OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - To Florida State's Mike McGee, pitching is
hard work and hitting home runs is fun.
He mixed business and pleasure Monday, leading the Seminoles to
an 8-5 victory over Florida in a College World Series elimination
game.
McGee hit a tie-breaking three-run homer in the third inning,
laid down a squeeze bunt in the fourth and moved in from left field
to pick up the save after Florida made things interesting in the
ninth.
"Pitching, it's great to end the game and get the save. I like
to be in control," McGee said. "But hitting the home run is the
best feeling there is."
The Seminoles (48-19) will play TCU in an elimination game
Wednesday night. The Horned Frogs lost 6-3 to UCLA on Monday.
The Gators (47-17) lost for the fourth time in five meetings
this season with their Sunshine State rival.
Florida State took an 8-2 lead into the ninth inning but had to
bring in McGee from the outfield after Preston Tucker's
bases-loaded double into the right-field corner drove in three
runs.
McGee gave up a single to Austin Maddox and hit Matt den Dekker,
loading the bases with one out. Shortstop Stephen Cardullo caught
Mike Zunino's line drive and flipped to second baseman Devon Travis
for a game-ending double play.
McGee, who earned his 13th save and hit his team-leading 16th
homer, said he lucked out. The pitch Zunino hit was a mistake.
"It was supposed to be a slider down in the dirt, something
completely unhittable," McGee said. "It slipped out of my hand.
As soon as I let go of it I felt it come up and I was, 'Oh, oh.' He
hit it well. I heard a glove pop. That was a good way to get out of
a game."
Florida coach Kevin O'Sullivan, whose team left 10 runners on
base, leaped to his feet when Zunino's line drive left the bat.
"I was hoping it would go a little left or a little right,"
O'Sullivan said. "He put a good wing on it. We put together a good
inning there. We hit a lot of balls right at them. If we played
them tomorrow maybe we would hit balls that would find their way
through."
The Seminoles had 14 hits, with Tyler Holt and Jayce Boyd
getting three apiece.
McGee's homer broke a 1-1 tie after Florida starter Hudson
Randall walked two batters in the third. Randall (8-4) went 2 2-3
innings, allowing four runs and four hits with two walks.
The Seminoles got home runs from Holt and Cardullo. Holt's 13th
of the season led off the bottom of the first inning, and
Cardullo's 11th started the seventh.
Left-hander Brian Busch (6-2) went 5 1-3 innings and held the
Gators to two runs and two hits, including Jonathan Pigott's homer
in the fifth. Busch walked four.
Busch walked Nolan Fontana and Josh Adams to start the game and
gave up an RBI single to Maddox. Busch retired the Gators in order
in the second and third and doubled off den Dekker in the fourth
when he caught the first of Zunino's two line-drive double plays.
Busch went to the fifth with a 5-1 lead after McGee laid down a
bunt toward first base, allowing Holt to score from third on the
safety squeeze.
"In the first inning I couldn't control anything," Busch said.
"Any time you walk four guys and give up two runs, you're pretty
fortunate."
Relievers Geoff Parker and Bennett held the Gators scoreless
until Tucker's double in the ninth.
Then it was time to call on McGee.
"We've got the man in the game that we want in the game,
because he's been there so many times," Florida State coach Mike
Martin said. "But, yeah, I was a little anxious. I was glad when
it was over."