June 3, 2008

FSU Earns 16-7 Victory Over Tulane; Advances To Eighth Super Regional

Tallahassee, Fla. - No. 4 national seed Florida State (52-11) bounced back from an opening day shutout to win four straight games and advance to the eighth NCAA Super Regional in school history with a 16-7 win over Tulane Monday night at Mike Martin Field at Dick Howser Stadium. The Seminoles bats continued to remain red hot as FSU scored double digit runs for the fourth game in a row.

Florida State will host a best of three game series with Wichita State in Super Regional action, marking the first Super Regional in Tallahassee since 2002, with games Friday, June 6 at 2 p.m. (ESPN2), Saturday, June 7 at Noon (ESPN2) and Sunday, June 8 at 1 p.m. (ESPN).

The Seminoles have now reached a Super Regional on three occasions after falling into the loser's bracket. In 2003, FSU lost the second game of the Regional and advanced just as the Seminoles did in 2000. The last time Florida State lost the first game of a Regional and went on to win that tournament was in 1992, before the NCAA instituted a Super Regional format.

Florida State once again was propelled to victory by the big inning. The Seminoles broke open a scoreless game in the top of the fourth scoring six runs. It was the eighth time in the last four games FSU scored five or more runs in an inning and the fifth time the squad scored six or more runs in a frame in the regional. After a 7-0 loss to Bucknell in the opener, Florida State proceeded to score 74 runs in the next four games to storm its way into the Super Regional.

Matt Fairel, who pitched three innings Saturday in a win over Florida, threw 99 pitches for FSU and went 5.2 innings in picking up his 11th win of the season. The Seminole ace scattered seven hits and allowed four runs, of which three were earned. After getting knocked out of the game with the rival Gators just two days before, Fairel bounced back to give Florida State the start they needed after using nine pitchers in the first three days of regional play.

Yellow Jacket Season Ends With Loss To Georgia In NCAA Regional

ATHENS, Ga. - Georgia Tech's baseball team, which had overcome adversity all season long, could not overcome six errors and the hot bats of Georgia in an 18-6 loss to the Bulldogs in the deciding game of the Athens NCAA Baseball Regional at Foley Field.

Georgia (39-22-1) pounded out 18 hits off of six Yellow Jacket pitchers and scored at least two runs in six different innings to beat Georgia Tech for the second straight night and advance to next week's Super Regional. The Bulldogs will host NC State, which beat South Carolina Saturday to win the Raleigh (NC) Regional, in a best-of-three series at Foley Field beginning Friday night.

"Obviously, we didn't play championship-level baseball tonight," Georgia Tech coach Danny Hall said, "and I take full responsibility for that. Give Georgia a lot of credit. They suffered a loss early (Friday vs. Lipscomb) and won all the games they needed to win to advance.

The Yellow Jackets (41-21) entered the regional as one of the nation's top power-hitting teams and a solid defensive club averaging just over one error per game. On Monday night, however, Tech could not muster any extra-base hits and committed a season-high six errors.

Georgia Tech, which played in the NCAA Tournament for the 24th time, finished the season with 40-plus wins for the 20th time in school history.