After falling 6-5 to the St. John’s University Red Storm in the Tallahassee Regional opener at Dick Howser Stadium, Florida State was forced into the losers bracket on May 29. Facing elimination throughout the weekend, the Seminoles battled past Coastal Carolina University 2-1 and the Northern Illinois University (NIU) Huskies 7-4 in extra innings before their season ended in a 5-4 loss to St. John’s on June 1.
The FSU offense struggled to capitalize on scoring chances throughout the regional. The ’Noles left 28 runners stranded on base over four games, including 17 in the two losses to the Red Storm. Despite the regional loss, ‘Garnet and Gold head coach Link Jarrett admired his team’s resilience throughout the weekend.
“The fight of this group is something that I felt with this team more than any other team,” Jarrett said in the postgame press conference on May 31.
Seminoles fall in opener, face elimination
In the opening game, Florida State struck first on a leadoff home run by freshman outfielder John Stuetzer on the game’s opening pitch.
The Seminoles maintained control for much of the contest behind another home run from sophomore shortstop Gabe Fraser and RBI from junior outfielder Brayden Dowd and junior third baseman Cal Fisher, building a 5-2 lead through six innings. Junior starting pitcher Bryson Moore delivered five innings with six strikeouts and two earned runs allowed.
Despite the advantage, the Red Storm rallied late. A solo shot from freshman outfielder and pinch-hitter Dylan Fitzsimmons sparked a four-run eighth inning. The rally was aided by two wild pitches from junior pitcher John Abraham and an error from sophomore catcher Hunter Carns.
St. John’s then completed the comeback in the ninth when junior third baseman Jayder Raifstanger delivered the go-ahead RBI single. It was enough to overtake the Garnet and Gold, and the Red Storm won the opener 6-5.
Victory against Coastal Carolina keeps ‘Noles in tournament
Facing elimination, FSU leaned on its pitching staff.
After Coastal Carolina grabbed a 1-0 lead in the third inning, redshirt senior catcher Nathan Cmeyla tied the game with an RBI double following a lengthy rain delay. Fisher provided the decisive blow with a solo bomb in the fifth for the 2-1 advantage.
“I think when you heighten the stakes, the gamer shows up,” Jarrett said at the postgame press conference on May 31.
Atlantic Coast Conference Pitcher of the Year Wes Mendes struck out eight batters, while junior pitcher Trey Beard threw in four shut down innings in relief, striking out nine to secure the victory.
Third game, second win for Seminoles
The ’Noles built an early lead before Husky graduate student first baseman Gavin Baldwin slammed two home runs to help NIU tie the game at three in the fourth. After Northern Illinois took a one-run lead in the seventh inning, Cmeyla delivered an RBI double in the eighth to tie the game at four and force extra innings.
The Garnet and Gold broke through in the 10th inning when Carns lifted a sacrifice fly to grab a 5-4 lead. Two batters later, senior first baseman Ben Barrett crushed a two-run homer to extend the lead.
Junior pitcher Brodie Purcell earned the win after tossing 3.1 scoreless innings with seven strikeouts.
Seminoles fail to advance after second game against St. John’s
Florida State jumped out to an early lead once again in the regional rematch against the Red Storm. Fisher opened the scoring with a solo home run before redshirt sophomore outfielder Brody DeLamielleure added an RBI single to give the Seminoles a 2-0 advantage in the top of the fifth.
The game turned in the bottom of the frame when redshirt sophomore catcher Adam Agresti blasted a grand slam off Abraham to put St. John’s ahead 4-2. A sixth inning wild pitch via redshirt junior pitcher Kevin Mebil extended the Red Storm lead to 5-2.
“We trust [John Abraham], and we thought he had the mixture of things that could give Agresti some problems, and I know the ending itself did not evolve properly in terms of thinking he had the stuff,” Jarrett said in the postgame press conference on June 1. “I don’t think we’re in the conversation that we were in towards the end of the year without him.”
FSU mounted one final push in the ninth inning as Fisher nuked a two-run homer, his third of the regional, to cut the deficit to one. The rally ultimately fell short, as DeLamielleure struck out looking to end the ’Noles’ season.
“Everybody goes through ups and downs and I think that’s where the whole fight thing came from is not everybody’s going to have their best stuff everyday,” Fisher said in the postgame press conference on June 1. “You saw in these games, we were not going away.”
The Garnet and Gold finished the Tallahassee Regional one win short of a Super Regional berth, marking the second time under Jarrett that the Seminoles have fallen short of advancing past the Tallahassee Regional.
Hunter Milligan is a Staff Writer for the FSView & Florida Flambeau, the student-run, independent online news service for the FSU community. Email our staff at contact@fsview.com.
This article originally appeared on FSU News: St. John’s batters ‘Noles during Tallahassee Regional, FSU loses 5-4
Reporting by Hunter Milligan, Staff Writer, FSView / FSU News
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By Hunter Milligan, Staff Writer, FSView | USA TODAY Network
