• Box Score: Florida State 8, Florida 5 (Florida eliminated)
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Mike McGee’s bat did damage both large and small, and his arm sealed the deal Monday, giving Florida State an 8-5 win over Florida and a chance to keep swinging at the College World Series.
McGee, the Seminoles’ No. 3 hitter, launched a three-run homer to break a 1-1 tie, then pushed another run across with a safety squeeze bunt that made it 5-1. The Seminoles eventually cruised to an 8-2 lead but had to hold on to subdue Florida before 19,841 fans at Rosenblatt Stadium.
McGee — also the team’s closer — gave up a hit and hit a batter to load the bases and bring the go-ahead run to the plate before getting the final two outs on a line-drive double play for his 13th save.
Given a choice, McGee would have preferred to rest on his hitting laurels.
“It’s fun getting saves, and I like being in control at the end,” he said. “But hitting home runs is the best thing there is.”
A three-run double by Preston Tucker got the Gators within 8-5 and led Seminoles coach Mark Martin to call for McGee. Eventually he wriggled out of it when Mike Zunino lined what was supposed to have been an unhittable slider in the dirt to shortstop Stephen Cardullo.
“We’ve got the man in the game that we want in the game at that moment, because he’s been there so many times,” Martin said. “He made the pitches, other than the last one, that he wanted. But that’s the game of baseball. It’s so unpredictable.”
The Seminoles (48-19) face the loser of Monday’s late game between TCU and UCLA in a 6 p.m. Bracket One elimination game Wednesday. The young Gators (47-17), seeded third nationally, finished 0-2 in their first trip to the CWS since 2005.
“We obviously didn’t play like we have all year,” Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “I don’t want to take anything away from UCLA or Florida State, because they obviously played better than we did. But we’re a much better pitching and defensive club than this. We just need to get better.”
In the third inning, Florida pitcher Hudson Randall (8-4) walked Tyler Holt and Sherman Johnson, then hung a 1-2 breaking ball to McGee. McGee didn’t miss, depositing his 16th homer of the season into the third row of the bleachers in left center.
“He threw me a first-pitch slider that I could have hit,” McGee said. “I thought ... that was the pitch. But he left a 1-2 slider hanging, just a mistake pitch. I was sitting on the slider the whole at-bat, and I was lucky enough to get another one.”
In the fourth, Holt singled, moved to third on Johnson’s single and trotted home easily as McGee dropped a bunt between the mound and first base. It was his first sacrifice of the season.
“I was a little surprised to see it,” McGee said of the squeeze sign. “I had to take another look to make sure. But it made sense in that situation. I’ve had a bunch of sacs (in previous seasons). I’m pretty comfortable bunting.”
Florida State starter Brian Busch (6-2) began shakily but pitched 52⁄3 solid innings, allowing two runs on two hits.
“I just couldn’t control anything, basically,” Busch said.
He gave up a run in the top of the first, but Holt got it back with a leadoff homer against Randall.
“Tyler got us off to a big start,” Martin said.
Busch had walked the game’s first two hitters. Catcher Rafael Lopez came to the mound to talk things over after the first walk, and Martin strolled out after the second. The first walk proved costly, as Austin Maddox singled home Nolan Fontana, but Busch escaped without any further damage.
“Boomer has a way of taking control of a situation,” Martin said. “I looked into his eyes. I could see everything was fine. And I said a prayer as I walked back to the bench.”
Contact the writer:
444-1027, rob.white@owh.com
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