NCAA baseball: Texas A&M needs 15 innings to beat upstart Davidson in super regional opener

Texas A&M and Louisville won their openers in NCAA baseball super regionals on Friday to move within a victory of the College World Series.

The Aggies, who squandered a 6-0 lead against upstart Davidson, won 7-6 on George Janca’s two-out bases-loaded single in the 15th inning.

Louisville’s Drew Ellis hit a three-run homer and finished with four RBIs as the host Cardinals got a solid start from Kade McClure in a 5-2 win over Kentucky.

No. 1-seeded Oregon State beat Vanderbilt 8-4 in that opening game. KJ Harrison hit a three-run home run and Nick Madrigal added a two-run double to lead the Beavers.

Friday’s winners can clinch their best-of-three series on Saturday. Otherwise, there will be a deciding Game 3 on Sunday.

Davidson (35-25), the surprise of the NCAA tournament after advancing as a No. 4 regional seed, was down 6-0 after five innings in College Station, Texas. The Wildcats scored three times in the sixth and twice in the seventh before tying it in the top of the ninth on Cam Johnson’s one-out base hit up the middle.

Both teams missed scoring chances in extra innings.

Davidson’s biggest regret will be messing up a squeeze play with runners on the corners and one out in the 13th. Jake Sidwell chugged down the third-base line, but Max Bazin pulled back the bat instead of trying to get a bunt down. A&M catcher Cole Bedford threw out Sidwell as he tried to get back to third. Bazin ended up singling, but the Wildcats couldn’t push across the go-ahead run.

The Aggies (40-21) were just 2 for 18 with runners in scoring position before Janca singled through the right side to end the game. Janca dashed toward right field after touching first base and was mobbed by teammates spilling out of the dugout. It was the longest Game 1 in a super regional.

In Louisville, Ellis broke out of a mini slump to lead the Cardinals (51-10) against Kentucky (43-22). Ellis, who was 1 for 11 in last week’s regional, drove in a run with a groundout in the first inning and hammered a three-run homer to left in the fifth.

Four other super regionals begin: Sam Houston State (44-21) at Florida State (43-21); Mississippi State (40-25) at No. 4 LSU (46-17); Missouri State (43-18) at No. 6 TCU (45-16); Wake Forest (42-18) at No. 3 Florida (45-17).