After a long weekend’s worth of college baseball Super Regionals, the field for the last stage of the NCAA Tournament, the College World Series is set. Vanderbilt, Stanford, Virginia, Arizona, Mississippi State, NC State, Texas and Tennessee will meet in Omaha this weekend and two Pittsburgh natives will make the journey with them.
Will Bednar, RHP Mississippi State
Bednar, the Mars Area High School alum, and younger brother of Pirates reliever David Bednar, struggled in his second start of the NCAA Tournament, which came in game one of the Bulldogs’ Super Regional series against Notre Dame on Saturday. Bednar, the ace of this Mississippi State squad, went just three innings and allowed four runs on seven hits and two walks.
But, Bednar will get the chance to redeem himself in the College World Series. The Bulldogs won game one 9-8 despite Bednar’s poor start and, after dropping game two on Sunday, rallied to dominate the Irish in game three by a final of 11-7 on Monday night. They won the Super Regional two games to one and advanced to Omaha.
Troy LaNeve, OF Vanderbilt
LaNeve, the former Pine Richland standout, started game one on Friday and entered as a pinch hitter in game two on Saturday. He went 0-3 with three strikeouts, but the Commodores did move on to their fifth College World Series appearance in school history. They won back-to-back games on their home turf against East Carolina behind a pair of brilliant starts from dual aces Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter.
Trent Vietmeier, RHP Louisiana State
Vietmeier, a graduate of Montour High School, made one appearance this weekend on Sunday. In the game two loss which ended his team’s season, Vietmeier went just ⅓ innings in mop-up duty. He entered with his team down 9-2. Veitmeier hit two batters, allowed a hit and two runs (just one earned), and left with the Tigers in an 11-2 hole.
The Volunteers swept the series handily and advanced to the College World Series for the first time in 16 years. LSU ends their season at 38-25. Vietmeier will now make the trek north to Morgantown, West Virginia, where he is expected to play for the Black Bears of the MLB Draft League this summer.
Patrick Monteverde, RHP Texas Tech
The Red Raiders struggled this weekend to the tune of a -23 scoring margin over consecutive losses on their home diamond to Stanford. But in game two on Sunday Monterverde, the Pittsburgh native and Fox Chapel Area High School graduate, was solid in his second start of the postseason on Saturday. He went 3 ⅔ innings and surrendered three runs while striking out seven.
Monterverde threw nine innings in the NCAA Tournament, during which he surrendered five earned runs on 10 hits and three walks. Texas Tech ended its season with a record of 39-17 after being swept in the Super Regionals on their home diamond.
