Special to Sports News Highlights

(SNH) — Much like the March Madness basketball tournament, the Division I college baseball tournament always sees a few upsets in the opening rounds.

Last weekend’s regional tournaments were no exception as there were plenty of upsets. Each regional is made up for teams and five No. 3 seeds advanced while the ninth fourth-seed in tournament advanced as well. No two-seeds advanced as the other 10 Super Regional spots were taken up by No. 1 seeds.

Of the six lower-seeded regional champs, four didn’t have any votes in the final coaches’ poll of the season with Evansville, UConn, Florida and Kansas State.

"What a tremendous moment for our program." said Evansville coach Wes Carroll.  "Our guys never wavered this weekend and they represented the University and this program so well and I couldn't be more proud of them for that.

"I also want to thank the people at East Carolina and their fans for a tremendous environment and regional experience. The environment was special, and the fans were into every game, and it made it a very special weekend of baseball."

Evansville was the talk of the first weekend as the Purple Aces knocked off top-seeded East Carolina twice to advance.

Freshman pitcher Kenton Deverman set the tone as he tossed eight innings against ECU to start the weekend, giving up one run on three hits and no walks while striking out four. At the plate, senior Kip Fougerousse hit a home run in every game and another senior in Shane Harris got the save in both wins against ECU.

UConn, which knocked off top-seeded Oklahoma twice, is an older team with many transfers from the Division III ranks. Four of UConn’s top six hitters, Ben Huber (Limestone College), Luke Broadhurst (Eastern Connecticut), Jake Studley (Wheaton) and Paul Tammaro (Oswego State) all started in Division III as did pitcher Stephen Quigley (Wheaton), backup catcher Matt Malcolm (Eastern Connecticut) and backup outfielder in Caleb Shpur (Endicott).

Florida and Kansas State, like Evansville and UConn, didn’t receive any top-25 votes in the final coaches’ poll.

The Gators lost to top-seeded Oklahoma State in the semifinal, but came back to sweep two elimination games against the Cowboys to advance.

While Florida was highly touted this season, the Gators do have one of the top prospects for the upcoming MLB Draft.

Jac Caglianone is a star in the college ranks as he hits for average (.410), and power (31 home runs); he has double the walks (48) to strikeouts (23) and he’s also a pretty good left-handed pitcher.

“Shohei’s definitely the guy that I've looked to ever since he's busted on the scene, just kind of his work ethic and how he goes about things, it's been really helpful for me navigating through the college season," Caglianone said.

“I'd love to [be a two-way player] at the professional level. But if a team ... is very adamant about me just doing one or the other, then I gotta make it work somehow.”

Kansas State took down one of the top teams in the entire nation, Arkansas, in the semifinal and the Razorbacks never made it to the final after getting bounced by Southeast Missouri State.

The Wildcats are led by the second-ranked shortstop in the upcoming MLB Draft in Kaelen Culpepper. Culpepper might be the top shortstop after the tournament as he hit for the cycle in Game 1 of the regional and finished the weekend going 7-for-12 with seven RBIs, five runs, two home runs, a triple and a double.

Tyson Neighbors is a draw as well as the No. 78 ranked overall MLB Draft prospect and is the Wildcats’ shutdown closer.

Evansville will take on the No. 1 overall seed, Tennessee, in the Super Regional. The Volunteers have six top-MLB Draft prospects, headlined by second baseman Christian Moore, who is the No. 25 overall prospect.

UConn will travel to face No. 8 Florida State, which has third baseman Cam Smith and outfielder James Tibbs, each of which are top-20 prospects for the MLB Draft.

Kansas State will face No. 13 Virginia and the Cavaliers four big prospects, shortstop Griff O’Ferrall (No. 41), first baseman/catcher Ethan Anderson (No. 75) and outfielders Harris Didawick (No. 127) and Casey Saucke (No. 129).

Florida will take on No. 6 Clemson, which is a young team, but next season look for many Tigers to among the top prospects.

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