OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- Another Florida State season ended in disappointment at the College World Series.
Arizona
converted three errors into a six-run first inning and advanced to the
CWS final with a 10-3 win over Florida State on Thursday.
"About the easiest way to sum it up is say we got taken to the woodshed today," FSU coach Mike Martin said.
The
Seminoles (50-17) were making their 21st appearance in Omaha and no
other team has played in the CWS as many times without winning a
championship. Martin has been coach for 15 of those trips to Omaha.
He said the championship drought isn't testing his patience.
"Not
at all," he said. "I'll tell you exactly how I feel. It's
Christmastime. You get to come to Omaha, Nebraska, and experience the
week of Christmas with great people. You'll have memories that you'll
cherish for the rest of your life.
"No, I don't feel like Job. I
feel like King David, because I am on top of the world with people that
will fight for you for 27 outs in a game."
Center fielder James Ramsey, the St. Louis Cardinals' first-round draft pick, said the Seminoles got the most out of themselves.
"There
weren't a whole lot of expectations, but inside the clubhouse, there
were a lot of guys that fought for each other on and off the field,"
Ramsey said. "I don't regret anything. It's been a great year. I feel
extremely blessed for every opportunity. And I'm not really that upset
the season's over from that standpoint, knowing that guys who played
with me fought to the very last out."
Freshman starter Brandon
Leibrandt was pulled after he recorded just one out for the Seminoles,
who used eight pitchers to tie a CWS record for a nine-inning game.
Robert Refsnyder and Bobby Brown homered in a span of three at-bats in the fourth as the Wildcats built their lead to 10-1.
Kurt Heyer (13-2) worked 7 1-3 innings while taking the national lead for wins.
The
Wildcats (46-17) won Bracket 1 and will open the best-of-three finals
Sunday. Arizona will be playing for its fourth national championship and
first since 1986.
The Wildcats have won nine games in a row and are 56-0 when scoring nine or more runs since March 2010.
Leibrandt
(8-3) was knocked out after 4 1-3 innings of the Seminoles' 4-3,
12-inning loss to Arizona last Friday. On Thursday, he threw 31 pitches,
only 15 strikes, and his throwing error set the stage for Arizona's big
first inning.
Leibrandt's struggle marked the third time in this
CWS that a starting pitcher lasted an inning or less. Florida's Hudson
Randall made it one inning against Kent State on Monday and UCLA's Zack
Weiss was pulled after one-third of an inning against Florida State on
Tuesday.
The last time so many CWS starters failed to get more than three outs was in 1995, when five got the early hook.
Arizona's
six runs in the first resulted from four singles, three walks, a
sacrifice fly and the three errors. No team at the CWS had committed as
many errors in an inning since Miami had the same number in a 2004 game
against Cal State Fullerton.
The Wildcats got their first
extra-base hit of the CWS in the fourth when Refsnyder drilled a shot
into the left-field bullpen for his seventh homer of the season. Seth
Mejias-Brean followed with a double, and then Brown lofted a ball into
the right-field bullpen for his fifth of the year.
Heyer
scattered nine hits, walked three and struck out three. His 7 1-3
innings raised his nation-leading total to 153, the most of any pitcher
in Division I since 2006.
