NCAA College World Series - Game 1 Recap - TCU vs Florida State

The Texas Christian University Horned Frogs (51-12) had arguably the best season in school history, but not many college baseball fans expected them to advance to their first-ever College World Series.  The Horned Frogs had to travel to Austin to face the powerful Texas Longhorns, the number two seed nationally, for the Super Regional.  Texas Christian rode to Omaha on the backs of their outstanding pitching staff, as the Horned Frogs won two out of three, holding Texas to a total of three runs in their two wins.

The Florida State University Seminoles (47-18), on the other hand, struggled with pitching but managed to out hit the Vanderbilt Commodores to win the best-of-three Super Regional in three games in Tallahassee to advance to the twentieth CWS in school history.  Florida State holds the NCAA record for most CWS appearances without ever winning an NCAA title, and is looking for its first championship in baseball.  It will be difficult after falling into the losers’ bracket after their 8-1 loss Saturday. 

Florida State jumped out to an early lead as All American Tyler Holt opened the game with a liner to left field on the first offering of the game from Matt Purke.  The next batter was walk-on Sherman Johnson, the hero from game three of the Super Regional win over Vanderbilt when he hit a late bases-loaded double that wound up being the difference in the game.  Johnson was then jammed with a high-inside fastball, but it came off the bat almost like a bunt.  Third baseman Jantzen Witte fielded the ball barehanded and threw it past the first baseman.  The ball careened off the wall into the outfield and Holt scored from first as Johnson advanced to third.  Purke, a 6’4” freshman, was a first-round draft pick by the Texas Rangers and looks like he could pitch at the major league – or at least AAA minor league - level today, showed the dominance that he’s demonstrated all season long, striking out the side to leave Johnson stranded at first.

The top of the first inning was the high-point of the game for the Seminoles, as their 1-0 lead quickly disappeared.  Starting pitcher Sean Gilmartin struggled from the outset, giving up consecutive singles to Jerome Pena and Bryan Holaday.  A double by Jason Coats drove the first two runs home.  A Joe Weik RBI single and a Jantzen Witte double put runners on second and third, setting up a sacrifice fly by Tyler Featherston.  Aaron Schultz single home Witte to end the scoring, as TCU took a 5-1 lead after batting around the lineup. 

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After a three-up and three-down second inning, Florida State blew another scoring opportunity in the third.  After forcing Rafael Lopez to ground out to first, Purke walked Holt and Johnson in consecutive at bats, putting Holt in scoring position.  However, Mike McGee popped up to second base with the runners running on a hit and run.  Both runners returned to their base, but Holt was called out as TCU astutely noticed that he had run just past third but did not tag the base on the way back to second, and Purke escaped the inning without giving up any runs.

In the bottom of the third, Gilmartin continued to struggle with his control, walking the first two batters.  A sacrifice bunt put them on second and third, and TCU manager Jim Schlossnagle, the National College Baseball Writers Association National Coach of the Year, pulled the trigger on the suicide squeeze.  Featherston scored easily, but after the throw to first to retire the bunter, first baseman Jayce Boyd noticed Witte trying to score from second and fired a strike to home plate to end the inning on a 1-3-2 double play that gave TCU a 6-1 lead.  That would be Gilmartin’s last inning, but a Holaday sole home run off reliever Hunter Scantling in the fourth put the Horned Frogs up 7-1. 

After that home run, TCU managed only two more hits in the game, but the damage had been done.  Those two hits would come in the eighth inning, as a Coats RBI single in the eighth inning provided the final score as TCU advanced to the winners’ bracket

The story of the game was starting pitcher Matt Purke, who was spectacular in an easy victory.  The second-team All American led the nation in wins and has never suffered a loss in his college career.  Purke didn’t allow an earned run in seven innings and gave up only four hits on the game.  He did have an uncharacteristically high number of walks, giving up four bases on balls, but he managed to strike out seven batters in a championship-level performance.  His Horned Frogs will face the winner of the nightcap between UCLA and Florida on Monday night, while FSU will face the loser on Monday afternoon in an elimination game.

By: John Cary
DFN Sports Guest Writer