COLLEGE BASEBALL ROUNDUP : Wichita State, Miami, Texas Make Field in World Series

The Dreifort brothers supplied the power and pitching, and Wichita State advanced to the College World Series for the fourth time in five years with a 5-2 victory over Oklahoma State on Monday.

Todd Dreifort hit a tiebreaking two-run homer and younger brother Darren pitched 4 2/3 innings of shutout relief as the Shockers (56-9) went unbeaten in four games in the Midwest Regional.

In other regional finals Monday, Miami beat Notre Dame, 5-1, to win the Atlantic Regional, and Texas routed Virginia Commonwealth, 12-3, for its record 26th College World Series berth.

The first half of the field for the College World Series was decided Sunday when California (35-26), Oklahoma (42-22), Cal State Fullerton (42-15) and Florida State (46-19) won regional titles.

Darren Dreifort (6-1) came on for Wichita State with one out in the fifth inning and allowed a sacrifice fly and a single that gave the Cowboys (49-16) a 2-1 lead. He didn’t allow another hit and struck out six, including four in a row. Todd Dreifort’s homer came in the fifth inning off reliever Ritchie Moody and gave the Shockers a 4-2 lead.

Miami 5, Notre Dame 1--Jeff Alkire pitched a four-hitter and Chad Rupp hit a two-run homer for the top-ranked and host Hurricanes (53-8). Their coach, Ron Fraser, will be making his 12th trip to the College World Series in his 30th and final season with Miami. The Hurricanes won the national championship in 1982 and 1985.

Alkire (13-2) pitched to 18 batters in the first six innings before allowing a double to Greg Layson and a run-scoring groundout to Craig Counsell.

Texas 12, Virginia Commonwealth 3--The Longhorns (46-15) were forced to a second game after Virginia Commonwealth (35-22) beat them, 4-2, in Monday’s opener. But Jay Vaught pitched a complete game in earning his second victory of the tournament as Coach Cliff Gustafson earned his 16th trip to the College World Series, taking the record he had shared with USC’s Rod Dedeaux.

Trailing, 2-1, Texas sent 14 batters to the plate in the fifth inning and scored eight runs.