NCAA Super Regionals get under way

Well before the Subway Series started at Yankee Stadium on Friday evening, New York's busy baseball weekend had begun.

The St. John's Red Storm and the Stony Brook Seawolves separately played thrillers in best-of-three openers in the NCAA Division I Baseball Super Regionals, the round of 16 that determines which eight teams advance to the College World Series. And just one of those two teams actually played to completion.

The game between the Seawolves, the only bottom seed from the previous round to advance to the Super Regionals, and LSU, the No. 7 team in the nation, was suspended because of rain in a classic game that was tied at 4 after 11 innings in Baton Rouge. That came after a delay of 2 hours and 34 minutes.

"It is a heck of a tie ballgame we have right now," Stony Brook coach Matt Senk said. "I certainly have to give coach [Paul] Mainieri and the LSU club credit for being as gutsy as they were to come back in the situations they did. That being said, I thought our team did a lot of really good things today."

The game is scheduled to resume on Saturday at 11:05 a.m. ET at the start of the top of the 12th inning, with Stony Brook batting, in what effectively turns into a doubleheader. The teams' second game is scheduled to begin 50 minutes after the opener concludes.

Stony Brook led, 2-1, going to the bottom of the ninth before LSU's JaCoby Jones led off the inning with a home run to left, tying the score at 2. The teams traded solo home runs in the 10th: Stony Brook's from Steve Goldstein, LSU's from Tyler Moore. Moore's came with two outs and a full count.

Once more, the teams traded runs in the 11th. Stony Brook's Travis Jankowski beat a throw home from center on a shallow flyout in the top half, and LSU's Mason Katz, who made that throw, started the bottom of the inning with a homer.

The rain came before the start of the top of the 12th.

"I don't know Matt [Senk] all that well. He seems like a great guy," Mainieri said. "But I just think about how frustrated he probably was. They had three leads where they seemingly had the game won with quality pitchers on the mound, and we came back and tied the game.

Jankowski, taken by the Padres as the 44th overall selection in Monday's First-Year Player Draft, went 3-for-6. Going into the Draft, Jankowski was ranked No. 43 among available players by MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo.

In the Super Regional in Tucson, the Arizona Wildcats scored twice in the bottom of the 10th inning to defeat St. John's, 7-6. Trent Gilbert singled in the winning run with one out after Bobby Brown's single up the middle tied the score at 6. Sean O'Hare's RBI double had given St. John's a one-run lead in the top of the 10th.

"That's a great one to win, and a tough one to lose," Arizona coach Andy Lopez said. "I've been in this for 36 years, and I've been on both sides of that."

"We had our chances, but we left runners stranded on base, and after that five-run [fourth] inning, we couldn't do anything," St. John's coach Ed Blankmeyer said. "But you know, we'll see what tomorrow brings. That was a tough one to lose, but I think we built a little bit of character out there today. Tomorrow will test our character. We've got to come out and be ready to play."

In the Tallahassee Super Regional, the Stanford Cardinal took quite a drubbing in a 17-1 loss to the Florida State Seminoles. With Stanford leading, 1-0, after 3 1/2 innings, the Seminoles exploded for seven runs in the fourth, followed by 10 more runs in the next three innings to finish with 11 total hits on the day.

Florida State was led by second baseman Devon Travis, who had two home runs and six RBIs in the contest. Seven other players also had at least one RBI.

Such offensive brilliance didn't bode well for Stanford starter Mark Appel, the No. 8 overall pick by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 2012 First-Year Player Draft, who had his worst start of the season.

In all, Appel gave up seven runs (five earned) on five hits in four innings of work. He also walked four and hit two batters for just his second loss of the season. Before the Draft, Appel was ranked No. 2 among available players by MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo.

"That one inning did us in," Stanford coach Mark Marquess said. "Mark has been so consistent for us for two years. He lost his command a little bit. It just got away from us."

In the last game of the night between TCU and UCLA in the Los Angeles Super Regional, a three-run double by Cody Regis in the bottom of the sixth secured a 6-2 victory for the Bruins.

"Coach [Rex] Peters said to look for something out over the plate, and I got it," said Regis, who also made a spectacular catch late in the game in left field.

Adam Plutko also held TCU to just two runs on seven hits, helping the Bruins to their eighth consecutive victory and 15th win in their last 16 games.

Friday's scores
Stony Brook 4, LSU 4 (Suspended in top of the 12th)
Arizona 7, St. John's 6 (10 innings)
Stanford 1, Florida State 17
TCU 2, UCLA 6

Saturday's schedule (All times ET)
Stony Brook at No. 7 LSU, Game 1 continuation, 11:05 a.m.
No. 7 LSU at Stony Brook, Game 2, 50 minutes after Game 1 conclusion
North Carolina State at No. 1 Florida, 2 p.m.
St. John's at Arizona, 3 p.m.
Arkansas at No. 4 Baylor, 5 p.m.
Stanford at No. 3 Florida State, 6 p.m.
Oklahoma at No. 8 South Carolina, 8 p.m.
TCU at No. 2 UCLA, 9 p.m.
Kent State at No. 5 Oregon, 11 p.m.

Sunday's schedule (All times ET)
North Carolina State at No. 1 Florida, 1 p.m.
Stony Brook at No. 7 LSU (if necessary), 1 p.m.
Arkansas at No. 4 Baylor, 4 p.m.
St. John's at Arizona (if necessary), 4 p.m.
Stanford at No. 3 Florida State (if necessary), 7 p.m.
Oklahoma at No. 8 South Carolina, 7 p.m.
TCU at No. 2 UCLA (if necessary), 10 p.m.
Kent State at No. 5 Oregon, 10 p.m.

Monday's schedule (All times ET)
North Carolina State at No. 1 Florida (if necessary), 1 p.m.
Arkansas at No. 4 Baylor (if necessary), 4 p.m.
Oklahoma at No. 8 South Carolina (if necessary), 7 p.m.
Kent State at No. 5 Oregon (if necessary), 7 p.m.