(Courtesy of Ohio State Media Relations)
Here is your Day 3 recap of the Tallahassee Regional.
Ohio State 13 Georgia 6
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Ohio State, bullied around by Georgia Friday night, returned the favor and sent the No. 2 seed Bulldogs home from the NCAA Tallahassee Regional with a come-from-behind 13-6 win Sunday. The 42-18 Buckeyes now advance to the first regional championship game against 44-16 and No. 1 seed Florida State Sunday at 4 p.m.
Michael Stephens had two home runs, including a momentum changing inside-the-parker in the third inning, and four RBI to lead the Buckeyes. Ryan Dew had four hits and two runs scored and Cory Kovanda had a key, two-run single in support of three Ohio State pitchers who shut down the Bulldog bats from the third inning on.
Eric Best started and threw 4.2 innings to get the Buckeyes into the fifth inning where Drew Rucinski took over. Rucinski pitched 1.2 innings and gave up just one run before giving way to Jake Hale. Hale pitched 2.2 innings of dominant baseball, striking out six of the nine batters he faced to record his 18th save of the season. Rucinski improved to 12-2 with the win.
Ohio State Recap
Georgia Recap
FSU 37 Ohio State 6
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida State (45-16) advanced to the Super Regional for the second year in a row and for the ninth time in school history with a 37-6 victory over Ohio State (42-19) Sunday afternoon on Mike Martin Field inside Dick Howser Stadium. The Seminoles set four school records and five NCAA Tournament records in the win over the Buckeyes.
Florida State set school records for runs (37), hits (38), doubles (15) and total bases (66), while the four above mentioned records plus the 51 combined hits by both teams set NCAA Tournament single-game records. The Seminoles also tied a school record for RBI (34) and most combined runs by two teams with 43.
The 15 doubles by the Seminoles also eclipsed the NCAA single-game record of 13 held by three different teams. The previous school record was nine doubles set against Duke back on March 10, 2000. Florida State surpassed the school record with its 10th double of the game when Stephen Cardullo hit a one out double to right center in the third. Cardullo and Stidham each tallied three doubles in the win.
