NCAA baseball: Third seeds Washington, Fullerton advance

At least one surprise team will reach the College World Series.

Washington and Cal State Fullerton, a pair of third-seeded squads, both completed unbeaten runs through their NCAA baseball tournament regionals on Sunday. They will meet next weekend in a Super Regional at Fullerton, Calif., with the winner moving on to Omaha, Neb., for the College World Series.

Washington outslugged second-seeded Connecticut 9-6 in a battle of Huskies at Conway, S.C. Earlier Sunday, UConn eliminated the region’s top seed, Coastal Carolina 6-5.

At Stanford, Calif., the top-seeded Cardinal stayed alive with a 4-2 win over second-seeded Baylor. However, the Titans then knocked off Stanford 5-2.

The Cardinal were the No. 2 overall national seed.

Second-seeded Auburn completed an unbeaten run through the Raleigh, N.C., region, routing top-seeded host North Carolina State 15-7 to secure passage to the Super Regionals.

Another No. 2 seed moved on when Vanderbilt demolished top-seeded host Clemson 19-6 in Clemson, S.C. The Tigers had clawed past third-seeded St. John’s 9-8 earlier Sunday.

Texas (Austin Regional), Texas Tech (Lubbock), Arkansas (Fayetteville), Stetson (DeLand, Fla.), North Carolina (Chapel Hill), Minnesota (Minneapolis) and Oregon State (Corvallis) all completed undefeated runs at home to advance.

The Hatters will visit the Tar Heels in Super Regional play next weekend, while the Ducks will play host to the Gophers.

Five regionals will be decided Monday. The matchups, with regional seeds: No. 3 Florida Atlantic at No. 1 Florida; No. 2 Duke at No. 1 Georgia; No. 2 Mississippi State vs. No. 3 Oklahoma in Tallahassee, Fla.; No. 2 South Carolina vs. No. 4 UNC Wilmington at Greenville, N.C.; and No. 2 Tennessee Tech at No. 1 Mississippi.

–Field Level Media