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 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.
The lead grew to 9-0 the next inning after Travis, the last batter McNitt faced, hit a drive to nearly the same spot as Gonzalez.
Six of the Seminoles’ 11 hits went for extra bases, and Florida State didn’t leave any runners on base until the eighth inning.
Stony Brook, an NCAA Division I baseball program for just 12 years, came to town much celebrated for its “Shock The World” mantra after its upset of LSU on the road.
The Seawolves were the first team from the Northeast to play at the CWS since Maine in 1986, and they brought with them huge offensive numbers.
Stony Brook entered the CWS with a .335 batting average that ranked second nationally, but the Seawolves hit a combined .194 (12-of-62) in their two games.
They were eighth in scoring and came nowhere close to their 7.2 runs a game because their best hitters struggled.
Travis Jankowski, a first-round draft pick by the San Diego Padres, was 1 for 8. William Carmona, who was 2 for 8, had a single and double against the Seminoles, but both came after the Seawolves trailed by at least seven runs.
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