Mizzou Baseball Quotes: The Day After

■ Toppers topple Tigers in Oxford (Columbia Tribune)

The Hilltoppers came in with a potent offense and lived up to expectations. Through four games, WKU has amassed 36 runs on 59 hits with 12 home runs.

“Ian wasn’t bad,” junior catcher Trevor Coleman said. “They have a bunch of Babe Ruths on that team. It’s incredible the way they come out and swing the bat. This team can hit with anybody in the nation.”

■ MU eliminated from NCAA baseball tournament (Columbia Missourian)

Missouri senior Ian Berger won’t want to remember the last pitch of his college
baseball career.

Western Kentucky outfielder Chad Cregar hit the pitch about 450 feet onto a tennis court outside of Oxford-University Stadium to help the Hilltoppers beat Missouri 11-6 on Sunday, eliminating the Tigers from the NCAA Oxford Regional.

■ Oxford Regional (Baseball America)

Western Kentucky smashed its way to a pair of wins Sunday to force a decisive game against Ole Miss on Monday. As we outlined in our regionals capsules, WKU is by far the most offensive team in this regional, and the Hilltoppers would have to ride their bats to have a chance. Right fielder Chad Cregar led the assault Sunday, going 4-for-5 with a homer and five RBIs against Missouri, then adding three more hits against Ole Miss. The Rebels actually led that game 7-1 heading into the seventh inning, but the ‘Toppers scored nine times over the next three frames against the Ole Miss bullpen. Closer Jake Morgan (0.0 IP, 5 H, 6 ER) took the brunt of it. That’s a crushing collapse for the Rebels; we’ll see if they can bounce back from it Monday

■ Stunning reversal (Clarion Ledger)

In the seventh inning here on Sunday night, all was grand in the Ole Miss baseball world. Matt Smith had just smacked a two-run homer to give the Rebels a six-run lead as the music blared and 8,377 fans rejoiced in the team's inevitable march to a fourth Super Regional in five years.

The disaster that was about to unfold was undetected.

"You don't ever see a team coming back like that," said a red-eyed Smith during a subdued postgame press conference.

But Western Kentucky did it, scoring seven runs in the final two innings to beat Ole Miss 10-9 as a shellshocked Oxford-University Stadium crowd looked on in disbelief. Slowly, the fans shuffled out of the stadium in near silence.

And many will be back today when the Rebels try to avoid what would be a nearly unbelievable collapse. Ole Miss (42-18) and Western Kentucky (42-19) will play in a winner-take-all championship game at 7 p.m.

■ Six Big 12 baseball teams eliminated (Austin American Statesman):

While Florida State was setting all kinds of NCAA baseball playoff and school records in a 37-6 romp over Ohio State, it was a lousy day for the Big 12, with top-eight national seed Oklahoma among the conference's half-dozen teams eliminated.

The Sooners were nearly no-hit, in fact, finally managing a single with one out in the ninth inning during an 11-0 thrashing by Arkansas in the Norman Regional. Texas A&M, Baylor, Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma State also were eliminated. The Aggies' loss to Oregon State was the most disappointing because many expected A&M to advance to a super regional against Texas.

Two Big 12 teams are alive — Texas and Kansas State.