All four Big 12 teams remained alive but found themselves on the brink of elimination heading into the final day of regional action in the 2012 NCAA Baseball Championship.
The results were mixed on day two of NCAA regional play, with Missouri and Baylor rebounding from opening-round regional losses, but Texas A&M fell in the winner's bracket at College Station and Oklahoma was upset by Appalachian State in the Sooners' rain-postponed first-round game in the Charlottesville (Va.) Regional on Saturday.
Oklahoma had an early call on Sunday as a result of falling to Appalachian State 5-4 on Saturday. The Sooners, the No. 2 seed in the Charlottesville Regional had to go to extra innings before turning away Army 2-1, which earned OU a Sunday evening date against the loser of Virginia vs. Appalachian State.
Baylor, which is hosting one of the 16 NCAA regional tournaments, eliminated the University of Texas-Arlington 11-6 on Saturday and followed that with a 5-2 rebound victory over Oral Roberts, which was responsible for handing host Bears an opening-game loss on Friday. The win moves Baylor into the final round of the Waco Regional in which the Bears must win two games from Dallas Baptist to secure the regional crown and earn a spot in next weekend's super regionals.
Texas A&M, however, didn't find the home field to its advantage in its quarterfinal game, losing to hot-hitting TCU in an elimination game on Sunday, 10-2. It is somewhat ironic that A&M was the only team out of the Big 12 to win its opening regional game, and now the Aggies are the first conference team to depart the tournament.
The second-seeded Horned Frogs dropped their opening game in the College Station Regional to Mississippi, the third seed, on Friday, but roared back on Saturday, scoring an NCAA-record 28 runs to hammer Dayton, making its first NCAA appearance in baseball, by the ridiculous score of 28-12. TCU will next play Mississippi, which the Horned Frogs must beat twice to move on to the round of 16 next weekend.
Fourth-seed Missouri will face No. 3-seed Louisville Sunday night for the right to play top-seeded Arizona, which has already defeated Missouri once this weekend, for the Tucson Regional championship.
So with the championship games pending at each of the four sites where there are Big 12 teams participating, the combined record of the Big 12 schools as of Sunday afternoon is 5-5. One team, Texas A&M, has been eliminated, but Missouri, Oklahoma and Baylor remain alive and just one win away from playing for their regional championship. On the other hand, though, they also are but one loss away from suffering the same fate as A&M.
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