Palmer pulled out stops in effort to win NCAA opener

By Staff
Three High-Riding Cowboys
With a steal against Rice in his team's 3-2 loss on Friday, McNeese State catcher Ran Prince set a new school record with 70 career steals.
McNeese teammate Tommy Eubanks picked up a single for the Cowboys, extending his hitting streak to 11 games. MSU Tim Lemke ripped a homer for the Cowboys against Rice, but it is a double he needs to climb into a second-place tie for career two-baggers with 46.
Austin Bishop
The green shuttle
Anticipating a big crowd, Southern Mississippi and the city of Hattiesburg rolled out the green trolley shuttles for the arriving crowd. The shuttles allowed fans to avoid a long walk to Pete Taylor Park on a hot day.
The shuttle proved to be a big success in help moving the announced crowd of 4,236 from the outer parking lots to the stadium and back.
Jeff Byrd
Going The Distance
Alabama's Brent Carter allowed just three hits to Houston over the last 7.2 innings on the way to the complete game victory on Friday.
The win pushed the sophomore left-hander to 10-5 on the season and gave him his SEC-leading sixth complete game of the season. He settled down after allowing five hits and three runs in the second and put together a string of four no-hit innings.
His eight strikeouts on the day pushed his season total to 105, just 13 short of Bobby Sprowl's single-season mark set in 1977.
Austin Bishop
Get him outa' here
Missouri head coach Tim Jamieson has been at Dudy Noble Field before. He was an assistant on the 1984 University of New Orleans Privateers team that knocked off Mississippi State 6-3 to win the regional and earn that school's only trip to the College World Series.
Members of the 84 MSU team included future pros Rafael Palmeiro, Will Clark, Jeff Brantley, and Bobby Thigpen.
Marty Stamper
More errors than hits not good
Palmer showed more disappointment in his defense, than his offense in the post-game press conference. The Golden Eagles had more errors (4) than hits (3).
.970 which I think is a school record."
Jeff Byrd
Tar Heels take Mizzou in 11
Second-seed North Carolina needed 11 innings to knock off third-seed Missouri 4-3 in the opening game of the NCAA Regional at Starkville Friday afternoon.
Sammy Hewitt led off the bottom of the 11th with a double to right-center and scored one batter later on Ryan Blake's single to shallow center field.
Despite playing two extra innings, the contest was completed in just under three hours (two hours, 55 minutes).
Jeremy Cleveland hit his 19th homer of the year for UNC in the first inning. The two-run blast to left field also scored Greg Mangum, who led off with a triple down the right field line. Cleveland also collected his 20th double in the win.
Justin James went nine innings on the mound for Missouri, getting no decision. He allowed seven hits and two walks while striking out seven.
Blake, the Tar Heel first baseman, had 14 putouts.
North Carolina had 10 hits with Cleveland, Mangum, Sean Farrell, and Mike Daniel each getting two.
Missouri had nine hits with Ryan Rallo, Cody Ehlers, Zane Taylor, and Jeremy Hernandez each getting two.
The teams combined to turn five double plays with the Tar Heels turning three.
A crowd of 2,886 saw the contest.
Marty Stamper
Staying Away From Two-and-Out
The Ole Miss Rebels have made 13 appearances in the NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament and have had their share of success, posting a 20-11 record in Regional action including Friday's 4-2 loss to Wichita State, and going 3-8 in the College World Series.
The Rebels have never been eliminated from a double-elimination regional or district playoff in just two games.
The last time Ole Miss won at least two games in a regional was in 1995 when the Rebels reached the finals before falling to Florida State 13-1. During that tournament Ole Miss lost to Old Dominion 5-3 in the opener, before beating Troy State 8-5, Central Florida 10-4 and Old Dominion 5-4.
Ole Miss has gone two-and-out in the College World Series twice. The Rebels lost to Southern California 8-6 and Texas 9-8 in 1972. In 1964, the Rebs fell to USC 3-2 and Arizona State 5-0.
Ole Miss won one game in the 1969 College World Series, an 8-1 victory over Southern Illinois, while beating New Hampshire 13-12 and Bradley 4-0 in the 1956 College World Series.
Austin Bishop
Fox gets big win
With North Carolina's first-day win, Tar Heel head coach Mike Fox reached the 40-win plateau for the fourth time in his five seasons at UNC.
Marty Stamper
Closing in
Jeremy Cleveland is on pace to become just the fourth modern-era North Carolina player to bat .400 in a season.
He entered Friday's game with Missouri batting .420 and then went 2-for-5 against the Tigers. Cleveland leads UNC in home runs (19), RBIs (63), and runs (70).
Marty Stamper