Tucson Regional: "A Good Old Fashioned Butt-Kicking"

The Tigers play New Mexico State at 6PM CT. Like last night, the game will be live on ESPNU, ESPN3 and KTGR 1580 AM and KTGR.com.  Unlike last night, it will be easier to stay awake for the whole game.

And hopefully that's not the only way today's game will be unlike last night.

UofA 15, MU 3

How many different ways can you say "blowout"?  Apparently a lot:

♦ The Columbia Missoruian emphasizes the positive with Missouri trounced by Arizona 15-3, one loss away from elimination

Missouri’s euphoria of a five-game winning streak is gone and its improbable run through the Big 12 tournament is an afterthought.

♦ The Columbia Tribune goes with a just-the-facts-ma'am Tigers drop opener of Tucson Regional

“I didn't expect them to hit that many” balls in the gap, Blake Brown said. “The first few innings, they hit a lot of ground balls to start off with. I started shading in a little bit because they weren't putting balls over our heads. Right when that happened, they started hitting the gap.”

♦ AZCentral.com adds Arizona Wildcats baseball opens regional with rout of Missouri and then gets into the down and dirty of why:

Arizona has a unique advantage, and it's not just the 100-degree heat that's been beating down on Mizzou, New Mexico State and Louisville over the last two days.

Hi Corbett's infield is rock hard and its outfield so large -- 410 feet to left-center field, 405 to right-center -- that it behooves them to hit the ball on the ground. Their first nine hits Friday were singles; three of them were infield hits.

♦ AZStar Net (which seems to be sort of the same thing as AZCentral, above) gets more colorful: Wildcats seize the mo while Mo. seizes up

♦ Sticking with the theme, the Tucson Citizen says Home field helps Arizona cruise past Missouri in NCAA regional opener

So, this is why Arizona Wildcats coach Andy Lopez wanted to play home games in the postseason.

The Wildcats bounced some key hits off their rock-hard infield and sprayed liners all over the outfield, where Missouri miscalculated by often playing too shallow in spacious Hi Corbett Field.

Meanwhile, pitching ace Kurt Heyer would have been dominant anywhere.

The Tucson Citizen also has available the Live Blog from last night's game, in case you wan to relieve the experience

♦ Fox Sports Midwest goes with the "R" word as well in UA routs Missouri in NCAA tournament opener, but I like Coach J's terminology better:

The Wildcats turned the game into a hit parade midway through and finished with three doubles, three triples and 20 hits. It was their most since setting a season high with 27 hits against East Tennessee State on April 29 in a 21-6 win, and it was Missouri's biggest loss since a 15-1 blowout against Indiana State in early March.

“It was a good old-fashioned butt kicking,’’ said Tigers coach Tim Jamieson.

LOUISVILLE 3, NEW MEXICO STATE 2

♦ Card Chronicle chalks it up to pitching with Tingle shines in 3-2 win over New Mexico State

♦ Fox Sports Arizona points out it was a close game in NMSU comes up just short in NCAA opener

"It was a well-played game from a pitching standpoint," NMSU head coach Rocky Ward said. "Their ball landed down the left-field line and ours didn't. Our pitching staff did a good job and gave us a chance to save pitching, while keeping us in the game and giving us a chance to win the game late."

♦ The El Paso Times, the closest big city newspaper to NMSU, says Louisville comes back, beats Aggies

When the Aggies had a chance to deliver a knockout blow on Louisville starting pitcher Justin Amlung on Friday, he managed to scoot away from danger.

In turn, the Cardinals came back from a 2-0 deficit in an NCAA Regional game to win 3-2 over New Mexico State -- in a game the Aggies could have won, but didn't.