One day into the NCAA baseball tournament, and there are already several surprises.
UCLA, Auburn, Southern Mississippi and Florida State each earned top seeds in their regionals and were expected to advance comfortably. Instead, all four are now one loss from the end of their seasons.
Auburn might be the most shocking of the bunch. The Tigers came into the regional loaded with starting pitching, and they even decided to throw ace Jake Marciano to get them off to the best possible start.
Instead, Milwaukee, which entered with a losing record, knocked Marciano out of the game in the second inning. The Panthers never looked back, beating Auburn 13-8 to put the Tigers in the losers' bracket.
UCLA's defeat was almost as stunning. The Bruins are missing their top starter, but they were expected to ride their pitching depth to overcome it. But UCLA's bats never got going, and the Bruins became the first No. 1 overall seed to lose its first game of the NCAA tournament.
Here's a look around the rest of the action from Friday.
East Carolina's Gambit Pays Off
The Pirates were staring defeat in the face in the bottom of the seventh against Tennessee. They found themselves in a 1-1 game with one out and Henry Ford on third base. And then ECU coach Cliff Godwin decided to push all of his chips in, bringing projected Game 2 starter Ethan Norby in as a reliever.
Norby struck out the next two hitters, leaving the go-ahead run stranded at third. He'd go on to hurl 4.2 innings, meaning ECU had used up both of its planned starters on Day 1.
But the Pirates got their reward in the 14th inning when they broke through for four runs, beating the Volunteers 7-3. East Carolina will have a heck of a time figuring out its pitching the rest of the way, but for now, the Pirates don't have to navigate the losers' bracket. Godwin saw that his team's best chance in the regional was to win on Friday, and he did everything he could to make that happen.
Florida State Blows Another Late Lead
The Seminoles had Pittsburgh one strike from defeat in the ACC tournament, only to give up a three-run home run and crash out. Their issues with pitching and defense showed up again in a loss to St. John's, as Florida State went from a 5-2 lead to a 6-5 defeat.
FSU allowed the Red Storm to tie the game thanks to two wild pitches, a passed ball and a catcher's interference on what would have been strike three. These self-inflicted problems have become all too common for the Seminoles, who committed four errors in the Pitt loss. This time, the breakdown came on the mound.
The Seminoles hit well, but they don't hit well enough to overcome that kind of defense. Florida State has to stop beating itself to stay alive.
Hitters Struggle for UCLA
Most of the offense in Saint Mary's win over UCLA came off infielder Jacob Johnson's bat. Johnson sent two over the fence at Jackie Robinson Stadium, including the game winner in the ninth.
It never would have mattered if UCLA had strung some hits together. But the Bruins managed just six hits, and no batter recorded more than one. It wasn't a total surprise; hitting was always going to be UCLA's Achilles' heel. But it's definitely a problem to see the Bruin bats unable to put an inning together.
The Bruins now face Virginia Tech, with one of the regional's top two seeds going home. The depth that's been a strength all year really has to count now for UCLA to keep its season alive.
Offensive Explosions
As always, several of the top seeds showed exactly why they earned those spots. Georgia Tech and Georgia, known for their offense, didn't disappoint. The Yellow Jackets blasted Illinois-Chicago 22-5 in Atlanta, while Georgia held a 15-1 lead on Long Island when play was suspended.
Texas, Alabama and West Virginia also got in on the act. The Longhorns bested Holy Cross 19-1, the Crimson Tide routed in-state foe Alabama State 21-3 and the Mountaineers took down Binghamton 10-1.
Finally, Florida's game wasn't the cleanest, but the Gators did the job thanks to the home run ball. Florida hit five dingers against Rider, including a walk-off blast from Brendan Lawson in the bottom of the ninth. The Gators earned an 8-7 win, keeping themselves in the top half of the bracket.
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