Texas ousts FSU, which falls one series shy of the World Series for a third straight year.
By ZACHARY SPAIN
Published June 10, 2003
TALLAHASSEE - For the second night in a row, Florida State couldn't hold an early 2-0 lead against Texas and it got the Seminoles bounced out of the super-region tournament. The defending national champion Longhorns defeated FSU 6-5 Monday night, advancing Texas for a record 30th time to the World Series in Omaha, Neb.
For Florida State, the loss ends another season that didn't live up to expectations. FSU (54-13-1), which has never won a CWS title, has been eliminated in three straight super-region series, including the past two at home as the top-seeded team. "It was a championship-type game," said Texas coach Augie Garrido, who set the Division I record for career victories with win No. 1,428. He surpassed former Texas coach Cliff Gustafson.
"When we went into this series we talked about this being a championship-type tournament and that either team had the potential to win the national championship, and I think we saw that."
The Seminoles had a chance to extend the game in the ninth inning with Tony Richie, who had homered and driven in three runs, at the plate with two outs and runners on first and second. But the FSU catcher sent a 1-and-1 pitch up the middle to reliever Huston Street, who tossed to first base to end the Seminoles' season.
"I was looking for that pitch but I pulled off it a little bit," Richie said. "He made a good pitch. I hit his pitch."
That was about the only flaw for Richie, a fourth-round pick in last week's major-league draft who was playing in his final game.
He put FSU up 1-0 with a run-scoring hit in the first inning. In the fifth, his 12th homer of the season pulled FSU within 6-4. He also drove in his team's final run with a single in the seventh.
But FSU couldn't stifle the Longhorns' bats or solve their ace closer, Street, who got his 14th save of the season and 12th career postseason save.
The sophomore, last year's World Series MVP with four saves, pitched three innings of relief in UT's 8-3 win Sunday night in the first game of the best-of-three series. Street came back even stronger for two innings Monday night, striking out three of the first five hitters he faced.
"I have heard that he was throwing 95 (mph) and his slider was at 87. That's the first time he has ever done that," Garrido said.
The Texas lineup was another issue for the Seminoles. The Longhorns got back-to-back home runs on successive pitches in the third inning to break a tie at 2. The first was a two-run homer over the scoreboard in leftfield by Taylor Teagarden. Curtis Thigpen followed with a home run that put the Longhorns up 5-2.
FSU starter Matt Lynch (13-4) left one batter later with a blister on his index finger. The 22/3 innings was his shortest outing of the season. He also gave up the tying runs in the second, one on a walk with the bases loaded, the other after he hit Tim Moss with the bases loaded.
Texas (48-18) got a final run in the fourth when Eric Sultemeier drove in Moss for the eventual winner.
Injuries didn't help FSU's cause as leadoff hitter Stephen Drew did not play after straining his right hamstring Sunday night.
The Longhorns play Miami Saturday in the first round of the double-elimination World Series.
RICE 5, HOUSTON 2: Wade Townsend struck out nine, and Dane Bubela's two-run single helped the visiting Owls advance for the fourth time in seven years. Rice plays Southwest Missouri State on Saturday.
