Top-seeded Arizona St. ousted by South Carolina

Associated Press

OMAHA, NEB.

Jackie Bradley and Adrian Morales homered during an eight-run second inning that propelled South Carolina to an 11-4 victory over No. 1 national seed Arizona State on Tuesday, knocking the Sun Devils out of the College World Series.

The Gamecocks (49-16) play either Oklahoma or Clemson on Thursday in another elimination game. Those teams played a Bracket 2 winners’ game late Tuesday.

The Sun Devils (52-10) lost consecutive games for the first time this season and went two-and-out at the CWS for only the third time in 22 appearances. The other 0-2 years were 1987 and 1993.

With Arizona State gone, the 1999 Miami Hurricanes remain the only No. 1 national seed to have won the championship since the tournament expanded to 64 teams that same year.

South Carolina starter Sam Dyson (6-5) allowed two runs through seven innings, then was relieved by Matt Price after allowing two runs in the eighth.

Price struggled at first, giving up two singles and hitting a batter to load the bases, but he caught Austin Barnes looking at strike three and then struck out Drew Maggi after running the count to 3-0.

Whit Merrifield finished a 3-for-5 game with his 13th homer to give the Gamecocks a seven-run lead.

The eight-run second was Arizona State’s worst inning in 196 games, since giving up nine in a 14-5 loss to Arizona on May 25, 2007.

All eight were charged to Merrill Kelly (10-3), who was pulled after Morales homered off the left-field foul pole.

Kelly, the Tampa Bay Rays’ eighth-round draft pick, was tagged for 10 hits in 1 2-3 innings in the second straight disappointing performance by an ASU starting pitcher. Previously unbeaten ace Seth Blair walked four of the first 12 batters he faced and gave up five runs and seven hits in 41/3 innings in Monday’s 6-3 loss to Clemson.