Rebels Beat Cavaliers With Homer in 12th

Mississippi 4, Virginia 3

OXFORD, Miss., June 5 -- The Virginia baseball team squandered opportunities against Mississippi on Friday. And as afternoon turned to early evening at Oxford-University Stadium, freshman Steven Proscia sought to capitalize for a change.

With two outs in the top of the 12th inning and teammates stationed at first and second base, Proscia launched a deep fly that sent Mississippi center fielder Jordan Henry drifting back all the way to the wall. Proscia was rounding first when the ball settled into Henry's glove, and Proscia grabbed his helmet and grimaced: Another chance, perhaps the Cavaliers' last, had evaporated.

Just minutes later, Mississippi (44-18) formed a mob at home plate to celebrate Matt Smith's home run in the bottom of the inning -- a blast to left-center off Cavaliers reliever Kevin Arico that lifted the Rebels to a 4-3 victory in the opener of their NCAA tournament super regional.

"Pretty simple," Arico said. "Threw him a fastball and left it up in the zone. He did what any good hitter's going to do -- he crushed it."

Game 2 of the best-of-three series is Saturday at noon.

"Our players have responded all year long to difficult defeats," U-Va. Coach Brian O'Connor said, "and I believe this one will be no different."

Virginia (46-13-1) took a 3-1 lead in the fifth when sophomore Jarrett Parker belted a run-scoring double and sophomore Phil Gosselin singled in another run. But the Cavaliers left the bases loaded when Proscia fouled out and junior Tyler Cannon flared out to shortstop.

With his team clinging to a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the ninth, Virginia reliever Matt Packer got Mississippi's Evan Button to lead off with a slow roller to second baseman Keith Werman. But Werman bobbled the ball, and his throw to first was late. Packer then compounded the mistake by hitting Mississippi's Brett Basham on the top of the left foot.

So with one out, O'Connor summoned Arico, a sophomore right-hander, from the bullpen. Mississippi's Logan Power sent Arico's second pitch into left field for a game-tying single, pushing the game into extra innings.

At that point, Mississippi Coach Mike Bianco turned to an unexpected source for some late-game dramatics. During pregame warmups, sophomore reliever Jake Morgan was playing toss with teammate Nathan Baker when Morgan lost concentration and was drilled square in the face with the ball, breaking his nose. He disappeared to the locker room, where team trainer Tony Barnett tried to staunch the bleeding.

He was still bleeding when he took the mound in the 10th, but he said he felt fine -- he had taken some painkillers -- and he had good command. Morgan gave up one hit over the next three innings, and Smith rewarded the effort.

"He looked like Rocky," Bianco said of Morgan. "He gutted it out."

Cavaliers Note: Freshman left-hander Danny Hultzen (St. Albans) started and allowed five hits and two runs in 5 1/3 innings.