G. J. McCarthy photo

From left, Missouri’s Jacob Priday, John McKee and Brant Combs linger in the dugout after yesterday’s 16-6 loss to Louisville in the Columbia Regional final. The Tigers fell behind 8-0 in the first inning and couldn’t recover.

Apparently, Chris Dominguez likes playing the villain.

When the Louisville third baseman hit the go-ahead home run in the eighth inning Sunday night, he barked at the Missouri players and dugout throughout his long, slow home-run trot, drawing the ire of the Tigers and their fans.

G. J. McCarthy photo

Louisville reliever Andrew Salguiero celebrates a strikeout in the eighth inning. Playing their fifth game in four days, the Cardinals used seven pitchers.

Yesterday, Dominguez did his talking with his bat. With the Taylor Stadium crowd riding him, the 6-foot-4, 240-pound Dominguez had two home runs, seven RBI and four runs to lift the Cardinals to a 16-6 victory over the Tigers for the Columbia Regional championship.

"What happened last night helped him today," MU Coach Tim Jamieson said. "That’s the mark of a good baseball player who can channel that energy in the right direction."

Dominguez was 8 for 19 with nine runs and 11 RBI for the tournament and was named the regional’s most outstanding player. The redshirt freshman had seven extra-base hits, including four home runs - all four with the Cardinals (44-21) facing elimination.

Dominguez, the top-rated high school third base prospect two years ago by Baseball America, entered the regional hitting .251 with seven homers.

"I felt a little bad for him last night that he hit that big home run to put us ahead, and a lot of the focus was on the way he acted and the way people responded to him," Louisville Coach Dan McDonnell said. "He wasn’t proud of letting the emotions get the best of him. You worry about a 19-year-old kid, how they’re going to come back knowing you’ll have 3,000 booing you every time you touch the ball. I don’t know if it gets any bigger than hitting a grand slam in the first."

Louisville, in the NCAA Tournament for just the second time in the program’s history, will face Oklahoma State in a Super Regional.

Showing a team mentality, the Cardinals brought all 10 seniors for postgame interviews.

"I made a promise to the seniors that this was their time," McDonnell said.

The Tigers (42-18) thought it was their time. Missouri had one of its best seasons in recent history, winning eight of nine conference series and finishing in second place in the Big 12 standings. That earned Missouri a hosting bid for the first time since the NCAA switched to the current format. But the Tigers expected to get to a Super Regional for the second consecutive year.

"At some point, we’re going to be able to look at this as a positive thing for the baseball program here," MU Coach Tim Jamieson said. "It hurts quite a bit right now, because we felt this was a team that could play quite a bit further into the summer."

Those dreams took a hit early in yesterday’s game.

The Tigers failed to connect on their best 1-2 combination in the first inning. At the plate, Evan Frey singled but was thrown out stealing. On the mound, ace Aaron Crow got battered, giving up seven runs on seven hits in just two-thirds of an inning.

Crow, the right-handed sophomore from Wakarusa, Kan., was sensational in Missouri’s opening-night win over Kent State. But he didn’t look fully recovered from his 119-pitch effort. Crow’s pitches were high in the zone, and the Cardinals jumped all over him. The first four batters had singled just eight pitches into the inning. With one out, Dominguez, smiling as a rain of boos showered him, crushed a ball into center field for a grand slam. Chris Cates would add an RBI single to chase Crow, and Daniel Burton had a two-run single off Stephan Holst before the inning was done.

"We knew we had our work cut out for us," said Ryan Lollis, one of three Tigers named to the all-regional team. "We thought if we keep putting the ball in play it was going to happen for us."

Missouri responded with five runs in the second. After three consecutive singles loaded the bases, Kyle Mach was hit with a pitch and Gary Arndt drew a walk to force in the first two runs. Frey hit a sacrifice fly, and Brock Bond and Lollis added RBI singles in the inning to get the Tigers within 8-5.

But Missouri did little after that, scoring only on Aaron Senne’s sixth-inning home run. He was the only Tiger to advance as far as third base until the ninth as Missouri failed to mount a threat. The Tigers loaded the bases in the ninth, but closer Trystan Magnuson escaped without giving up a run.

"We did a real good job of responding with five in the second, but then they kept up the offensive pressure," Jamieson said. "We couldn’t have a quick inning on the defensive side. It takes a lot out of you, there’s no question."

After emotions ran hot Sunday night, things nearly came to a boil a couple times yesterday. The Cardinals were upset that Senne nearly stepped on first baseman Burton’s foot on a close play in the third. Boomer Whiting was hit with a pitch in the sixth and backpedaled halfway down the first-base line. Missouri pitcher Lendsey Thomson left the dugout to yell at Whiting and was ejected.

But with the game turning more in Louisville’s favor, both teams kept their cool.

Dominguez doubled and scored in the second and hit a three-run home run in the fourth. Designated hitter Jorge Castillo added a three-run homer and Pete Rodriguez’s double scored Dominguez in a four-run fifth.

Louisville collected 21 hits off six Missouri pitchers. Over five games, the Cardinals’ potent offense collected 73 hits.

"They’re a very good baseball team and playing very well right now," Jamieson said. "Obviously, we’re disappointed."

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