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Big 12 shows strength with four berths in super regionals

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Turns out the Big 12 baseball coaches who puffed their chests over being the No. 2-rated RPI conference were selling themselves short.

No league was so dominant during the opening weekend of the NCAA tournament, where the Big 12 advanced four teams to the super regionals. With Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas and Texas Tech moving on, the league landed a quarter of the Sweet 16. The SEC and ACC advanced only two teams, and the Pac-12 has only one team standing.

Texas Tech, one of the nation’s top home teams, carried its magic on the road by twice stunning Miami in Coral Gables.

Texas beat regional host Rice and, even more satisfyingly, took two of three from Texas A&M.

Oklahoma State won its Stillwater regional by holding off Cal State Fullerton, and TCU held serve in Fort Worth, though it needed a 22-inning win over Sam Houston State to do so. That marked the second-longest game in NCAA tournament history.

The only Big 12 team that didn’t survive the weekend was Kansas, which finished third the Louisville regional.

West Virginia, of course, narrowly missed the field of 64. Here’s a look at how the Mountaineers fared this season against teams headed to the super regionals:

Date Opponent Final
Feb. 14
vs. Louisville
L, 7-6 (10)
April 4
at TCU L, 4-3
April 5
at TCU L, 8-0
April 6
at TCU L, 3-1
April 11
vs. Okla State L, 6-0
April 12
vs. Okla State L, 9-2
April 13
vs. Okla State L, 4-7
April 22
vs. Maryland W, 14-2
May 2
vs. Texas W, 5-3
May 3 vs. Texas L, 2-0
May 4
vs. Texas W, 12-6
May 13
at Maryland L, 4-2
May 16
at Texas Tech L, 4-3 (11)
May 17
at Texas Tech L, 3-2
May 18
at Texas Tech L, 4-0

 

Thanks to a spate of upsets, the super regionals lineup finds all four Big 12 teams hosting: Texas vs. Houston, TCU welcoming Pepperdine, Oklahoma State vs. UC-Irvine and Texas Tech against College of Charleston.







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