

Not many hairy moments for the Bruins, getting great starts from Adam Plutko and Nick Vander Tuig. Bruin bats are heating up as well, which is always a good sign.

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- Creighton: A-

Sure I’m biased. But according to UCLA coach John Savage, these guys went out and showed everyone how to play the game this week. Spirited Jays were a burr in the saddle.

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- New Mexico: C-

Solid win over USD, but they ran into a buzzsaw with UCLA’s Vander Tuig and a hot CU team. Still, great strides made by the Lobos, including third straight trip to the NCAAs.

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- San Diego: D

The Toreros ran headlong into some hot pitching at the wrong time. Despite the great turnaround season (22 wins to 40), luck wasn’t a lady for them here.

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BATON ROUGE REGIONAL

- LSU: B+

Everything looks good for the Tigers, holding both ULM and OSU to one run in their first two wins. A little Alex Box Magic didn’t hurt in the title-deciding game. Just don’t overlook Stony Brook.

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- Oregon State: C

As the only Pac 12er to hit the road, the Beavers had their chances. They had their chances vs. Kevin Gausman (7hits, 3walks, 1HBP), but never got the key hit. Then the Beavs couldn’t hold late lead vs. the Tigers in title round.

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- UL-Monroe: C

Warhawks were a .500 team all season, but played pretty well in BR, even going toe-to-toe vs. LSU in game one and eliminating Belmont.

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- Belmont: C-

Played Oregon State really tough and had some chances vs. ULM too. The Bruins have now won 38 and 39 games in successive years.

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CORAL GABLES REGIONAL

- Stony Brook: A+

Holy freaking’ cow! With Kent State, these guys are vigilantes for the unsung. Now they’re ready to be giant killers. Oh, on the same day the Seawolves beat UCF for the Regional title, leadoff hitter Travis Jankowski gets drafted in the 1st round.

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- UCF: C+

The Knights were clutch early on, winning a pair of one-run games. But then came the rematches with SBU. That’s when the wheels fell off. Still, 45 wins? Nice season.

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- Missouri State: B-

Give the Bears major props for nearly taking down UCF in game one, then the blowout win over Miami (yeah I know, anybody can do that.), but they couldn’t parlay that into a title run.

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- Miami: F

Writing anything here would just be piling on at this point.

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TALLAHASSEE REGIONAL

- Florida State: B+

A close call in game one with UAB, the ‘Noles cruised from that point on. But they’ll go from Samford to Stanford now. Similar name, but a galaxy-wide change in talent.

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- Samford: A-

How about that? Two wins over Mississippi State. One of them by badgering Chris Stratton? Aye caramba! What a pair of wins. The Bulldogs just couldn’t get to FSU.

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- Mississippi State: D+

About the only good news for coach John Cohen was beating UAB, who had Ron Polk as their assistant coach. Other than that, looks like they spent all their energy on winning the SEC tourney.

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- UAB: C-

Blazers actually played toe-to-toe with FSU on Friday, then had a close game going with MSU until the 6th inning. Then the wheels fell off and the end was nigh.

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PALO ALTO REGIONAL

- Stanford: B

The Cardinal got a 4-hitter from Mark Appel to rout Fresno, but then had numerous shaky moments in trying to get rid of pesky Pepperdine. That’s a red flag warning going into Tallahassee.

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- Pepperdine: B+

The Waves showed all kind of fight, eliminating Fresno and then giving Stanford fits in a pair of games that were THISCLOSE. Kudos to a great finish to a great bounce-back season.

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- Fresno State: C-

The Bulldogs will be pained to think about how badly they blew that Pepperdine game, giving up six runs in the 9th to lose 8-5. That’s a tough way to end things.

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- Michigan State: D-

Unlike Big 10ers of the past two years (Minnesota, Illinois), these guys didn’t show up in the NCAAs. Makes people wonder if a 5th place Big 10 team deserves it.

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CHAPEL HILL REGIONAL

- St. John’s: A

Man, what a turnaround this team made. When I saw them vs. Maryland, they got drummed 16-4. But that jog-off home run by Danny Bethea to beat UNC in the winner’s bracket jump-started this title run.

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- North Carolina: C-

This shouldn’t have happened. But this goes to show how tough it is to win year-in, year-out like the Heels have done the last seven years. It just wasn’t in the cards here.

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- East Carolina: C-

The Pirates went just 11-14 from Tax Day onward and it showed in Chapel Hill. The Pirates held UNC to five hits, but gave up eight walks in the 5-3 loss.

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- Cornell: C-

The Big Red bats went nuts, collecting 25 hits in their two losses, but couldn’t out-slug UNC and ECU. Still, at 31-17-1, it was a great season for Cornell.

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COLLEGE STATION REGIONAL

- TCU: A

The Frogs had to face Bobby Wahl twice this weekend, losing the first time, 6-2, and then getting to him early the second time, a 7-4 win in the title game. Lots of young talent going for broke at UCLA.

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- Ole Miss: C+

The Rebels were looking good after a 2-0 start. But not enough quality depth on the mound and lack of key hits cost them against free-swinging TCU.

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- Texas A&M: D

A 10-1 finish in May just didn’t translate in the Big 12 tourney and Regionals. Beyond Michael Wacha, the rest of the Aggies probably deserve an F. SEC is next.

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- Dayton: F

Oof! The Flyers had no real fighting chance, having to face Wacha and then running into a monstrous Frog offense. But they do have a 31-win season and A-10 title.

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TUCSON REGIONAL

- Arizona: A+

Jeez. How can you complain about how this team performed this weekend? Oh, but let’s give an “A+” to the new stadium too. If not for Hi Corbett Field, the Cats would’ve been playing on the road somewhere, not at home for the first time since 1992.

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- Louisville: C+

When they weren’t playing Arizona, the Cards did well for themselves, including pounding out a season-high 20 hits in the 11-3 rout of Mizzou and holding NMSU to six hits in a 3-2 win.

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- Missouri: D+

Give Mizzou props for a great late-season surge, including a Big 12 tourney title, which eluded them last year. But when they lost here, it was a pretty loud thud.

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- New Mexico State: F+

I don’t s’pose the boys from Las Cruces justified their No. 2 seeding here. The Ags went 5-14 down the stretch and were 2-and-a-barbecue in Tucson. Lesson learned.