Tucson Regional: Buzz Saw

Mizzou was eliminated by Louisville last night, 11-3, but the big story of the Regional was Arizona going on to their third rout out of three games played.  Zona scored 47 runs against their opponents' 8. They had 58 hits over the 3 games.

ZONA

♦ Who's Sitting Pretty: Arizona (College Baseball Today)

Have you guys stayed up late enough to watch these guys on ESPNU? Hell, to be fair, all you really have to do is look at the box scores. These guys are downright offensive. Tonight they disposed of Louisville by a 16-3 count. That means, in their three wins, the Desert Cats combined to outscore their opponents 47-10. And now, with opposite National Seed North Carolina defeated, will host another Big East team in St. John’s for next week’s best-of-three. Can you imagine the phone conversation between SJU head man Ed Blankmeyer and Louisville’s Dan McDonnell? “So Dan, got any advice for us before we go play at Arizona?”… “Ummm… pack a copy of your dental records, just so the forensics can identify you when they’re done with you.”

♦ Arizona Baseball flexes muscles in sweeping Tucson Regional (Tucson Citizen)

So this is why college baseball teams like to host regionals.

If Saturday was a carbon copy of Friday then Sunday was a facsimile of a copy. Only in this case, the reproductions were just as a sharp as the original.

15-3, 16-4, 16-3. Thanks for coming, Louisville and Missouri. Hope you got to see the new elephants at the zoo.
. . .
Arizona’s treatment of the regional’s competition made one dig deep for adequate descriptors. Devastated? Annihilated? Laid waste the sky as well as the earth?

♦ Arizona baseball defeats Louisville, moves on to super regional round (Arizona Daily Wildcat)

They say defense wins championships. That may be true, but for Arizona baseball, their smoking hot bats lifted them out of the NCAA regionals to make their first trip to the super regionals since 2008, defeating Louisville 16-3 at Hi Corbett Field.

Across their three games, Arizona outscored Missouri and Louisville 47-8 and tacked on double digit hits in every game, with 20 Friday, 23 Saturday, and “just” 15 Sunday.

MU - UofL

♦ Buh-by to Big 12 (Arizona Star Net)

Missouri's long - and, more recently, contentious - relationship with the Big 12 Conference is officially over.

Louisville defeated the Tigers 11-3 in Sunday afternoon's game, marking the final game for the last Missouri sports team still competing. The Tigers, along with Texas A&M, will formally join the Southeastern Conference July 1. Sunday's struggles also capped the Tigers' unlikely run to the postseason - they won the Big 12 Conference tournament championship last week, and managed to eliminate second-seeded New Mexico State on Saturday night.

"The run they made at the end of the season was special and I hate to see it end," Mizzou coach Tim Jamieson said.

♦ Missouri eliminated at Tucson Regional (Columbia Tribune)

Andreas Plackis put his head down and sprinted for home. He wasn't told to stop, so he kept charging.

He never had a chance.

♦ Missouri baseball season ends with loss to Louisville (Columbia Missourian)

The fact that Missouri was still playing this week was a surprise to many. Missouri qualified for the NCAA Tournament by winning the Big 12 tournament last weekend. The Tigers very likely would not have qualified if they didn't win the conference title.

Next season, the Missouri baseball team will begin play in the Southeastern Conference. Three SEC schools — Florida, South Carolina and Arkansas — won their regionals Sunday.