The second day of the super regionals round of the 2011 NCAA baseball tournament is underway and most of the morning action is complete. I say most because the Stanford Cardinal and North Carolina Tarheels find themselves in a lengthy rain delay in the top of the ninth inning. The game was stopped with two outs in the ninth and UNC leading 6-5 after Stanford rallied for three runs in the bottom of the eighth. It's 8:00pm in Chapel Hill so I'd imagine game officials will be willing to wait for a while now as long as UNC's home field has lights.
The morning got started with the Florida Gators facing the Mississippi State Bulldogs in Gainesville. Florida won game one and was looking to secure the first spot in the 2011 College World Series. However, MSU had other plans. Florida went into the bottom of the ninth leading 3-2. After Nick Maronde gave up a lead-off single, the Gators went to their bullpen and brought out Steven Rodriguez to face Nick Vickerson. On the first pitch, Vickerson hit a solid shot to left field that easily cleared the wall and gave the Bulldogs the improbable comeback victory. The two teams will square off on Sunday at 10:00am pacific on ESPN with the winner going to Omaha.
The second game of the morning featured the number one overall seeded Virginia Cavaliers hosting the UC Irvine Anteaters. UC Irvine had stunned the Los Angeles regional in rolling through with three straight wins. In Saturday's game however, Virginia had little trouble as they got a solid combination of offense and pitching to get a 6-0 victory. Jared King was the big bat on offense with a three-run homer in the sixth inning that basically put the game away. Danny Hultzen, the second overall pick in the 2011 MLB Draft, threw 5 1/3 shutout innings, which was followed by Cody Winiarski nailing the game down with 3 2/3 innings of one-hit ball. Virginia and Irvine face off Sunday at 10:00am pacific on ESPNU.
The third game of the morning featured the fifth-seeded Florida State Seminoles hosting the Texas A&M Aggies. The Aggies pulled off the road victory in game one thanks to a four-run outburst in the seventh inning. FSU led 2-1 heading into the seventh before Sean Gilmartin ran into trouble. He gave up a walk, three singles, and a double as Texas A&M was able to take control of the game. They went on to win 6-2. They face off in the second game of their series at 1:00pm pacific on ESPNU.