NCAA baseball: Louisville, Oregon State and Texas A&M advance to College World Series

Drew Ellis homered twice, Josh Stowers and Logan Taylor each delivered extra-base RBI hits and left-hander Brendan McKay scattered eight hits and two runs as Louisville topped rival Kentucky 6-2 on Saturday and become the first school to clinch a College World Series berth.

Texas A&M used a seven-run rally in the eighth inning to topple Davidson 12-6 in the College Station, Texas, super regional to earn the Aggies’ first berth in the CWS since 2011.

K.J. Harrison hit his second three-run homer in two games and Oregon State advanced with a 9-2 victory over Vanderbilt in the Corvallis, Ore., super regional.

Bryce Fehmel (5-2) started for the overall top-seeded Beavers (54-4), who won back-to-back World Series titles in 2006 and 2007. Vanderbilt (36-24-1) started 6-foot-4 right-hander Kyle Wright (5-6), who could be the first-overall pick in the Major League Baseball draft on Monday.

A day after smacking a three-run homer in Louisville’s opening-game 5-2 win, the junior first baseman hit solo shots in the second and sixth innings to ignite a super regional sweep that returned the Cardinals (52-10) to the CWS for the third time in five seasons and first since 2014.

Stowers followed with an RBI triple, and Taylor delivered the first of two eighth-inning insurance runs as Louisville remained unbeaten in the NCAA tournament.

McKay (10-3) had to work out of jams at times but was effective, striking out nine in 6 2/3 innings to win a showdown with Kentucky ace Sean Hjelle (11-4).

Marcus Carson and Tristan Pompey knocked in runs for Kentucky (43-23), which made its first super regional appearance.

Texas A&M (41-12) swept its super regional after the Aggies also won 7-6 on Friday in the series opener against the Wildcats.

The Aggies trailed 6-5 in the eighth inning with two outs when pinch hitter Jorge Gutierrez popped up behind the mound for what appeared to be a third out — and a slim Davidson (35-26) lead headed into the ninth. But third baseman Eric Jones and second baseman Alec Acosta collided while trying to make the catch, and the ball popped loose with both on the ground. Two A&M runners dashed across the plate and the Aggies clutched their final lead of the super regional.

In other super regional games:

Florida State 7, Sam Houston State 6: Jackson Lueck had four hits, including the game-winner in the ninth inning, and four RBIs as Florida State rallied from a four-run, second-inning deficit in Game 1 of the Tallahassee super regional.

Taylor Walls opened the ninth with a single and advanced to second after Dylan Busby was hit by a Nick Mikolajchak (0-4) pitch. Lueck then got his third walk-off hit of the season with a single to right-center to score Walls. Lueck, a sophomore right fielder, is 10 for 24 with eight RBIs in six NCAA tournament games this season.

Sam Houston State (44-22) scored four runs the first two innings off two errors by FSU starter Tyler Holton. The Seminoles (44-21) trailed 6-3 in the seventh but rallied to tie on RBI singles by Lueck, Quincy Nieporte and Cal Raleigh. Drew Carlton (5-4), who was FSU’s third pitcher, got the win with 1 1/3 scoreless innings.

Florida 2, Wake Forest 1 (11 innings): Ryan Larson’s bases-loaded single gave the Gators their first walk-off victory of the year and a 1-0 lead in its best-of-three Gainesville, Fla., super regional. The game spanned roughly 7 1/2 hours after being delayed for nearly four hours heading into the bottom of the fourth inning because of rain and lightning.

Three Florida pitchers combined to strike out 23 Demon Deacons (42-19), including six over three innings by closer Michael Byrne (4-4), who gave up a game-tying homer to Ben Breazeale with none out in the ninth. Starter Alex Faedo fanned nine over four innings and Brady Singer, making his first relief appearance this season, struck out eight.

The Gators (46-17) loaded the bases against Griffin Roberts (2-5) on a walk and two hit batters. Colin Peluse came in and got the second out before Larson’s single up the middle. Larson was playing in his first game since being hit in the head during the SEC tournament.

Texas Christian 3, Missouri State 2: Evan Skoug hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the eighth inning to send the Horned Frogs to victory in Game 1 of the Fort Worth super regional.

Skoug’s one-out shot just over the fence in right field came on the fourth pitch from reliever Jordan Knutson (8-4), who replaced Dylan Coleman for a lefty-lefty matchup after the Bears starter threw a season-high 132 pitches.

The rally put the Horned Frogs (46-16) within a victory of their fourth straight trip to the College World Series. TCU, seeded sixth nationally, has won its super regional opener each time, and the previous three went to a decisive third game. Game 2 is Sunday.

Louisiana State 4, Mississippi State 3: Zach Watson’s run-scoring single in the eighth pulled LSU into a tie, and Watson later scored on Michael Papierski’s sacrifice fly to lift the Tigers to a 4-3 victory over Mississippi State in the opening game of the NCAA tournament’s Baton Rouge super regional on Saturday night.

Zach Hess (7-1), who entered the game with LSU trailing 3-0 in the eighth, pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings to earn the win for LSU (47-17), which is now victorious in 15 straight and one win away from an 18th trip to the College World Series.

LSU had a runner on third with one out in the fourth, fifth and seventh, only to come up empty before finally breaking through in the eighth on Greg Deichmann’s two-run double to left.

The Bulldogs (40-26) took a 1-0 lead in the first, when LSU starter Alex Lange allowed a single and two walks before hitting Jake Mangum to force home a run.

MSU then went up 3-0 in the eighth on Cody Brown’s two-out, two-run double. Bulldogs reliever Riley Self (5-2), who entered the game in the eighth, took the loss.