Florida State romps to oust Stony Brook

Associated Press

OMAHA, Neb.

Florida State capitalized on a throwing error to score six runs in the third inning, and the Seminoles ended Stony Brook’s surprise appearance in the College World Series with a 12-2 victory on Sunday.

Justin Gonzalez and Devon Travis homered to help the Seminoles build an early 9-0 lead against the CWS first-timers from Long Island.

FSU (49-16) rebounded from a 4-3, 12-inning loss to Arizona on Friday and scored at least 12 runs for the third time in four games.

Stony Brook (52-15) stunned the college baseball world by upsetting six-time national champion LSU in a three-game super regional to reach the CWS.

But the Seawolves were beaten 9-1 by UCLA on Friday and outscored 21-3 in their two games in Omaha.

FSU starter Mike Compton (12-2) allowed two runs and six hits in six innings. Brandon McNitt (8-4) went 3 2/3 innings and gave up nine runs, four earned.

Florida State led 2-0 in the third when everything started to unravel for the Seawolves.

Jayce Boyd’s grounder to shortstop should have been the third out, but Cole Peragine was short with his throw to first, and the ball got away from Kevin Courtney.

That allowed two runs to score, and Gonzalez followed with a three-run homer into the left-field bullpen that made it 7-0. Five of the six runs Florida State scored in the third were unearned.

The six runs were the most by a team in an inning in 19 CWS games played at TD Ameritrade Park.

Arizona 4, UCLA 0

Konner Wade pitched a five-hit shutout, Arizona did its scoring on five straight fourth-inning hits, and the Wildcats beat Pac-12 rival UCLA.

The win puts the Wildcats (45-17) in control of Bracket 1 and gives them three days off. They are one victory away from the best-of-three finals, in which they would play for their fourth national championship and first since 1986.

Late Saturday

South Carolina 7, Florida 3

Michael Roth turned in another strong College World Series start, Erik Payne’s bases-loaded triple scored the go-ahead runs and South Carolina began the last leg of its pursuit of a third straight national title with a 7-3 win.

South Carolina (46-17) extended its record NCAA-tournament win streak to 22 games by beating its SEC rival and 2011 national runner-up for only the second time in five tries this season.

Roth (8-1), making his eighth appearance in three years in Omaha, left with one out in the seventh after Florida’s first two batters reached in a two-run game.

Tyler Webb got the Gamecocks out of trouble, and Matt Price pitched the last two innings for his 12th save.

Payne’s triple off Brian Johnson (8-5) highlighted a fifth inning in which the Gamecocks turned a 2-0 deficit into a 5-2 lead over the Gators (47-19).