Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
LAST CHANCE FOR MARTIN
As FSU’s Drew Mendoza faced a 2-2 count in the bottom of the 12th with a man on second in game two of the Seminoles’ Super Regional matchup against LSU, Florida State players and fans waited with bated breath.
It was the same uncertainty the Seminoles felt a few weeks ago when they waited to hear Florida State called during the NCAA Tournament selection show. It was the same anxiety many felt when the losses started to pile up in late March and early April.
But once again, the Seminoles found a way. Mendoza’s shot to center field brought the runner home and gave veteran coach Mike Martin a memory to last a lifetime.
“I’ll always have that view in my mind of those guys leaping over the wall of dugout and running to the plate,” said Martin, the alltime college baseball wins leader whose 40th and final season in the dugot keeps getting extended. “And I’m going, ‘Don’t get too
close to the plate.’ Because of course you could have a little issue. But they all stopped in plenty of time and the winning run slid in and the celebration began. … I’ll never forget that, but I like to think we’re not through.”
FSU marches on to Omaha, Neb., home of the College World Series, as a Cinderella team after years of being a nationally ranked powerhouse. When asked after the LSU game about how improbable the run has been, Martin had to take a second to avoid tearing up during the press conference.
“I wanted this so bad for our young men,” he said. “When you have the number of freshmen that we have, then to watch them develop as young men and do what they’re supposed to do, which is put education first and baseball second, and do their job in the classroom and then come out and get better every day on the practice field and they did.”
The players knew all they need was a spot in the postseason, vowing to make the most of the opportunity.
“Yeah, for sure [we have a shot]. We definitely have all the pieces and the talent it’s just a matter of putting it together,” infielder Mike Salvatore said.
From that moment on the Seminoles proved it, scoring a total of 35 runs in their next three games to advance to the Super Regional, then sweeping LSU to earn a CWS bid.
As the Seminoles inch closer to giving Martin the storybook ending to his impressive career that does not include national title, the coach said it’s the struggles throughout the season that make the turnaround special.
“That little spell we went through, we were looking at each other as coaches, we were looking each other dead in the eyes and saying, ‘I hope everybody understands we’re in jail, and the only way we’re going to get out of it is come up with a set lineup and go from here,’ ” Martin said after eliminating LSU.
“All of a sudden a couple things happened and then down the road we made a couple of changes in the outfield and established a new first baseman and the good things started happening.”
FSU will take on a No. 5 Arkansas Saturday at 7 p.m. The Razorbacks earned their CWS trip after a dominant 14-1 victory over No. 18 Ole Miss.