
EUGENE, Ore. â Texas finished at the top of the leaderboard after the final round of stroke play on Monday to earn the No. 1 seed for the match play portion of the NCAA Championship beginning on Tuesday, May 31.
The Longhorns have advanced to the match play competition for the second-straight year and will face No. 8 Oklahoma in the quarterfinal round.
Junior Beau Hossler earned his seventh top-five finish and 11th top-10 in 12 events this season with a fifth-place finish.
Hossler carded a fourth-round 73, starting the round with three-straight pars before making a birdie on four. He made back-to-back bogeys on holes six and seven before making another birdie on eight to sit at even par on the turn. On the back nine, he made a bogey on 11 and a double on 14, but fired back with a birdie on 16. He closed the round with a birdie to finish the round 3-over par, concluding the tournament with a 280, five strokes out of first place.
He finished with 17 birdies, the second-most of any player during stroke play.
Sophomore Doug Ghim had the second-lowest score during the fourth round for Texas with a 71, tying for 22nd.
Ghim began the round with five pars before making a double-bogey on six and a bogey on seven, but made birdies on the eighth and ninth holes to make the turn at +1. He made a bogey to kick off the back nine, following with four-consecutive pars before making birdies on 15 and 16 to return to even par. He closed the round with a bogey to finish the day 1-over par.
Junior Gavin Hall matched Hossler's 73, finishing with a 287 to tie for 26th.
Hall started strong with his first birdie of the day on the second hole. He followed with a bogey on three, but fired back with another birdie on hole four. He made pars for the rest of the front nine, except for a double bogey on hole seven to sit +1 at the turn. He made a birdie on hole 15 and three bogeys on the back nine to finish the day 3-over par.
Sophomore Taylor Funk led Texas on the fourth day with an even 70 for his lowest round of the tournament.
He started the round with a bogey, but it was the only one on the front nine as he made two pars before birdieing four's par-5 to return to even par. He made three-straight pars and closed the round with consecutive birdies to make the turn at 2-under par.
On the back nine, Funk started with back-to-back bogeys and followed with a double bogey on 13, but went birdie-par-birdie-par to close the round and finish the event in a tie for 45th, shooting up 40 spots from day three.
Funk finished four rounds with 15 birdies. Only Hossler and medalist Aaron Wise had more.
Sophomore Scottie Scheffler followed rounds of 72-69-71 with a fourth-round 77 to tie for 40th.
As a team, Texas finished one stroke ahead of runner-up Illinois, while Oregon's Aaron Wise was crowned individual national champion at 5-under par.
UT made 65 birdies over four rounds, seven more than any team in the field.
Only 10 strokes ultimately separated the top eight teams, with Illinois, LSU, Southern California, Vanderbilt, Oregon and South Carolina filling out the rest of the bracket.
LSU is back to defend its national championship which it won last year, while the Ducks, on their home course and riding the hot play of individual champion Aaron Wise, are headed to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2012, when they lost to eventual champion Texas in the semifinals.
Junior Zack Collins was among the 25 amateur baseball players selected as semifinalists for the 2016 Golden Spikes Award, USA Baseball announced Wednesday.
One of the nationâs most talented sluggers, Collins leads the third-ranked Hurricanes in home runs (12), RBI (52), on-base percentage (.540), slugging percentage (.630) and walks (66). A 2016 first-team All-ACC selection at catcher, Collins ranks among the nationâs active career leaders in home runs (38, fourth), RBI (176, fourth) and walks (165, first).
Collins became the first Miami player to earn back-to-back spots on the All-ACC First Team since Jon Jay (2005, 2006) when he was selected for the honor in late May.
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Collinsâ .364 average is the eighth-highest in the ACC entering the NCAA postseason, while his 66 walks and .540 on-base percentage lead all ACC players. His .630 slugging percentage is the third-best mark in the conference, and his 52 RBI are tied for ninth-most in the ACC.
Collins, who is also a semifinalist for the 2016 Dick Howser Trophy (top college player) and Johnny Bench Award (top college catcher), is aiming to become just the second Golden Spikes winner in program history; Pat Burrell previously won the award in 1998.
USA Baseball officials will announce the finalists for the 2016 Golden Spikes Award on Monday, June 13. To select the finalists, the list of semifinalists is sent to a voting body consisting of past Golden Spikes Award winners, past USA Baseball National Team coaches and press officers, members of the media that closely follow the amateur game, select professional baseball personnel, and select current USA Baseball staff, representing a group of more than 200 voters in total.
Fan voting will once again be part of the Golden Spikes Award in 2016. This announcement officially marks the opening of voting for amateur baseball fans from across the country on GoldenSpikesAward.com. As part of the selection process, all voters will be asked to choose three players from the list of names. Voting will be open until Wednesday, June 8.
The 2016 Golden Spikes Award winner will be named on Thursday, June 30, at a presentation in Los Angeles. The finalists and their families will be honored at the Rod Dedeaux Foundation Dinner that evening at the Jonathan Club in downtown Los Angeles.
Last year, University of Arkansasâ Andrew Benintendi took home the prestigious award, joining a group of recent winners that includes Kris Bryant (2013), Mike Zunino (2012), Trevor Bauer (2011), Bryce Harper (2010), Stephen Strasburg (2009) and Buster Posey (2008).
The complete 2016 Golden Spikes Award semifinalist list is as follows: