College World Series 2016 scores and bracket: Oklahoma State, Arizona win on Day 1

It’s terrifying how dominant Thomas Hatch has been during this tournament. The Big 12 Pitcher of the Year tossed a shutout in Oklahoma State’s 1-0 win over UC Santa Barbara on Saturday, meaning he has yet to allow a run over 23 tournament innings. He gave up just five hits and fanned seven in the College World Series opener on Saturday, making him 9-2 on the season and dropping his ERA to an absurd 1.89.

Hatch has been the anchor of a Cowboys staff that’s allowed just six total runs during its perfect 7-0 start to the NCAA Tourney. What makes his complete game performance even more incredible is that after throwing 39 pitches in the first two innings (he admitted that “adrenaline” led to overthrows early in the game), the sophomore righty averaged just 10.4 pitches per inning from that point on. Hatch got stronger as the game went on, ending the game with a filthy strikeout of Gauchos slugger Austin Bush.

“I’ll tell you what, his first four innings, it was probably looking to be his worst outing of the year,” Cowboys catcher Collin Theroux told Baseball America. “His pitch count was up. He wasn’t hitting his spots. He was getting hit hard, and once he found himself he was pretty good. He’s a pretty good pitcher, man.”

Pretty good is right. Not only did he grab the win, he preserved OK State’s bullpen for Monday’s winner’s bracket tilt with Arizona. No. 2 starter Tyler Buffett—who threw a pair of one-run, seven-inning games against Clemson and South Carolina in the regionals and supers—gives the Cowboys a very real chance to advance to the semifinals.

The Wildcats got their own brilliant pitching outing from ace Nathan Bannister, who now leads the nation in innings pitched after allowing just one run over 7.0 to help knock off the No. 3 national seed. He limited one of the more dangerous lineups in Omaha to just eight hits, striking out 11 while walking three.

It was a rocky outing for Miami starter Michael Mediavilla, who walked two and plunked two during a shaky, three-run first inning. He appeared to settle down for the next three frames, but coughed up another pair of runs with four straight hits to open the fifth.

It’s a heavy blow to the Canes, which don’t have the same rotation depth as others in this tournament. Only three of the last 38 CWS finalists have come out of the losers bracket, a daunting statistic for Miami and UC Santa Barbara clubs that will meet on Monday in an elimination game.

Here’s a look at the updated Group 1 bracket via NCAA.com:

TCU vs. Texas Tech, 3 p.m. ET on ESPNU

Coastal Carolina vs. Florida, 8 p.m. ET on ESPN 2