The ninth-inning heroics Florida’s baseball team and its fans have become accustomed to in the ninth inning fell just short Saturday at McKethan Stadium. The Gators rallied but could not overcome Southern Mississippi, which took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series Saturday with a 9-7 victory.
“You’ve got to tip your cap to Southern Miss,” Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “We made a little run there in the ninth like we usually do but just came a little short. This thing is not over with yet.”
The usually reliable pitching staff of the Gators (42-21) was anything but on Saturday against the Golden Eagles (39-24), who can punch their ticket to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb., on Sunday with a victory in the second game of the best-of-three Gainesville Super Regional. Game time is 7 p.m. and ESPN2 will have the coverage.
Twice after Florida’s offense had regained the lead against Southern Mississippi, the Gators’ pitchers gave it right back, the last time with a four-run sixth inning that gave the Eagles a 9-6 lead.
“It’s tough to win a ball game when you get momentum and can only keep it for half an inning,” Florida catcher Teddy Foster said. “Whether it was the pitching not coming through or the bats going cold for a couple innings, we just couldn’t keep the momentum up for more than an inning or two.”
After a 59-minute rain delay during the middle of the third inning, Florida responded with a four-run inning. Foster’s two-run home run, an RBI ground out by Preston Tucker and an RBI double by Josh Adams gave the Gators a 4-2 advantage after three innings.
But starting pitcher Stephen Locke struggled in his fifth inning of work. He gave up back-to-back doubles to Bo Davis and James Ewing before allowing Kameron Brunty to single to right. O’Sullivan immediately went to senior right-hander Patrick Keating, who induced what should have been a double play ball, but it skipped off shortstop Mike Mooney’s glove and into center field. A wild pitch to the next batter allowed Southern Miss to take a 5-4 lead.
The Gators answered with two runs in the bottom of the fifth when Brandon McArthur was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and Tyler Thompson followed with a sacrifice fly to left field for a 6-5 Florida lead.
But Southern Mississippi delivered the knockout blows in the sixth with a four-run inning that included an RBI single by Ewing and an RBI double by Corey Stevens. As they have done most of the season, the top five hitters in the Eagles’ lineup did a lot of the damage, going 8-for-18 (plus two walks and a hit batter), scoring six runs and driving in seven runs. Ewing went 3-for-3 with two runs scored and two RBI, while David was 2-for-3 with two runs scored and designated hitter Corey Stevens had three RBI.
Senior reliever Jonathan Johnston, who had come in during the fifth innings and hit Brandon McArthur with a pitch, gave Southern Mississippi 3.2 innings of work after that, allowing no runs and only one hit with two strikeouts. He was credited with the victory, his first decision of the season.
“The one guy that I remember shut it down was Jonathan Johnston,” said Southern Mississippi coach Corky Palmer, who is retiring when this season is over. “Florida is a great hitting team and he gave us a chance to get the momentum back with our bats. He played a big part in this game.”
The Gators tried to rally in the ninth inning off Southern Mississippi closer Collin Cargill. Avery Barnes started things with a leadoff single. But their momentum was squashed when Jonathan Pigott chopped a ground ball to third and Barnes was erased on a close play. Matt den Dekker would later single in the inning to score one run, but McArthur grounded out to second to end the game.
The Gators wasted some other scoring opportunities. They loaded the bases with no outs during the fourth and fifth innings, scoring only the two runs in the fifth.
“We had bases loaded twice and didn’t cash in the first time,” O’Sullivan said. “We took the lead and I thought we were going to open it up at that point. From there they went and scored their four runs.”
The Gators did manage 12 hits, with Barnes, Jonathan Pigott, Tucker and Adams having two each.
Once the Southern Mississippi bats got going, so did their partisans who numbered perhaps 1,000 and made McKethan Stadium sound like it was a home game.
“Our fans have always supported us,” Palmer said. “I’m excited for them just like our team. They’ve been with us these last 6-8 years, so they’ve seen a lot of games.”
The challenge is simple enough—the Gators must win Sunday night and also on Monday if they hope to advance to the College World Series. A loss in either game would end their season.
Florida has not announced their starting pitcher, but Southern Mississippi will start Conference USA Pitcher of the Year Todd McInnis (9-4, 3.21 ERA).
“There’s nothing we can do about today’s game,” O’Sullivan said. “We’ll learn from it, watch the game tape and try to make some adjustments. We’re not out of it. We’ve had our backs against the wall all year so it’s not something we aren’t used to.”
Playing to keep the season alive, however, is.
SATURDAY’S ROUNDUP: LSU, ARKANSAS AND FULLERTON OFF TO OMAHA
Three teams punched their tickets to the College World Series Saturday, two of them from the Southeastern Conference which could have another team join them today while a fourth SEC team will be fighting to stay alive.
Cal State Fullerton, the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship, and SEC teams Louisiana State and Arkansas ended their best-of-three Super Regional series with their second straight victories Saturday.
The Titans followed their 12-0 victory Friday with an 11-2 triumph Saturday over Louisville to complete a sweep of the Fullerton Super Regional. Louisiana State got another strong starting performance, this one from Louis Coleman, on its way to a 5-3 victory and sweep of Rice in the Baton Rouge Super Regional. Arkansas’ Andrew Darr had four hits, the last of which was a two-run, walk-off double in a 9-8 victory and sweep of Florida State at the Tallahassee Super Regional.
Virginia, which saw its eight-game postseason winning streak ended Friday by Mississippi’s 4-3 victory in 12 innings at the Oxford Super Regional, came back to even up that series at 1-1 with a 4-3 victory over the Rebels, setting up Sunday’s deciding third game.
Florida, meanwhile, will be trying to stave off elimination Sunday night after Southern Mississippi scored seven times in the fifth and sixth innings on its way to a 9-7 triumph at McKethan Stadium. Texas opened the Austin Super Regional with a 10-4 victory over Texas Christian. North Carolina went up 1-0 on East Carolina with a 10-1 victory in the Chapel Hill Super Regional, while ACC power Clemson dropped the opener of its series to Arizona State, 7-4, in the Tempe Super Regional.
Louisiana State 5, Rice 3: Coleman allowed only three runs in eight innings as the Tigers (51-16) advanced to the College World Series for the 15th time in school history, much to the delight of a record crowd of 9,651 at Alex Box Stadium.
Coach Paul Mainieri saw his team extend its win streak to 10 games and improved to 117-44 all-time in NCAA tournament games for a winning percentage of .727, the highest in NCAA history. It will be LSU’s first back-to-back trips to Omaha since 2004 Rice finished its season with a record of 43-18.
Coleman, the SEC Pitcher of the Year, moved to 13-2 with his fourth straight victory, allowing nine hits while striking out five. Freshman closer Matty Ott had his 16th save. Rice starter Ryan Berry (7-2) suffered only his second loss of the season after giving up five earned runs on eight hits and four walks in five innings of work.
Third baseman Derek Helenihi led the Tigers at the plate with two hits and two RBI. The senior also blasted his fourth home run of the season. Designated hitter Blake Dean also had two hits on the afternoon, and catcher Micah Gibbs and center fielder Mikie Mahtook each drove in one run apiece.
Arkansas 9, Florida State 8: The Razorbacks (39-22) earned their sixth trip to Omaha and first since 2004 thanks to the hitting heroics of Darr, a senior who was starting his first game in almost a month, and Bo Bigham, who had three hits. It’s only the ninth time a team has reached the College World Series without playing either a regional or super regional at home.
Darr was at his best in the game delivering hit after hit. His solo home run in the seventh inning was the start of a five-run inning that gave the Razorbacks a 6-5 lead and his double to left-center in the ninth proved to be the game-winner.
After Arkansas’ Andy Wilkins hit a solo homer in the bottom of the fourth inning to tie the game at 1-1, Florida State scored four times in the top of the fifth for a 5-1 lead. The big blow in the inning was a two-run home run by Mike McGee.
Darr’s home run began Arkansas’ five-run seventh inning, which was helped by Florida State’s sputtering bullpen, an error and finally a two-run single by Bigham.
Arkansas scored what it thought was an insurance run in the eighth, but a ninth-inning Florida State rally off gave the Seminoles an 8-7 lead going to the bottom of the ninth. But Darr delivered his big blow to the gap in left center, scoring Bigham and Zack Cox.
Cal State Fullerton 11, Louisville 2: Jared Clark homered and drove in three runs and Noe Ramirez struck out a career-high 10 over eight strong innings as Cal State Fullerton advanced to the College World Series for the 16th team in search of its fifth NCAA title.
“We’re not just going to Omaha to enjoy the Omaha steaks and the people and the environment,” Fullerton coach Dave Serrano said.
The Titans (47-14) outscored the Cardinals 23-2 in the two wins, and have yet to be challenged in the postseason. They’ve won all five of their games by a combined 64-11. Louisville finished its season 47-18.
In all, four Fullerton players—Clark, Gary Brown, Joe Scott and Joey Siddons—each had two hits while Christian Colon had a two-run double, and Dustin Garneau also drove in two runs.
Virginia 4, Mississippi 3: A day after losing the first game on a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 12th inning, the Cavaliers (47-13-1) scored twice in the bottom of the eighth to take a 4-3 lead on Ole Miss (44-19) and then held on before 10,323 at Swayze Field.
Virginia will be seeking its first trip to the College World Series in Sunday’s 3 p.m. game, while Mississippi is seeking its first trip since 1972. Virginia will be the home team in the game, having won a post-game coin flip.
Senior Andrew Carraway earned the win on the mound with 3.1 scoreless innings of relief and improved to 8-1 this year. Matt Packer came on with a runner at third and one out in the ninth and held the Rebels at bay to earn his third save.
After Ole Miss southpaw Drew Pomeranz gave his team seven strong innings with 146 pitches, reliever David Goforth came on in the eighth to protect a 3-2 lead but couldn’t. Franco Valdes singled home Danny Hultzen, who had reached on a throwing error, and John Barr beat out a groundball to short that Mississippi couldn’t turn into an inning-end double play, allowing Steven Proscia, who had walked, to score the game-winning run.
North Carolina 10, East Carolina 1: Junior right-hander Alex White struck out a career-high 12 batters for his first victory in six weeks to lead North Carolina. It also was White’s sixth postseason victory, a school record.
Kyle Seager had four hits and a home run for the Tar Heels (46-16), the No. 4 national seed. North Carolina went ahead with a pair of runs in the third inning, then blew the game open with seven more in the sixth and can clinch another trip to Omaha by beating the Pirates (46-19) again Sunday in the best-of-three series.
The Tar Heels picked up where they left off in last weekend’s romp through the regionals, finishing with 17 hits and scoring at least 10 runs for the third straight game.
Texas 10, Texas Christian 4: Michael Torres hit two home runs and had four RBIs to lead Texas over TCU in their Super Regional series opener in Austin.
Torres went 4-for-5, hitting a solo home run in the second inning to give Texas a 3-1 lead. His three-run homer in the seventh broke the game open.
The Longhorns (45-13-1) also set a new NCAA record with seven sacrifices.
Chance Ruffin (10-2) went the distance for Texas for the third time this season, striking out seven. The loss was the first for TCU’s Kyle Winkler (7-1), who allowed five hits and four earned runs.
Taylor Featherston hit a homer in the first inning to give TCU (39-17) a quick 1-0 lead, and Matt Vern added a two-run shot in the sixth.
Arizona State 7, Clemson 4: Carlos Ramirez had three singles and three RBI as the Sun Devils (48-12) took a 1-0 lead in the Tempe Super Regional series. Ramirez singled in the fifth to tie the game and then singled in two runs in the eighth to insure the victory.
Matt Newman had two hits, including a go-ahead double in the seventh, while Drew Maggi added three hits and Jason Kipnis had a solo home run. Mike Leake (16-1) worked eight innings, allowing four runs on eight hits with seven strikeouts. Mitchell Lambson struck out two in the ninth for his fifth save of the season.
NCAA DIVISION I BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
SUPER REGIONALS
Best-of-three series
Saturday’s results
Southern Mississippi 9, Florida 7; Southern Mississippi leads the best-of-three Gainesville Super Regional series, 1-0.
Arkansas 9, Florida State 8; Arkansas (39-22) wins best-of-three Tallahassee Super Regional series, 2-0, and advances to College World Series. Florida State (45-18) eliminated.
Louisiana State 5, Rice 3; Louisiana State (51-16) wins best-of-three Baton Rouge Super Regional series, 2-0, and advances to College World Series. Rice (43-18) eliminated.
Cal State Fullerton 11, Louisville 2; Cal State Fullerton (47-14) wins best-of-three Fullerton Super Regional series, 2-0, and advances to College World Series. Rice (47-18) eliminated.
North Carolina 10, East Carolina 1; North Carolina leads best-of-three Chapel Hill Super Regional series, 1-0.
Texas 10, Texas Christian 4; Texas leads best-of-three Austin Super Regional series, 1-0.
Arizona State 7, Clemson 4; Arizona State leads best-of-three Tempe Super Regional series, 1-0.
Virginia 4, Mississippi 3; best-of-three Oxford Super Regional series tied 1-1.
Friday’s results
Arkansas 7, Florida State 2; Arkansas leads best-of-three Tallahassee Super Regional series, 1-0.
Mississippi 4, Virginia 3 (12); Mississippi leads best-of-three Oxford Super Regional series, 1-0.
Louisiana State 12, Rice 9; Louisiana State leads best-of-three Baton Rouge Super Regional series, 1-0.
Cal State Fullerton 12, Louisville 0; Cal State Fullerton leads best-of-three Fullerton Super Regional series, 1-0.
Sunday’s games
Florida (42-21) vs. Southern Mississippi (39-24) at Gainesville, Fla., 7 p.m. (ESPN2)
North Carolina (46-16) vs. East Carolina (46-20) at Chapel Hill, N.C., noon (ESPN)
Virginia (47-13-1) vs. Mississippi (44-19) at Oxford, Miss., 3 p.m. (ESPN)
Texas (45-13-1) vs. Texas Christian (39-17) at Austin, Texas, 3 p.m. (ESPN)
Arizona State (48-12) vs. Clemson (44-21) at Tempe, Ariz., 10 p.m. (ESPN2)
Monday’s games
Southern Mississippi vs. Florida at Gainesville, Fla., if necessary, 1 or 7 p.m. (ESPN/ESPN2)
East Carolina vs. North Carolina at Chapel Hill, if necessary, 1 or 7 p.m., (ESPN/ESPN2)
Texas Christian vs. Texas at Austin, Texas, if necessary, 1 or 7 p.m. (ESPN/ESPN2)
Clemson vs. Arizona State at Tempe, Ariz., if necessary, 7 p.m. (ESPN2)