Bulldogs’ 9th-inning homer ousts FSU from NCAA regional
Mississippi State got some MacNamee Magic. For Florida State, it was more misery for Mike Martin.
The No. 7 Seminoles became the first national seed eliminated from the NCAA Tournament when Elijah MacNamee hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to give Mississippi State a 3-2 walk-off win in Tallahassee, Florida, on Saturday.
Florida State, which lost to Samford on Friday, went 0-2 in the regionals as a topeight national seed for the second time in five years.
“Baseball. It hurts, guys, ladies. It hurts,” Martin said. “Good Lord willing, I’ll see the sun come up tomorrow, life will go on, but this one hurt.”
Martin passed Augie Garrido as college baseball’s all-time coaching wins leader last month. His two-year contract expires this year, and he said he would meet with athletic director Stan Wilcox to determine whether he will be back for a 40th season.
If Martin returns, he would need 13 wins to reach the 2,000 mark and would get another chance to chase his elusive first national championship.
Mississippi State has had an emotional season as well. Andy Cannizaro resigned Feb. 20 for off-field conduct and pitching coach Gary Henderson took over as interim coach.
The Bulldogs had to play their first 11 games away from home — unusual for a team in the South — because of construction on Dudy Noble Field. They lost seven of their first nine Southeastern Conference games and went into May as no lock to make the conference tournament, let alone the NCAA Tournament.
They swept top-ranked Florida to finish the regular season, and after going one-and-out in the SEC Tournament, they lost 2010 to Oklahoma in their regional opener.
Down to their last strike against Florida State, MacNamee sent Drew Parrish’s 3-2 changeup over the leftfield wall to keep the season alive and make Mississippi State 10-1 against teams ranked in the top 10.
“Parrish is one of the best pitchers we have seen all year,” said MacNamee, 5 for 9 with two homers and six RBIs in two games. “I just believed in myself during that at-bat and it worked.”
Parrish returned to the mound in the ninth after a rain delay of more than two hours. Parrish had thrown 109 pitches through eight innings. Martin said pitching coach Mike Bell had Parrish throw every 15 minutes to stay loose during the delay, and he didn’t secondguess his decision to send him back out.
“He wanted to have the ball,” Martin said. “His teammates wanted him to have the ball and if I had to do it over again, I would have made the same decision.”
MARVELOUS ON MOUND
— Tucker Bradley hit one of Georgia’s four home runs and had four RBIs in an 18-5 win over Campbell in a first-round game delayed until Saturday because of rain Friday.
— Indiana rode Pauly Milto’s four-hit, 10-strikeout shutout to a 6-0 elimination-game win over Texas Southern.
— Brian Brown scattered eight hits and struck out eight as North Carolina State bounced back from its first-round loss to Army to beat Northeastern 9-3.
— Tim Cate pitched 5 1/3 innings of two-hit, shutout relief as UConn came from behind to end LIU Brooklyn’s first NCAA appearance since 1972 with a 10-3 win.
— Wyatt Mascarella hit a pair of homers for St. John’s, which eliminated Morehead State 11-5.
BIG BATS
— Pete Schuler hit a tworun homer in the bottom of the eighth off Brock Whittlesey after New Mexico State starter Kyle Bradish was pulled, and Kent State stayed alive with a 2-1 win.
— Kep Brown had four hits for No. 4 regional seed UNC-Wilmington, including a bases-loaded single in the 13th to give the Seahawks a 4-3 walk-off elimination-game win over Ohio State.
— Patrick Bailey homered twice and drove in five runs for NC State.
— David Villar hit the tiebreaking, two-run single, Joe Genord followed with a three-run homer, and South Florida ended Hartford’s first tournament appearance with a 9-4 win in 11 innings.
— Gonzaga’s Gunnar Schubert homered and tripled in an 8-2 win that ousted Canisius.
— National batting leader Devlin Granberg homered and finished with four hits to lead Dallas Baptist past Oral Roberts 18-9.
— No. 4 regional seed Northwestern State got a home run and four RBIs from Tyler Smith in its 9-0 win over San Diego State.
HE SAID IT
“As of a week ago, none of the guys had ever played in a conference tournament. So playing in a conference tournament, winning it and coming here meant a lot to the guys. The moment was a little big for them yesterday, so hopefully it is a building block for us.” — LIU Brooklyn coach Dan Pirillo, on his program’s first tournament appearance since 1972.