College World Series

STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi State says head baseball coach Chris Lemonis has signed a long-term contract extension, less than a month after guiding the Bulldogs to their first College World Series national championship.

NEW YORK (AP) — The Pittsburgh Pirates will lead off the Major League Baseball draft for the fifth time, and first since they took pitcher Gerrit Cole in 2011.

Here's a capsule look at some of the top players expected to go early when the draft begins Sunday night in Denver:

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — It was minutes after Mississippi State was eliminated from the 2019 College World Series when Jake Mangum turned to first-year coach Chris Lemonis at the postgame news conference and made a prediction.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Mississippi State's first national championship had been building since 1985, when “Thunder and Lightning” — Will Clark and Rafael Palmeiro — were the stars on what's known as the best team to not win a College World Series.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Mississippi State's first three wins in the College World Series were one-run games. The Bulldogs' fourth was a blowout, and it was well-timed.

Houston Harding and Preston Johnson combined on a four-hitter and MSU capitalized on struggling Vanderbilt pitching in a 13-2 victory Tuesday night that forced a deciding third game in the College World Series finals.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Vanderbilt athletic director Candice Storey Lee on Tuesday condemned the use of racially offensive language directed at some of the parents of the Commodores players during Game 1 of the College World Series finals.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Mississippi State had the crowd. Vanderbilt had a big lead and Jack Leiter on the mound, and that was plenty Monday night.

The Commodores rode a seven-run first inning to an 8-2 victory in Game 1 of the College World Series finals to move within a win of a second straight national championship.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Awkward is the only way to describe Vanderbilt's appearance in the all-SEC College World Series finals beginning Monday night against Mississippi State.

The Commodores were supposed to play North Carolina State in a winner-take-all bracket final Saturday and found out 12 hours before the the start the Wolfpack had been removed from the tournament because of COVID-19 protocols.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Tanner Leggett's first hit in more than a month was the biggest of the season for Mississippi State.

Leggett's single in the bottom of the ninth inning scored the tiebreaking run, and the Bulldogs advanced to the College World Series finals with a 4-3 victory over Texas on Saturday night.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — North Carolina State baseball players who were one win away from playing for a national championship reacted with anger and confusion to their team's removal from the College World Series because of COVID-19 protocols.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Vanderbilt will advance to the College World Series finals after North Carolina State was forced to drop out because of COVID-19 protocols, the NCAA announced early Saturday.

NC State had only 13 players available during its 3-1 loss to the Commodores on Friday.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Ivan Melendez hit a tie-breaking three-run homer in the ninth inning, and Texas forced a second bracket final against Mississippi State with an 8-5 College World Series victory in a game that ended early Saturday after a lengthy rain delay.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — With half his roster unavailable because of COVID-19 issues, North Carolina State coach Elliott Avent gave his remaining players two choices before their College World Series game against Vanderbilt on Friday.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Newly hired LSU baseball coach Jay Johnson calls his move from Arizona to the Tigers “the opportunity of my lifetime.”

Johnson was formally named on Friday to the position held for the past 15 years by recently retired coach Paul Mainieri.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Ivan Melendez and Zach Zubia finally broke out offensively, and just in time to keep Texas alive in the College World Series.

Melendez doubled and scored the Longhorns' first run, and hit the tiebreaking single in the eighth inning to help Texas eliminate Virginia with a 6-2 victory in a weather-delayed game that ended early Friday.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Enrique Bradfield Jr. enjoyed the view from second base as the biggest play of the season unfolded for Vanderbilt.

Bradfield had just driven in the tying run against Stanford, and what happened next was nearly unimaginable for a Commodores team that had played from behind all game.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Once Kellum Clark got that first hit, Mississippi State was on its way to another College World Series win.

Clark’s eighth-inning homer ended Griff McGarry’s bid for a no-hitter, and Logan Tanner went deep three batters later to lead the Bulldogs past Virginia 6-5 on Tuesday night.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Freshman nerves? Apparently there's no such thing to Texas relief pitcher Tanner Witt.

With the Longhorns in an elimination game at the College World Series and Tennessee on the verge of a big inning in a one-run game, Witt got the call with two runners on base and one out.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — North Carolina State's postseason just keeps getting better.

The Wolfpack beat SEC pitcher of the year Kevin Kopps of Arkansas to win their regional, beat the Pac-12 pitcher of the year Brendan Beck of Stanford in their College World Series opener, and Monday night they beat projected top-five draft pick Jack Leiter.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Brock Jones homered, doubled and drove in five runs to lead one of Stanford's most productive offensive performances of the season in a 14-5 victory over Arizona in a College World Series elimination game Monday.

As Will Bednar's strikeout total kept climbing, it seemed everybody at TD Ameritrade Park was keeping track.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Logan Michaels gave his dad one of the greatest Father's Day gifts imaginable Sunday.

In his first College World Series at-bat, the light-hitting catcher for Virginia homered for the first time this season.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Jonny Butler homered and drove in a career-high five runs, Reid Johnston pitched six strong innings and North Carolina State opened the College World Series with a 10-4 victory over Stanford on Saturday.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Vanderbilt made it to Omaha with a young team, one almost entirely different from the one that won the national championship here in 2019.

It was one of the Commodores' old hands, though, who got them off to a winning start at the College World Series this year.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Texas is making its record 37th appearance in the College World Series and, unlike the last time it was here in 2018, coach David Pierce believes this team has the makings to be national champion.

North Carolina State and Virginia both emerged from big early season holes to make unexpected College World Series pushes. Now they’re the latest Atlantic Coast Conference teams trying to reverse a traditionally strong league’s curious inability to win the national championship.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A showdown between Tennessee and Vanderbilt at the College World Series with a national championship on the line would have all the emotions of their rivalry bubbling up like a family brawl.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Home runs — lots and lots of them — have defined the NCAA baseball tournament so far.

A total of 381 have been hit in 123 games, the highest total through super regionals since at least 2005.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A look at the eight teams competing in the College World Series, which starts Saturday at TD Ameritrade Park. (Capsules in order of CWS opening games. Coaches’ records through super regionals):

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Former big league pitcher Kirk Saarloos was named TCU's new head baseball coach Tuesday after nine seasons as the team's pitching coach that included four consecutive trips to the College World Series.

Virginia and Mississippi State won Game 3s in their super regionals Monday and became the last two teams to clinch spots in the College World Series.

The Cavaliers staved off elimination for the sixth time in eight NCAA Tournament games, beating Dallas Baptist 5-2 in Columbia, South Carolina.

STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) — Logan Tanner hit a three-run homer to cap a six-run second inning and Mississippi State advanced to its third straight College World Series with an 11-7 victory over Notre Dame on Monday night in the Starkville Super Regional.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Kyle Teel hit a grand slam in the seventh for Virginia's first lead and the Cavaliers clinched their fifth trip to the College World Series with a 5-2 victory over Dallas Baptist on Monday.

North Carolina State, Texas, Tennessee and Arizona locked up spots in the College World Series on Sunday, with the Wolfpack knocking out No. 1 national seed Arkansas.

Two days after losing its NCAA super regional opener by 19 runs, Jose Torres hit a tiebreaking home run in the top of the ninth inning off SEC pitcher of the year Kevin Kopps and NC State beat the Razorbacks 3-2 in the deciding Game 3.

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Branden Boissiere went 4-for-6 with two doubles, driving in five runs and scoring three, and No. 5 seed Arizona pounded out 20 hits to roll to a 16-3 victory over No. 12 seed Mississippi in the rubber game of the Tucson Super Regional on Sunday, earning the Wildcats a trip to the College World Series.

STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) — No. 9 hitter David LaManna hit a three-run home run to cap a four-run fourth inning, catapulting No. 10 overall seed Notre Dame to a 9-1 victory over No. 7 seed Mississippi State in the Starkville Super Regional on Sunday, setting up a one-game showdown for a berth in the College World Series.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) — North Carolina State freshman shortstop Jose Torres hit a shot heard 'round the college baseball world on Sunday, homering off Arkansas' likely Golden Spikes Award winner Kevin Kopps leading off the top of the ninth inning, as the Wolfpack (34-12) stunned the top-seeded and top-ranked Razorbacks 3-2 to earn a berth in the College World Series.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Jake Rucker hit two home runs in Game 2 of the Nashville Super Regional, and No. 3 national seed Tennessee advanced to the College World Series with a 15-6 win over LSU, concluding the career of Tigers coach Paul Mainieri on Sunday.

Reigning national champion Vanderbilt and Stanford swept their NCAA super regionals Saturday and became the first teams to lock up spots in the College World Series.

Jack Leiter gave Vanderbilt another stellar pitching performance in a 4-1 win over East Carolina to send the Commodores to the CWS in Omaha, Nebraska, for the fifth time since 2011.