Florida State’s second win vs. UConn in the Tallahassee Super Regional looked much different than the first, which head FSU coach Link Jarrett believes is a testament to his team.
Game 1 of the series was historic but one to forget for the Huskies. Florida State jumped out to an early lead and just never relented, scoring eight runs through three innings and 15 through six innings before adding another NINE runs in the seventh to round out at 24 — a record number of runs in the super regional round. They finished up with a 24-4 victory, a 20-run margin also marking a record beatdown in the supers.
Saturday’s matchup once again featured a parade of base runners crossing the plate, except this time a much more even number from both teams, including eight for each side in the nine regulation innings as UConn catcher Matt Malcolm came to the rescue with a solo shot to open the bottom of the ninth and ultimately force extras.
Neither team was able to muster a run in the 10th or 11th innings, but it was James Tibbs III who came to the rescue once again for Florida State, hitting a two-run bomb in the top of the 12th, his third home run of the game, to give FSU back the lead, which they kept for good, finally shutting down UConn in the bottom of the 12th to win the game 10-8 and advance to Omaha.
After the game, Link Jarrett remarked that this group just has a flair for the big stage.
“Yes, the personality of the team seemed to be, like, big-inning-ish,” he revealed in the postgame presser. “So, just how teams respond, that seems to be our DNA,” he added.
Jarrett then went on to explain that the Florida State lineup really challenges pitchers, and it’s tough to get any one of the nine batters out.
“When people have to pitch from top to bottom, one to nine of that lineup, I think they tend to pitch carefully. And as a result of that, sometimes you get more mistakes and you saw that today. There were some really good at bats.”
Overall, Jarrett just sees FSU and UConn as programs who try to win with completely different methods.
“But dog, they’re a really good, different type team. Like, their running game and some of the other things, just two totally different teams,” he evaluated of the matchup. “But you can be successful and effective with different dimensions and different personalities.”
Lastly, given that Florida State amassed most of its output on Saturday thanks to five different home runs accounting for eight total runs, Jarrett emphasized that power hitting has been a strength of this group all year.
“But I think today might have summarized what I see out of our team a lot — and the long ball and the the strength and the capabilities for the extra base hit is a huge part of what our team does, and in baseball in general.”
The long ball was certainly working for the Seminoles this weekend.
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