No. 3 regional seeds 8-2 so far in NCAA Tournament openers

No. 3 was the place to be in the NCAA baseball regional seedings Friday.

Of 10 afternoon games matching second and third seeds, the lower seed won eight of them.

The No. 3s that moved to winner’s bracket games Saturday were Florida State, Duke, Southern Mississippi, Clemson, Nebraska, Loyola Marymount, Michigan, Illinois State.

The only 2 seeds to win were Indiana State and Auburn.

No. 5 national seed Arkansas and No. 6 national seed Mississippi State made top regional seeds 2-0 in day games. The first round continued Friday night.

Florida State, one of the last four teams awarded at-large bids for the 64-team tournament, hit six homers in a 13-7 win over Florida Atlantic in Athens, Georgia. The Seminoles (37-21) have made the tournament all 40 years they’ve been coached by Mike Martin, who is retiring after the season, and 42 in a row overall. They need three more wins to extend their streak of winning at least 40 games every season under Martin, the all-time wins leader in all NCAA sports.

Duke, another one of the last four in, got a strong seven innings from Ben Gross and held on for an 8-5 win over Texas A&M in Morgantown, West Virginia.

Matt Wallner, Danny Lynch and Storme Cooper homered and combined for 10 RBIs to lead Southern Mississippi past Arizona State 15-3 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The 12-run loss was ASU’s most lopsided in the program’s 248 NCAA Tournament games and only the third by double digits.

Clemson won its regional opener for a fourth straight year, beating Illinois 8-4 in Oxford, Mississippi.

Last year, No. 3 regional seeds went 7-9 in the first round.

WHO IS THIS GUY?

Florida State got a jolt from an unlikely source.

Tim Becker, a graduate student who played three seasons on FSU’s club team before earning a spot on the varsity at an open tryout last fall, hit two of the Seminoles’ six homers and drove in four runs to match his previous season total. He entered the game 8 for 32 for the season with no homers. He drew his fifth start in left field.

“That was surreal. Didn’t expect that, honestly,” Becker said. “Got to be ready when you get put into a big situation, and I did that today.”

Seminoles coach Mike Martin said Becker did everything right to merit his shot.

“It just goes to show you that all most of us want in life is an opportunity to show what we can do,” Martin said. “He kept getting better and all of a sudden I realized he’s a great teammate, he’s a tremendous young man. That’s how he got his opportunity to make the travel squad. Then he gets an opportunity to play.”

WELL, THAT’S ONE WAY TO DO IT

Nebraska’s 8-5 win over Connecticut might have been the most unconventional of the day. The Cornhuskers’ pitchers allowed 19 hits and their batters struck out 16 times. UConn had five doubles and a homer and at least two hits in every inning through the seventh. The Huskers turned four double plays to neutralize all that offense.

SHORT HOPS

— Auburn, which beat Coastal Carolina 16-7 in Atlanta, has scored double-digit runs in four straight regional games.

— Indiana State’s 6-5 win over McNeese State in Nashville, Tennessee, was its first in the tournament since 1995.

— Illinois State, which beat Indiana 8-7 in Louisville, Kentucky, won its NCAA opener for the first time since 1976.

BIG BATS

— Florida State’s Mike Salvatore had four of his team’s 20 hits and Drew Mendoza joined Becker in homering twice against FAU.

— Auburn No. 8 batter Steven Williams had four hits, including a three-run homer, and five RBIs against Coastal Carolina. Williams came in batting .227 and with the fewest RBIs (23) among Auburn’s everyday players.

— Arkansas’ Trevor Ezell and Heston Kjerstad each homered and finished with three hits in an 11-5 win over Central Connecticut State in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

— Kyle Wilkie had a career-high four hits with three RBIs for Clemson.

— Mississippi State’s Rowdey Jordan went 4 for 5 with three RBIs in an 11-6 win over Southern in Starkville, Mississippi.

MARVELOUS ON MOUND

— Michigan’s Karl Kauffmann scattered six hits over 8 2/3 innings in a 6-0 win over Creighton in Corvallis, Oregon.

— Codie Paiva and Nick Frasso combined on a four-hitter in Loyola Marymount’s 3-1 win over Baylor in Los Angeles.

— Indiana State’s Tyler Grauer pitched four innings of shutout relief in a 6-5 win over McNeese State in Nashville, Tennessee.

— Arkansas freshman Connor Noland allowed two hits and one earned run in 5 2/3 innings against Central Connecticut State.

— Clemson’s Davis Sharpe pitched the final 6 2/3 innings against Illinois in his first career relief appearance.

— Illinois State starter Brent Headrick struck out 14 in six innings against Indiana.

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