NCAA baseball regionals: Texas hammers Holy Cross in Austin opener

The NCAA baseball tournament opened Friday with 16 double-elimination regionals around the country.

Regional winners advance to best-of-three super regionals next week, and the final eight go to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska, beginning June 12.

Here’s a look at how area schools performed in their opening games:

The Longhorns scored early … and often … in their NCAA tournament opener. Anthony Pack Jr. and Aiden Robbins combined for five home runs as the Texas offense scored in all eight innings the Longhorns came to the plate. Luke Harrison, Cody Howard, Ethan Walker and Hudson Hamilton put together eight shut-out innings for Texas before Holy Cross finally cracked the scoreboard in the ninth.  

Texas will face the Santa Barbara-Tarleton State winner on Saturday in the Austin regional. 

The Cowboys dropped their opener in the Tuscaloosa regional to USC Upstate. Oklahoma State had late opportunities with the bases loaded in the eighth and ninth to erase the three-run deficit, but failed to score. Three errors and four walks helped contribute to USC Upstate’s eight runs, who only recorded six hits. 

Oklahoma State will face the loser of Alabama-Alabama State on Saturday in an elimination game. 

Stay tuned for more updates. 

Stay tuned for more updates.