Grand Canyon and Evansville put two national seeds on the brink of elimination from the NCAA regionals on Friday.
The Lopes won a game in the national tournament for the first time in program history, and the Purple Aces earned a victory in their first appearance since 2006.
Grand Canyon, the private Christian school in Phoenix that became a full Division I program in 2017-18, made the short trip to Tucson and beat No. 13 Arizona 9-4, and it was no fluke. The Lopes won two of three against the Wildcats during the regular season.
Evansville defeated No. 16 East Carolina 4-1, and the Purple Aces did so in one of the most intimidating venues in college baseball at Clark-LeClair Stadium in Greenville, North Carolina.
Grand Canyon scored seven runs in the final four innings and featured solid pitching from Grant Richardson, who worked the first six innings, and Isaac Lyon, who allowed two hits in the final three for his first save.
The Lopes went 0-2 in each of their first two NCAA appearances, in 2021 and 2022, but now find themselves as the fourth regional seed one win away from playing for a spot in the super regionals. They will play Saturday against regional third seed West Virginia, which beat Dallas Baptist.
The Purple Aces' victory had coach Wes Carroll beaming. Freshman left-hander Kenton Deverman allowed one run and three hits in eight innings and Kip Fougerousse hit his team-leading 18th home run for the Missouri Valley Conference tournament champions.
“What an incredible game for our program, for our fans and all of our alumni, the university and the people watching at home,” Carroll said. “I knew we were an older club. I knew we had a lot of talent and we would come in and handle that environment.
“For a freshman to do it, I think it was one of the most incredible performances I've seen for a Purple Ace in a baseball uniform in many, many decades.”
The 45-year-old Carroll's childhood home was minutes from the Evansville campus, he grew up watching the Aces and later he and his older brother, Jamey Carroll, a major leaguer for 12 years, played for them. The 16th-year coach said Deverman's performance, for him, reminded him of Andy Benes' 1-0 shutout of top-ranked Arizona State in the 1988 regionals for Evansville.
Next up is a surprise matchup against regional No. 3 seed VCU on Saturday for a spot in Sunday's regional final.
“I think a lot of people agreed that we were the fourth seed,” Fougerousse said. “We could have easily taken third place, but we didn't care. We're going to go out there and give it our all. MVC has great baseball. It's a deep league, it's a tough league, and I think we came out and showed a little bit of what it's like today.”
There were six wins on Friday, the most in one day of the NCAA tournament since at least 1999, according to ESPN.
Clemson, the No. 6 seed in the nation, had a close decision against High Point, winning 4-3 on Tristan Bissetta's single in the bottom of the ninth. Other finishes of the game in the ninth inning were Steven Milam's home run in LSU's 4-3 win over Wofford; Will Tippett's sacrifice fly in South Carolina's 8-7 win over James Madison; Gavin Gallaher's three-run homer in North Carolina's 11-8 win over LIU; and Caden Kendle's two-run single in UC Irvine's 13-12 win over Nicholls.
Mississippi State's big break came in the 10th when Dakota Jordan hit a three-run home run to beat St. John's 5-2.
LSU's Milam hit four home runs in 177 at-bats in the regular season. He has hit four more in his last 25, and they have been big.
The 5-foot-8 rookie switch-hitter hit two home runs in the victory for the defending national champion Tigers. He went deep from the right side in the seventh inning for LSU's first run before launching the game-winner from the left side in the ninth.
“I just did one last week, so I'm kind of used to it now,” Milam said smiling.
In fact, Milam hit two home runs in the SEC tournament, including a walk-off shot to beat South Carolina in the semifinals.
Looking at Milam, it's obvious that she wears her heart in her hair. With the help of teammate Jake Brown's girlfriend, she dyed it blonde and added purple tiger stripes, a process that took two hours.
Three of the last four teams to receive at-large bids scored wins and the fourth nearly got the job done.
Coastal Carolina, which will send coach Gary Gilmore into retirement after the season, scored all of its runs in the first three innings and got six solid innings from Riley Eikhoff in a 13-3 win over Vanderbilt. It was the fifth time this season the Commodores lost by at least 10 runs.
Indiana made quick work of Southern Mississippi, leading 8-0 in the fifth inning and collecting 17 hits in a 10-4 victory. Brock Tibbitts and Morgan Colopy each homered and combined for seven RBIs.
UCF beat Alabama 8-7, with Andrew Sundean's pinch-hit single in the top of the ninth scoring the go-ahead run.
James Madison was one out away from defeating South Carolina when Joe Vogatsky hit a batter and Cole Messina followed with a game-tying two-run home run to force extra innings. A walk and error in the bottom of the 10th set the stage for Tippett's sacrifice fly.
Seven of Oklahoma State's season-high 15 hits were doubles in a 19-7 win over Niagara. … Charlie Condon went 3-for-3 and hit his national-leading 36th home run in Georgia's 8-7 win over Army. … Jaylin Flores' third grand slam of the season highlighted a seven-run fifth inning in Texas' 12-5 win over Louisiana-Lafayette. Flores also had a slam in the regional final against Miami last year. …Bryce Boettcher's home run in the top of the 11th inning sent Oregon to a 5-4 victory over San Diego. … Ashton Wilson had three doubles and hit his first home run for Florida in a 5-2 win over Nebraska. … Bryan Arendt hit a grand slam and drove in five runs in UNC Wilmington's 9-0 win over Georgia Tech.
Tennessee's AJ Causey, who entered with one out in the first after national No. 1 starter Chris Stamos allowed a home run and a double, limited Northern Kentucky to two runs and four hits in 6⅔ innings in a 9-3 victory. . … Christian Gordon allowed two hits and struck out 13 in 7⅔ innings, and Brian Curley allowed one hit the rest of the way for VCU. … Jack Crowder allowed three hits in eight innings in Illinois' 4-1 win over Indiana State. … West Virginia's Derek Clark pitched his fourth complete game, allowing one run on four hits with eight strikeouts in a 4-1 win over Dallas Baptist. … Carson Dorsey allowed one run in 8⅔ innings in Florida State's 7-2 win over Stetson.
