Louisville Regional

Covered by Rhys White

Max Galvin, LF Miami

3-for-5, 2 2B

Not a productive day for the Miami Hurricanes. Perhaps it is their jerseys, who knows? However, the redshirt junior has been a steadying force at the top of the lineup, hitting .301 on the season. Unfortunately, his two doubles were not enough to get anything going, as the Hurricanes dropped an important game. The orange and green combination is quite striking.

Patrick Forbes, RHP Louisville

5.2 IP, 4 H, R (ER), 4 BB, 9 K 

A 5-foot release height with a fastball that gets up to 98 mph with around 17 inches of induced vertical break—yeah, baby, that is the good stuff with Patrick Forbes. Forbes’s breaking stuff is also really good. I would take him at or around 20 if I were ever asked to take over a front office. Forbes garnered himself a standing ovation after pitching his heart out, as he was changing eye levels all night, and he mixed in his really good sweeper for good measure as well. That fastball might be plus, even teetering on plus-plus if you catch him on the right night.

Jake Munroe, 3B Louisville

2-for-3, 2 HR, 2 R, 5 RBI 

Have yourself a day, Jake Munroe, with a double-dong. The first went to the deepest part of the ballpark, and then the second one to his pull-side. Munroe is currently hitting .338/.455/.560 on the season as he is willing this Louisville squad to Omaha. Munroe is hitting his way up draft boards as he is a favorite hitting prospect.

Auburn Super Regional

Covered by Jake Bargery

Blagen Pado, Coastal Carolina RF - 5 AB, 2 R, 2 H, 4 RBI, 2 HR

Caden Bodine, Coastal Carolina C - 5 AB, 2 R, 3 H, 3 RBI, 2 HR

This game was defined by the long ball, especially for the Chanticleers. After a scoreless top of the first, Blagen Pado got things started for Coastal with a solo shot in the second, tying the game at one. In the third, Caden Bodine got a solo shot of his own, putting his team on top, 2-1. In the top of the fourth with the same score, Blake Barthol and Colby Thorndyke both reached on a pair of singles just before Pado left the yard for the second time of the game, giving Auburn a devastating blow and extending the Coastal lead to 4. Later in the inning, Bodine picked up another RBI on a single to make the score 6-1. Finally, in the top of the tenth following an Auburn massive comeback that we’ll talk about a bit more later, Bodine hit his second homer of the game to take the lead back. That was all they needed as they closed the door in extras and took game one from the Tigers.

Eric Snow, Auburn 3B - 4 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 HR

On the Auburn side of offense, Eric Snow came through in the clutch to send the game to extras. After all that excitement I just mentioned with Bodine and Pado, the Tigers found themselves down 6-2 after the fourth inning. Auburn showed a ton of fight and got themselves back in the game following a long rain delay and Snow delivered the game tying blow in the bottom of the seventh with a massive two-out home run; and that was where the score stood going into extras. We know how it ended, but Auburn wouldn’t have been in a situation to win had Snow not come through in the biggest of spots. 

Cameron Flukey, Coastal Carolina RHP - 5 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 4 K (96 Pitches), ND

Cameron Flukey battled through his entire outing. He gave up a run in the first, but his team responded. After that, he kept Auburn off the scoreboard for the next two innings, despite letting guys reach on a couple hits and walks. He gave up runs in the fourth and fifth on a sac fly and an inevitable Ike Irish home run, but kept his team in the game and pitched well off of what his offense was giving him. Obviously, the game went into extras, but that Auburn offense is capable of putting up big numbers and Flukey did a great job minimizing the damage and working around trouble all game. 

Griffin Graves, Auburn LHP - 3 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K (50 Pitches), ND

The last name I wanted to mention was Griffin Graves. He was absolutely electric out of the pen for the Tigers. The crowd seemed more excited to see him strike out batter after batter following the rain delay than they were watching their offense score runs and come back. The only hitter he allowed to reach in his three innings of work reached on an error and basically went nowhere after that. Graves kept his team alive while they were coming back, brought some much needed energy to the stadium that had been waiting for the weather to go away, and put a stop to the Coastal offense who had a chance to run away with the game. Awesome performance from Griffin Graves.

Corvallis Regional

By Adam Kiel

Joey Volini, LHP Florida State - 6.2 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 8 K (104 pitches) 

The Redshirt Junior transfer had one of the best starts of his career at the correct time. He didn’t allow a baserunner until the third inning when he gave up a leadoff single. No harm done however thanks to Chase Williams throwing out Tyce Peterson at home. More traffic in the fourth inning thanks to Arquette’s leadoff single. Aiva eventually came home scoring off Wilson Weber’s first of two doubles in the game. After the fourth, Volini had himself a really smooth outing, only allowing 3 more baserunners two of which off bunt singles. A solid performance that was unfortunately not enough to get FSU the much needed 1-0 start to the series. 

Dax Whitney, RHP Oregon State - 4.2 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 10 K (98 pitches) 

What was not the most efficient outing, was still extremely good. Dax struck out *half* of the batters he faced. His outing was unfortunately filled with great at bats by Florida State just wasting pitch after pitch. Dax was unable to get outs quickly in the first two innings, every at bat was a battle except for two, unfortunately those came back to back in the second inning when James Hankerson Jr, hit a single up the middle and was followed by Hunter Carns who pounced on the first pitch for an RBI double. Dax probably owes Aiva and Canon Reeder a legal beverage of their choice for an exquisite relay to throw Hankerson out at home to end the second inning and keep the score just 1-0. Dax had a rough start to the third inning allowing back-to-back singles to Gage Harrelson and Alex Lodise but he proceeded to sit the next seven batters in order before striking Alex Lodise out and then getting pulled. The 2027 draft prospect is only continuing to make a good name for himself and will be one of the more anticipated prospects in that cycle. 

Chapel Hill Regional

By Harris Yuden

Hunter Stokely, 1B, North Carolina- 4 AB, 2 R, 3 H, 5 RBI, 1 HR

Luke Stevenson, C, North Carolina- 5 AB, 2 R, 2 H, 2 RBI, 1 HR

Gavin Gallaher, 3B, North Carolina- 5 AB, 3 R, 4 H, 2 RBI

Kane Kepley, OF, North Carolina- 5 AB, 4 R, 3 H, 1 RBI, 1 HR, 1 SB

I could honestly find something to write about everyone in Carolina’s lineup, but we’ll focus on just a few key performers.

Stokely, hitting fifth, put the Heels up 5-1 before Arizona’s Owen Kramkowski could record an out. He took a hanging breaking ball and crushed it over the trees in right. It was just his second homer since the start of May, but it was a big one. He later added to Carolina’s lead with RBI singles in the fourth and eighth, and even knocked in a run getting hit by a pitch in the sixth.

Stevenson was the second Tar Heel to deliver a big blow. After singling in Carolina’s first of the game in the first, he broke the game open with a three-run shot in the second. He jumped on a fastball up in the zone and knocked Kramkowski out of the game. The Tar Heel catcher recorded just one hit in the regional, but he came alive in the first game of Supers. His four RBI tied a season high.