No. 8 seed Florida State set a pair of NCAA Baseball Championship Super Regional records with its 24-4 annihilation of UConn in Game 1 of their series Friday in Tallahassee, Fla.
The Seminoles’ 24 runs and 20-run margin of victory both were the most in the round’s history. The Seminoles (46-15) racked up 18 hits and an astonishing 15 walks to deflate UConn, using a six-run sixth inning and a nine-run seventh to make it 24-1 before the Huskies (35-25) finally responded.
Jaime Ferrer hit two of Florida State’s five home runs, a solo shot in the first and a two-run homer early in the sixth. Marco Dinges and James Tibbs III each went 2-for-5 with four RBIs, with Dinges providing a homer and three runs.
Ferrer, Alex Lodise and Cam Smith each finished with three hits for Florida State. Carson Dorsey (7-4) struck out six over 5 1/3 innings.
Jake Studley had a two-run single in garbage time for UConn, which fell behind in the best-of-three series. Starter Ian Cooke (5-2) gave up three homers over his 1 2/3 innings.
No. 1 Tennessee 11, Evansville 6
Hunter Ensley followed a fifth-inning RBI single with a three-run home run in the seventh to help the Volunteers (54-11) pull away from the Purple Aces (38-25) in Game 1 in Knoxville, Tenn.
Blake Burke, Christian Moore and Billy Amick all hit home runs early in the game before Burke ignited a three-run fifth with an RBI double and Amick plated a run with an infield single. AJ Causey (13-3) relieved starter Chris Stamos four outs into the game and struck out eight over 4 2/3 innings, allowing three unearned runs.
Cal McGinnis hit an early two-run homer to give Evansville the lead, and Kip Fougerousse and Chase Hug combined to drive in three runs in the fifth to tie the score 5-5 before Tennessee’s explosion. Starter Kenton Deverman (9-2) was dinged for eight runs (seven earned) on six hits and three walks in 4 2/3 frames.
No. 4 North Carolina 8, West Virginia 6
Vance Honeycutt hit a two-run, walk-off homer to give the Tar Heels a come-from-behind win over the Mountaineers in the opener of the Chapel Hill (N.C.) Super Regional.
Luke Stevenson hit a game-tying homer against West Virginia starter Derek Clark leading off the bottom of the ninth. With one on and one out, Aidan Major took over on the mound, and he fanned Colby Wilkerson for the second out. Honeycutt then went deep to left field to end the game.
Wilkerson homered earlier and scored twice for North Carolina (46-14), and Honeycutt finished with two hits. Matt Poston (4-2) pitched three scoreless relief innings for the win.
Clark (8-3) was charged with seven runs on seven hits in 8 1/3 innings. He struck out eight and walked three. Kyle West homered twice and Reed Chumley also went deep for West Virginia (36-23).
No. 12 Virginia 7, Kansas State 4
Henry Godbout belted a tiebreaking, three-run homer in the seventh inning and the Cavaliers held on to beat the Wildcats in the first game of the Charlottesville (Va.) Super Regional.
Godbout, who finished with two hits and two runs, came through with two outs in the seventh against Kansas State reliever Cole Wisenbaker. Griff O’Ferrall contributed two hits and two RBIs for Virginia (45-15), and Henry Ford also had two hits.
Evan Blanco (8-3) fired seven innings of four-run ball for the win. He gave up five hits and a walk while striking out nine. Matt Augustin got the final two outs for his first save.
David Bishop hit a solo homer and Kaelen Culpepper knocked in two runs for the Wildcats (35-25). Kansas State starter Owen Boerema gave up four runs (two earned) in 5 2/3 innings. Blake Dean (4-4) took the loss in relief.
–Field Level Media
