MLB Draft: NCAA Regionals Sunday Recap

June 10, 2013; Corvallis, OR, USA; Oregon State Beavers pitcher Ben Wetzler (28) reacts in the 7th inning of the Corvallis Super Regional against the Kansas State Wildcats at Goss Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jaime Valdez-USA TODAY Sports

There were 30 games in the NCAA Baseball Tournament on Sunday, but the big names were somewhat average throughout the day.

University of Kentucky first baseman/designated hitter A.J. Reed finished off his awful tournament with an 0/6 day over two ball games. In the team’s first game of the day, Reed went 0/2 but did drive in two runs on a pair of sacrifice flies. Then, in the second game, he went 0/4 as Kentucky lost to in-state rival Louisville 4-1 ending Kentucky’s season, and leaving Reed with just one hit in 12 at-bats in the Louisville regional.

Closing out the Louisville-Kentucky game, and sending Louisville on the the Super Regionals, was Nick Burdi. The best pure reliever in this year’s draft class started his outing by showing off his biggest flaw, a lack of control. He walked his first batter faced on four pitches, then opened the next batter with a ball forcing the pitching coach to make a mound visit just five pitches into his outing. Burdi settled down from there, retiring then next three, including one via the strikeout, earning him his 16th save on the season and sending Louisville onto the next round.

The best pitching performance of the day may have belonged to a player not projected to go in the first couple of rounds in this year’s draft, but a player that was involved in some controversy coming into the year. Ben Wetzler of Oregon State was a fifth round pick by the Philadelphia Phillies in 2013, and he was reported to the NCAA for apparently using an adviser to help negotiate his contract before ultimately turning the contract down and returning to school for his senior season. He was eventually allowed to get back to his Oregon State team and, on Sunday, he pitched a complete game while allowing just a single run on four hits and three walks while striking out ten as Oregon State knocked off UNLV.

Oregon State later beat UC Irvine to force a win-or-go-home game on Monday. Pac-12 Player of the Year, Michael Conforto, came through with a hit in both of the Oregon State games on Sunday, while the red hot Taylor Sparks of UC Irvine was finally held hitless in the Beaver win.

The star Indiana duo of Kyle Schwarber and Sam Travis both came through with a pair of hits yet again, but it was not enough to beat Stanford, as the Hoosiers fell 10-7 and will play a game 7 against Stanford on Monday.

The top hitter among MLB Draft prospects on Sunday was Derek Fisher. The Virginia outfielder went 2/4 and drew a walk while scoring once and driving in four runs leading his club to victory and winning their regional.

After all the games were through on Sunday less than half of the regionals had been decided, so there will be plenty of good baseball to be played on Monday.