Key takeaways from Day 2 of 2023 NCAA Baseball Regionals

The 2023 NCAA Baseball Tournament returned for another 13-hour day of baseball.

Saturday’s action of the NCAA Tournament picked up from where Day 1 left off, with plenty of offense, drama and upsets.

Two Top-16 teams are out after two games for the first time in the 21st century, one game went nearly five hours and an Ivy League team is making a mess of one region.

Here’s a dive into what happened over the course of the second day of the Regionals.

Oklahoma State and Auburn first regional hosts to get swept

For just the third time this century, two Top-16 seeds went 0-2 in their regionals.

The Cowboys loss was way more emphatic.

The Stillwater regional wasn’t kind to the Cowboys before they even touched the field.

Dallas Baptist is coming off a 40-win season, Oral Roberts dropped just 11 games all season and Washington finished third in the Pac 12.

The Patriots brought an onslaught, with an 18-4 thrashing Saturday afternoon.

The star of the offense was outfielder Miguel Santos, who smashed three home runs and drove in nine RBIs.

While Oklahoma State gave runs away, Auburn had a hard time getting any.

The Tigers mustered just five runs in their two losses to Penn and Southern Mississippi. The No.13 Tigers were 2-7 with runners in scoring position and two singles brought in the lone runs of the game in the sixth.

Miguel Santos career day in Stillwater

The main source from the Patriots’ 14-run victory was infielder Miguel Santos.

His nine RBIs is the most in a game in program history and the most in a regional since Baylor catcher Shea Langeliers knocked in 11 back in 2019.

Santos was a Second Team All-Missouri Valley member last season and has started every game this season for the Patriots.

The Patriots survive another day but are back in an elimination game against Washington.

Clemson vs. Tennessee proves to be an instant classic

This game was one to keep an eye on coming into the day and it did not disappoint. The two shades of orange put everything into their 1-0 regional game, with Tennessee outlasting Clemson, 6-5 after everything a 14-inning game can offer.

Although Clemson’s Chase Grice is the star of the program, it was freshman center fielder Cam Cannarella that got the Tigers bat going with four of the team’s five runs batted in.

The Tigers tied the game in the ninth, but each team matched one another in a stalemate of high-pressure innings.

While Tennessee got a gaudy 6.1 innings pitched from relief pitcher Caden Burns, Clemson went for situational pitching, burning the entire bullpen.

A controversial official decision had Cannarella tossed in the 13th, taking out Clemson’s best offensive player in the game.

Tennessee center fielder Hunter Ensley was hitless through six plate appearances, before slamming a double into the right-center field gap, giving the Vols the lead and eventual win.

The first pitch was at 5 p.m. CST, but went deep into the night, with the final out in the 14th concluding a four hour, 53 minute contest.

Other Notable Results around NCAA Baseball:

Texas Tech upset No.2 Florida, 5-4 to move the Gators into the elimination bracket.

Fourth-seed Pennsylvania blanks Third-seed Samford to move to 2-0 in the Auburn regional.

Second-seed Indiana upends No.12 Kentucky, 5-3 to move to the winner’s side of the Lexington region.

Virginia escapes East Carolina in a 2-1 ballgame, advancing to 2-0 in their own regional.

Weather sweeps through Baton Rouge and Fayetteville regional, forcing postponements for both regions.

Games to look out for Sunday:

No.2 Florida (45-15) vs. UConn (44-16-1), 11 a.m. CST (Elimination Game)

No.9 Miami (41-20) vs. Louisiana (41-23) 11 a.m. CST, (Elimination Game)

No.5 LSU (44-15) vs. Oregon State (40-18), 2 p.m. CST