ATHENS — Good hitting will beat good pitching, or so they say. Florida State proved that and then some Saturday night.
The hot-hitting Seminoles torched Georgia’s vaunted pitching staff for 15 hits, including three home runs, in a 12-3 drubbing in the winner’s bracket game in the Athens Regional at Foley Field. That came just one day after they set a season-high with 20 hits in a 13-7 win over Florida Atlantic.
Florida State’s Mike Salvatore, Carter Smith, and Tim Becker combined for seven hits, including three home runs, and 8 RBI to back up the pitching of sophomore CJ Van Eyk, who stymied the Bulldogs offense for eight innings after a shaky beginning.
However, longtime Florida State coach Mike Martin, who is retiring after 40 years at the helm of the Seminoles when their season ends, had both praise, and caution, for his group.
“CJ pitched a whale of a game. Salvy [Mike Salvatore] had a lot to do with that and Timmy [Becker], of course, had another exceptional night, and there were a lot of positives to take away for us,” Martin said. “But Georgia is a great team; Florida Atlantic is a great team. This tournament is a long way from being over. We know that. We know that the host school will be playing (Sunday), and we know we are going to have to have the same effort in order to accomplish what we want to do.”
The win puts the Seminoles (38-21) just one win from a Super Regional berth next week. The loss drops the No. 4 national seed Bulldogs (45-16) into the elimination round. Georgia now will have to win three games over the next two days to advance to its first Super Regional since 2008.
The No. 1 seed Bulldogs will get started against No. 2 seed Florida Atlantic at noon on Sunday. The winner of that one will take on the Seminoles at 6 p.m. at Foley Field. The Bulldogs will have to win both to survive.
Georgia coach Scott Stricklin did not mince words in his post-game interview.
“They just kicked our tails, plain and simple,” Stricklin said. “We need to score runs. We’re just not scoring runs when we have the opportunities.
“But it’s a double-elimination tournament so we still have another shot. It’s important that we stay loose and not play desperate. But we have a great team and I think the guys will come out ready (on Sunday).”
The Bulldogs also were beaten at their own game -- pitching. Van Eyk went eight innings allowing three runs on nine hits and no walks while fanning nine. He outdueled Georgia sophomore Emerson Hancock, who lasted just four innings allowing five runs on nine hits and striking out just three in 76 pitches.
“Emerson I thought threw the ball well but I thought [FSU’s] hitters really did a good job on Emerson laying off some tough pitches and making him really, really work,” Stricklin said.
The Dogs once again got the quick start they wanted. Tucker Maxwell took Van Eyk’s second pitch of the game for an opposite-field home run to left for a 1-0 lead. Maxwell continued his torrid pace in the third roping a double off the center field wall and later scoring on a fielder’s choice by Aaron Schunk to make it 2-0..
At that point in the regional Maxwell was 5 of 7 with a pair of homers, two doubles, 7 RBI, and four runs scored.
The Seminoles got on the board in the bottom of the third when Becker cranked a Hancock offering for a homer to right-center to cut the Georgia lead to 2-1. It was Becker's third homer of the regional after not having any home runs during the regular season. The Seminoles kept the threat going as Salvatore and Reese Albert both singled to put runners at first and third with no outs.
But Hancock got out of the inning striking out Drew Mendoza looking and watching Maxwell somehow chase down a long drive by Robby Martin in right-center and then doubling off Albert at first. Salvatore did score to tie the game at 2-2 on the play but it could have been much worse for the Bulldogs.
Then it did get worse as the Seminoles took the lead for good in the fourth. J.C. Flowers stroked a one-out double to right-center and then moved to third on a wild pitch. He would score on a de Sedas pop up just behind first that Patrick Sullivan was ready to snag but slipped and fell as the ball dropped.
Smith followed with a double to right and Becker drove in both with a single to center for a 5-2 lead. That would be the last batter for Hancock.
Van Eyk, meanwhile, cruised after Riley’s single in the third. He retired six straight, including striking out the side in the fourth. An error to open the fifth ended the streak but he got out of the inning on a double play grounder by Riley King. He allowed just a pair of sixth inning singles but got another double play to get out of a jam that inning.
“There was a lot of motivation for me because I knew I had to do everything I could to try and match what Emerson was doing,” Van Eyk said. “When you have a guy like that on the other side it really does motivate you to do your best.”
The staple of Georgia’s arsenal, pitching and defense, fell apart in the fifth as the Seminoles sent 10 batters to the plate. Ryan Webb came on to start the frame and was greeted with back-to-back singles by Mendoza and Martin. After a strikeout of Matheu Nelson, Webb walked Flowers to load the bases.
Webb got de Sedas to pop to right for what looked to be a crucial second out. But King overran the ball and de Sedas followed three pitches later with a two-run single to push the lead to 7-2. Smith then blew it open with a three-run homer over the scoreboard in right for a 10-2 advantage.
Salvatore added a two-run blast in the seventh and the Bulldogs scored once in the eighth when Maxwell singled and scored on a Schunk fielder’s choice.
It was he largest postseason loss for Georgia since a 19-10 loss to Fresno State in the championship round of the 2008 College World Series.
Stricklin said there will be no time to dwell on what went wrong against FSU with a FAU team that is averaging 7.0 runs a game up first on Sunday. The Owls are 35-8 when scoring six or more in a game in 2019.
“We have to worry about FAU before we can think about FSU,” Stricklin said. “(FAU) was considered the real big offensive team in this regional so we really have our work cut out for us.
“We just need to pitch and play defense the way we have all year and find a way to score runs. It’s that simple.”
