No. 12 Virginia baseball team beats Mississippi State in walk-off fashion, takes control of Charlottesville Regional

Harrison Didawick of Chesapeake hit a leadoff double in the bottom of the ninth and later scored to give Virginia a 5-4 victory over Mississippi State on Saturday night in the Charlottesville Regional.

Virginia (43-15), the No. 12 national seed in the NCAA Tournament, will play the St. John’s-Mississippi State winner in the regional finals. The Cavaliers will have two chances to defeat the Red Storm or Bulldogs, starting at 6 p.m. Sunday. St. John’s and MSU will play an elimination game at noon Sunday.

Bobby Whalen, who was 0 for 6 in the regional, hit a ground ball up the middle that bounced off second baseman Amani Larry’s chest. Didawick, a Western Branch High graduate who had advanced to third on a fielder’s choice, scored the game winner standing up.

Eric Becker hit a two-run triple in the second and a tying two-run single in the seventh for the Cavaliers.

Mississippi State (39-22) took a 3-2 lead in the third with Hunter Hines’ three-run home run. In the fourth, Bryce Chance hit a single, stole third and scored on a throwing error to make it 4-2.

UVA starter Evan Blanco went six innings, giving up four runs on eight hits and struck out seven. Jurrangelo Cijntje pitched seven innings for the Bulldogs, allowing four runs on seven hits with five strikeouts. Cijntje is a rare ambidextrous pitcher, but he stuck as a right-hander through his outing.

St. John’s 10, Penn 9 (12 innings): Anthony Brienza’s two-strike, two-out single in the bottom of the 12th inning eliminated the Quakers (24-25).

Luke Orbon drew a two-out walk, stole second and scored on Brienza’s single to center field, advancing the Red Storm to a matchup at noon Sunday against Mississippi State.

St. John’s ((38-17-1) led 6-2 before Penn scored seven unearned runs in the seventh inning to take a 9-6 lead. The Red Storm fought back with a two-run home run by Jackson Tucker in the eighth and a tying home run by Jimmy Keenan in the ninth.

Raleigh Regional

James Madison 8, Bryant 1: Hunter Entsminger and three relievers scattered eight hits as JMU won an elimination game.

JMU (35-24), in its first NCAA regional since 2011, bounced back from a disheartening 10-inning defeat to South Carolina to eliminate the Bulldogs (36-21) from Smithfield, Rhode Island. The Dukes will play another elimination game Sunday against the Gamecocks.

Entsminger found out about 20 minutes before the game that he’d be making his first start of the season. threw 5 2/3 innings, allowing four hits and no runs. He struck out seven without any walks. Jackson Logar, Joe Vogatsky and Sean Culkin finished. In all, JMU’s four pitchers struck out nine and walked one.

JMU junior Fenwick Trimble, a Cox High graduate, doubled in classmate Ryan Dooley in the first inning before scoring on Jason Schiavone’s single. The double marked Trimble’s 20th of the season, becoming the second Duke to ever post back-to-back 20-double seasons.

JMU’s Mason Dunaway, from Hickory High, was 1 for 2 with a walk, a sacrifice bunt and an RBI.

North Carolina State 6, South Carolina 4: Eli Serrano III and Garrett Pennington combined for five runs, five hits, and three home runs to lead the Wolfpack.

N.C. State (35-20), the No. 10 national seed, improved to 2-0 in the tournament. Serrano finished 3 for 5. Pennington hit two early home runs and later was walked twice.

Dylan Brewer hit two home runs for South Carolina (37-24).

Serrano singled and eventually scored in the seventh.

Matt Heavner led off the eighth for the Wolfpack with a bunt single and advanced to second on Serrano’s groundout. Pennington was intentionally walked, and Heavner scored on a throwing error by catcher Dalton Reeves to end the scoring.

Greenville Regional

Evansville 17, VCU 11: Brent Widder’s grand slam was one of four home runs for Evansville, and the Purple Aces reached the championship round of the Greenville Regional with a wild victory over the Rams.

Evansville (37-21) needs one win to take a regional championship trophy back to Indiana. VCU (38-22) will play an elimination game against regional host East Carolina (44-16) on Sunday, and Evansville will play the winner later in the day.

The Purple Aces led 13-0 through their half of the fifth inning, thanks in large part to a seven-run fifth that included Widder’s grand slam and a two-run homer from Cal McGinnis.

However, VCU got a two-run home run from Casey Kleinman and a solo shot from Chris McHugh in the bottom of the fifth, igniting a three-inning rally that would eventually put the tying run on deck in the seventh inning.

The Rams trailed 15-5 when they came to bat in the seventh, then they loaded the bases with two outs. Eli Weisner scored on a third-strike wild pitch, and the bases remained loaded for William Bean, who belted a grand slam.

Now trailing 15-10, VCU loaded the bases again, but Weisner grounded out to end the inning. The Rams grounded into double plays to end the eighth and ninth.

Brandon Eike went 5 for 6 for VCU, and Kleinman was 4 for 6 with three RBIs.

East Carolina 7, Wake Forest 6: Luke Nowak’s bases-loaded hit in the bottom of the ninth delivered the winning run as ECU eliminated the Demon Deacons.

Wake Forest — once a preseason No. 1-ranked squad — saw its season end at 38-22.

The Pirates led 4-1 through eight innings, but five relievers surrendered five runs in the ninth. The bullpen’s effort was in stark contrast to the 7 1/3 innings pitched by starter Trey Yesavage, who struck out six and surrendered just one hit.

Facing a 6-4 deficit, the Pirates sent eight batters to the plate to generate three runs for the win. After RBI singles by Jacob Jenkins-Cowart and Dixon Williams, Nowak singled through the right side to score Williams with the winning run.

Williams batted 3 for 4 with a home run, scored twice and drove in four runs for the Pirates.

Charlottesville Regional

Friday

Virginia 4, Penn 2

Mississippi State 5, St. John’s 2, 10 inn.

Saturday

St. John’s 10, Penn 9, 12 innings (Penn eliminated)

Virginia 5, Mississippi State 4

Sunday

St. John’s vs. Mississippi State, noon

Sunday’s noon winner vs. Virginia-Miss. State winner, 6 p.m.

Raleigh Regional

Friday

South Carolina 8, James Madison 7, 10 inn.

N.C. State 9, Bryant 2

Saturday

James Madison 8, Bryant 1 (Bryant eliminated)

N.C. State 6, South Carolina 4

Sunday

James Madison vs. South Carolina, noon

Sunday’s noon winner vs. N.C. State, 6 p.m.

Greenville Regional

Friday

Evansville 4, East Carolina 1

VCU 1, Wake Forest 0

Saturday

East Carolina 7, Wake Forest 6 (Wake eliminated)

Evansville 17, VCU 11

Sunday

East Carolina vs. VCU, noon

Sunday’s noon winner vs. Evansville, 6 p.m.