Saturday College Baseball Top-50 Scoreboard/Wrapup (5/21/11)

Saturday was an action-packed day throughout college baseball, with many teams wrapping up their regular seasons while numerous conference races were decided. It also was another good day for the underdogs, as the unranked/lower-ranked teams won 41% of the games involving CB360 top-50 teams (16-23).  front-page photo courtesy of Arkansas

Six teams – #15 Clemson, #37 LSU, #45 Baylor, Belmont, Texas Arlington and Tennessee – all completed series upsets on Saturday (see below).

Here’s a rundown of Saturday’s 16 top-50 upsets and other key results (an assortment of postgame links and photos follow below):

• at #9 North Carolina 3, #1 Virginia 2 … UNC allowed only four runs in this impressive series sweep, giving the Heels a strong shot at a top-8 national seed in the NCAAs (it will be interesting to see what seed UVa draws, pending the ACC Tournament results)

• #2 Florida (19-3 vs. Kentucky), #3 South Carolina (3-2 at #38 Alabama) and #4 Vanderbilt (17-7 at #42 Georgia) all won their series-deciding games on Saturday to fittingly finish in a three-way tie for the SEC EAST title

• #15 Clemson 8, at #5 Florida State 5 … FSU earlier had clinched the ACC Atlantic Division title but 2nd-place Clemson won this series and stayed firmly in the running to host an NCAA Regional

• #11 Texas A&M 3, at #6 Texas 0 … This game also produced co-champions (Big 12), as the Aggies cashed in Ross Stripling’s complete game and Andrew Collazo’s 3-run triple in the 9th (the Longhorns already had won the series)

• USC 8, at #7 Oregon State 3 … The Trojans have turned in numerous upsets this season but still are several games under .500 … series finale on Sunday, as Beavers hope to stay in the running for top-8 national seed

• #10 Georgia Tech 5, at Virginia Tech 3 … GT caught Virginia to earn share of ACC Coastal Division title

• at #45 Baylor 3, #14 Oklahoma 2 … Surging Bears won series while boosting their NCAA resume

• at #16 Southern Mississippi 7, #17 Rice 3 …  Eagles salvaged final game of series (will be interesting how things play out in CUSA Tournament and NCAA seedings for these teams)

• at Cal State Bakersfield 5, #18 Fresno State 2 … Roadrunners clinched series but may be too late to make NCAA run (entered week with #83 RPI, after going 3-13 in previous 16), Bulldogs slump continued and may have lost Regional host spot

• #19 Arkansas swept DH from #48 Mississippi (2-0; 5-3) … Razorbacks entered day in logjam for SEC Tournament spots but ended up SEC West champs (Rebs were odd-team out and now hope for NCAA at-large spot)

• Belmont 11, at #20 Stetson 5 … Series-clinching win landed Bruins in A-Sun Tournament (Hatters slide over past month continued)

• at Cincinnati 7, #22 Connecticut 4 … Bearcats earned spot in BIG EAST Tournament (Huskies locked up league title last week)

• at #23 Florida International 7, Florida Atlantic 3 and #36 Troy 10, at South Alabama 7 … these series-clinchers left Trojans with Sun Belt regular-season title, by narrow margin (21-9 to 20-9-1)

• at Texas Tech 11, #26 Oklahoma State 7 (series tied) … Raiders secured spot in Big 12 Tournament and kept NCAA hopes alive; Cowboys (recent hopeful for NCAA hosting spot) have lost 4-of-5 over past two weekends

• at #29 UCLA 2, #28 California 1 (series tied) … Technically an upset based on the CB360 Composite National Rankings, but Bruins were at home and Trevor Bauer was on the mound (CG-5H-BB-8K)

• Akron 13, at #31 Kent State 4 … Flashes already had clinched series, now focusing on MAC Tournament (likely need to win it to make NCAAs)

• #37 LSU 6, at #32 Mississippi State 3 … Tigers ended up missing SEC Tournament while Bulldogs snuck in

• at Texas-Arlington 9, #34 Texas State 6 … Mavericks won series but missed Southland Tournament (Bobcats won league regular-season title a week ago)

• at Tennessee 4, #36 Auburn 3 (series-clinch) … Tigers now are only two games above .500 and need one win at SEC Tournament to be NCAA at-large eligible

• Charlotte 8, at #46 Dallas Baptist 2 … Patriots won earlier in day to clinch series and boost their NCAA at-large resume (49ers, with #91 RPI entering week, need to win A-10 Tournament to reach NCAAs)

• at Pepperdine 3, #50 Gonzaga 0 (series tied) … Zags need to win Sunday to force tie with San Francisco atop WCC (those teams play next weekend, series winner gets NCAA automatic bid)

Saturday’s only idle top-50 teams were #12 Cal State Fullerton and #40 Elon, which finished its series vs. Furman on Friday.

All photos on this page are courtesy of the respective schools.

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