AUSTIN, TexasCHAPEL HILL, N.C.NASHVILLE, Tenn.GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Arizona State’s Brady Rodgers pitched into the seventh inning and Texas committed two errors in the third to help the Sun Devils to a 3-1 victory in the opener of an NCAA super regional series Friday night.
With Sun Devils on first and second, Deven Marrero hit a grounder to pitcher Taylor Jungmann (13-2), who turned to throw to second, but neither shortstop Brandon Loy nor second baseman Jordan Etier was covering the bag, allowing Andrew Aplin to score a run.
“There were assumptions that were made that threw the timing off a little bit and as a result, and us not recovering offensively, that stood out as the separation of the two teams,” Longhorns coach Augie Garrido said. “One little thing. Those are the nuances of baseball. Those are the things that a lot of people would never recognize why they happened. We looked clumsy and it was a lack of timing. That threw the game off.”
Joey DeMichele added a double to put Arizona State up 2-0.
Rodgers (9-4) allowed eight hits in 6 2/3 innings, and Mitchell Lambson finished with a seven-out save.
“Coach calls me the silver bullet,” Lambson said. “He throws me in there any time.”
North Carolina 5, Stanford 2 Patrick Johnson pitched into the eighth inning and Seth Baldwin hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning.
Johnson allowed five hits while striking out seven in 7 2/3 innings for the Tar Heels (49-14).
Ben Bunting gave North Carolina that 1-0 margin with an RBI single in the second, then watched as Johnson frustrated Cardinal batters until Baldwin’s blast finally gave the Tar Heels some breathing room.
Stanford (35-21) got a two-run infield hit from Brian Ragira to close to within one, but the Tar Heels answered with two more runs to stay in control.
Vanderbilt 11, Oregon St. 1 Mike Yastrzemski, a grandson of former Boston Red Sox star Carl Yastrzemski, was 2-for-4 and his three-run home run in the fourth gave the Commodores (51-10) an eight-run lead.
Florida 11, Mississippi St. 1 Hudson Randall (10-3) struck out a season-high eight batters over eight innings, and the Gators (49-16) had no trouble offensively, chasing starter Evan Mitchell (6-2) after just two innings.
