Florida State explodes for 17 runs, eliminates Florida

What Freddy Kruger, Jason, and that weirdo from the Texas Chainsaw Masscre is to 19 year old sexy coeds, so is today's Florida\Florida State baseball game to pitchers. The Florida State Seminoles eliminated the Florida Gators from the NCAA tournament today by a final score of 17-11. The two teams combined for 35 hits (25 by FSU, 10 by UF). Two big innings by the Seminoles proved too much for the Gators to overcome. A 7-run, 5th inning, in which FSU sent 13 men to the plate, combined with a 5-run 7th inning provided the difference for the Seminoles, who now advance to play the loser of the Bucknell\Tulane game, which will be played this evening.

The Gators actually had a 5-1 lead after the 3rd inning. The Seminoles cut the lead to 5-2 in the 4th, and then came the eruption of offense. After Florida State scored 7 times to take a 9-5 lead, the Gators rallied right back to tie the game at 9 with 4 runs of their own in the bottom of the 5th, thanks in large part to a 3-run home run by Clayton Pisani. That would be the last time the game was close. FSU extended their lead to 15-9 in the top of the 7th, thanks to a 3-run homer of their own by junior Tony Delmonico. Mr. Baseball and probable top-5 draft pick Buster Posey contributed a 2-run home run of his own and the Seminoles easily closed out the final 2 frames for the win.

In other Florida baseball action, while I am typing, the Huricanes of Miami hold a 5-0 lead in the 3rd inning over Missouri in their winner's bracket game. A win for the 'Canes would give them a bye into the Coral Gables Regional championship game.

Topsy Turvy Opening Day to NCAA Baseball Regionals

Top seeds went down all over the country today, including in Tallahassee. The #1 seed Florida State Seminoles and the #2 seed Florida Gators were defeated in the opening round of the NCAA baseball tournament. #1 overall seed Miami was able to get by Bethune-Cookman.

The Seminoles were blanked 7-0 by Bucknell and senior pitcher Matt Wilson, who pitched a complete game shutout, allowing only 6 hits. All the scoring was done in the first 4 innings, as the Bison put up 3 runs in both the 2nd and 4th frames.

Meanwhile, in the early game in Tallahassee, the Tulane Green Wave sent 11 men to the plate in a 6 run 7th inning to defeat the Florida Gators, 7-4. The Gators had just scored 4 runs in the bottom of the 6th to take a 4-1 lead before Tulane erupted in the 7th. Reliever Billy Bullock entered the game with 2 on and nobody out with a 4-1 lead. He faced 5 batters, allowed 3 hits, a walk, and a sacrifice fly. He left the game trailing 6-4, after giving up 3 runs (plus the 2 runners he inherited coming into the game scored, as well as one runner that was on base when he was yanked also scored). To be fair, while Florida had 4 hits in their 4-run 6th inning, they managed just 4 hits in the other 8 frames and never really threatened.

What all this means is that Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. EST, Florida will play Florida State in an elimination game. Some may have predicted Florida being in this situation, but not many people could have forseen a matchup with FSU in the loser's bracket. Florida State won the regular season series, 2-1. Both teams won a game on their home field, while FSU took the relatively new, annual neutral-field site game in Jacksonville. But all that is meaningless now. Lose tomorrow and your season is over.


Other top seeds that find themselves in the loser's bracket on day 2 include #8 Georiga (who lost 10-7 to Lipscomb), #18 Long Beach State (7-3 losers to Fresno State), #19 Texas (losing 2-1 to St. John's), #20 Stanford (were beat 4-2 by UC Davis), and #21 Vanderbilt (8-5 to Oklahoma).

Florida NCAA baseball fates revealed

2 of the Big 3 Florida schools will host an NCAA regional next week.

The #1 National Seed Miami Hurricanes will host Bethune-Cookman, Ole Miss, and Missouri in what looks like the "group of death." You would have thought being the #1 overall seed would have gotten you a little easier path...

The #4 seed Florida State Seminoles will welcome Bucknell, Tulane, and the Florida Gators to Tallahassee. The Gators were hoping to host their own regional, but with the early exit in the SEC Tournament, those hopes evaporated.

The SEC tied its own NCAA record of having 9 teams invited to the Tournament. The ACC has 3 of the top 4 overall seeds (#1 Miami, #2 UNC, #4 Florida State). Regional action kicks off Friday, May 30.

Gators swept out of SEC Tourny

It was a short appearance for the Florida Gators in the 2008 SEC baseball tournament. After losing yesterday to the Vanderbilt Commodores, UF faced #7 seed South Carolina today. The Gators jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, and it was downhill from there. USC scored 5 runs in the 2nd inning, 5 runs in the 8th inning, and went on to win 11-3.

Florida starter Billy Bullock didn't get out of the 2nd inning, needing over 50 pitches to record 4 outs. His final line was flat out ugly. 1.1 IP, 6 hits, 5 runs (all earned), 1 BB, 2 SO's, and 57 pitches.

There were a couple of bright spots in today's blowout, however. A pair of sophmores, Matt den Dekker and Cole Figueroa, combined for 6 of the Gators 10 hits. Den Dekker, the Gator center fielder, went 3 for 4 and scored all 3 of the Gators' runs. Figueroa went 3 for 3 and drove in a run. He did, however, commit an error in the field.

The Gators finished the regular season winning 6 of their final 8 games, earrning the 3rd seed in the tournament. But after this extremely disappointing showing in the SEC, the Gators are left to wait until Monday, when the NCAA field and regional locations will be announced live on ESPN at 12:30. Hopefully they can take this feeling of bitter emptiness and use it to try to avoid a similar letdown in the NCAA's.

Gator's play ball

It's not just UM and ACC baseball updates on here anymore. The Florida Gators kicked off the SEC tournament today. After a weekend sweep of Vanderbilt, the Gators earned the #3 seed in the tourny. They were rewarded with a first round game against... Vanderbilt. The Commodores jumped out to an early 2-0 lead before the Gators' got a chance to bat, and they never looked back.

The Gators threatened often late in the game, including a bases loaded situation in the 4th, and had 2 men on in the bottom of the 9th. But UF never got the key hit to drive in their runners. They scattered 8 hits and left 14 men on base throughout the game.

The bullpen was impressive, trying to keep the Gators' hopes alive. 4 pitchers combined over 3 innings to give up just 1 run on 5 hits.

Florida will now take on #7 seed South Carolina tomorrow in an elimination game. The Gamecocks lost in the early game to LSU. South Carolina took a 4 run lead to the 9th inning, but LSU scored 4 in the 9th, and a walkoff home run in the 10th won it for the Tigers. The Gators will probably have to win at least this game if they hope to host a regional series in the NCAA tournament.