June 11, 2010

Super Regional Scores, Schedules & Capsules

CBI Live
McGee homers in ninth to lift FSU over Vanderbilt

By Jimmy Jones

Special to CollegeBaseballInsider.com

(photos by Jimmy Jones)

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Mike McGee's dramatic two-out home run in the bottom of the ninth off Vanderbilt reliever Chase Reid gave Florida State a 9-8 win over Vanderbilt Friday afternoon at Dick Howser Stadium.

McGee gave the Seminoles control of the series and ended what will be remembered as one of the all-time classics in NCAA Super Regional history. It marked his third career walk-off home run, and the Port St. Lucie, Fla., native has had the deciding hit in three of FSU's four walk-off victories this year.

"I was just trying to get on base any way I could," McGee said. "He threw the first pitch right there and I took it. Then I happened to get another pitch that was good enough to hit and I really just tried to drive it and luckily I just got it up in the air and the ball was carrying pretty well today and I was able to get it out.

“He (Reid) had a really good curve ball and he was throwing it to everyone today; I really didn't think I was going to get much to hit. I figured it was going to be a rough at-bat. I just got lucky and got a pitch to hit."

The win moves the Seminoles to 46-17 and one win away from advancing to the College World Series for the 20th time in school history.
 
"Well, it was a good ballgame," Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin said. "I thought the way our kids came back from a 6-0 deficit, which didn't shock me at all, I figured we would once the game slowed down a little bit. Taylor did a nice job of getting back on his feet after the second inning and keeping us in the game.  After that we just kept whittling away and scoring runs every inning. We were persistent and just couldn't hold them at the end."
 
Florida State threatened to break the game open early as it jumped out to an early 6-0 lead after just two innings, only to see it slowly vanish as a scrappy Vanderbilt team scored runs in five straight frames between the fourth and eighth innings. The Commodores (45-19) took the lead for the first time on a blast to left-center by Jason Esposito in the seventh.
 
Undeterred, the Seminoles knotted the score at 7 on a sacrifice fly by James Ramsey after Sherman Johnson lined a base hit on an 0-2 count and moved over to third on a bloop single to right by McGee.
 
Vanderbilt went back on top for the second time in the eighth on a solo home run by freshman Mike Yastrzemski (left). The grandson of Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski and son of former Seminoles outfielder Mike Yastrzemski (1980-83), the Commodore left fielder ripped an 0-1 pitch from Geoff Parker over the fence in right for his third homer of the season.
 
"I think Vanderbilt showed what they are all about today when we go up 6-0 and certainly we knew there was a lot of baseball left," Seminoles coach Mike Martin said. "They really showed what they're about by coming back and not only tying the game but going ahead. It was a clear display of fight on their part and certainly I was pleased with the fight in our guys when we fell behind to not feel sorry for ourselves and turned around and got some key hits. It was a heck of a ball game. No errors. If you like high-scoring games I guess you liked that one.”
 
Florida State and Vanderbilt will square-off in Game 2 of the Tallahassee Super Regional Saturday with first pitch set for 1 p.m. EDT. The game will air live on ESPN.