NCAA baseball: Sam Houston State reaches super regional for first time
Sam Houston State had made it to the NCAA baseball regional finals three times and lost each time.
On Monday, the Bearkats broke through.
Seeded third in the Lubbock Regional, Sam Houston State beat No. 5 national seed Texas Tech 4-3 for its second win in two days over the Red Raiders.
“We played this whole week like we were not afraid to lose,” catcher Robie Rojas said. “We knew no matter what we loved each other and we’ve had a great run. So when you play (without) the fear of … crashing and burning, you’re going to do things like this.”
Also clinching regionals Monday were No. 3 national seed Florida, No. 6 TCU, Vanderbilt, Missouri State, Florida State and Texas A&M. No. 1 national seed Oregon State, No. 4 LSU and No. 7 Louisville wrapped up regionals Sunday along with Davidson and Wake Forest. Cal State Fullerton won Saturday.
Sam Houston State is the second surprise team to move on in the NCAA Tournament, joining No. 4 regional seed Davidson, which knocked out No. 2 national seed North Carolina.
Sam Houston State is in the national tournament for the 11th time, getting an automatic bid as Southland Conference Tournament champion.
The Bearkats from Huntsville, Texas, had to beat 2016 national runner-up Arizona twice and Texas Tech twice to advance to super regionals.
“I’ve been talking about us being a David in a land full of Goliaths,” third-year coach Matt Deggs said.
The Bearkats’ winning run was unearned, coming after Tech second baseman Brian Klein threw wildly to first on Lance Miles’ grounder. That allowed Hunter Hearn to score from first.
Sam Houston State used 11 pitchers in the regional, five on Monday. Riley Cooper pitched 4 2/3 innings of relief for the win and Nick Mikolajchak worked the ninth for his 13th save.
The Bearkats also went to regional finals in 2007, 2012 and 2014. Their current run came after they beat nine teams in the regular season that made the NCAA Tournament, including Houston three times and Texas A&M.
“We talked all week leading up to this that it’s only impossible until somebody does it. Once somebody does it, it’s not impossible,” Deggs said. “This is the first team in Sam Houston State history that’s ever advanced to the Super Regional, and first team out of the Southland Conference to advance to the super regional, and we’re very proud to represent that conference.”