LSU, Fresno State are final two in College World Series
The two remaining super regionals wrapped up Monday night, as LSU and Fresno State will join Miami (Fla.), Georgia, Stanford, Florida State, North Carolina and Rice in the 2008 College World Series.
Here's a wrap-up of Monday's super regional finales:
LSU blows out UC Irvine
LSU exploded for six runs and never let UC Irvine even think about a late rally, blowing out the Anteaters 21-7 to earn a trip to the College World Series.
LSU came back from the dead in Sunday's second game, and that momentum carried over into the start of Monday's game. Ryan Schimpf hit a pair of home runs and had five RBI's, and Blake Dean went 5-for-5 with a home run and three RBI's to highlight the Tiger explosion.
Jordan Brown got the win in relief for LSU, which played its last game in its old Alex Box Stadium to a record crowd of 8,173.
Bulldogs pull off historical upset
Fresno State made history Monday night, becoming the first No. 4 seed from a regional to advance to the College World Series.
It wasn't easy, though -- the Bulldogs saw a seven-run lead trimmed to the point where Matt Newman came to the plate as the winning run, and Fresno State got out of the bases-loaded jam to win 12-9 and earn a trip to the College World Series.
Newman hit a pair of home runs for the Sun Devils, the second giving Arizona State a 5-4 lead in the fifth. Fresno State tied the game in the sixth, then exploded for six runs in the seventh, capped by a bases-clearing double by Erik Wetzel and a two-run bomb by Steve Susdorf, to take a seemingly-insurmountable 12-5 advantage into the ninth.
The Sun Devils rallied, but it wasn't enough as they lost a regional series at home for the first time since 2001.
The 2008 College World Series gets underway Saturday, June 14 with opening-round games in the double-elimination tournament Saturday and Sunday. First-round games and start times (times are Central) are as follows:
Saturday, June 15 -- GAME 1: Stanford (39-22-2) vs. Florida State (54-12), 1 p.m.; GAME 2: Miami Fla. (52-9) vs. Georgia (41-23-1), 6 p.m.
Sunday, June 16 -- GAME 3: North Carolina (51-12) vs. LSU (48-17-1), 1 p.m.; GAME 4: Rice (47-13) vs. Fresno State (42-29), 6 p.m.
You can order your College World Series tickets now at Ticket Express -- where no College World Series game is ever sold out.