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Florida State players celebrate John Stuetzer\u2019s home run Friday against St. John\u2019s. (Matt LaSerre\/Warchant)<\/p>\nIf the Florida State baseball team is going to advance to the NCAA Super Regionals for a third straight year, it\u2019s going to have to get real hot real quick.<\/p>\n
The No. 1 seed Seminoles blew a 5-2 lead to No. 4 seed St. John\u2019s on Friday evening and wound up falling to the Big East champions, 6-5, in Game 1 of the Tallahassee Regional at Dick Howser Stadium.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a good team on the other side,\u201d Florida State head coach Link Jarrett said. \u201cThis is a good team. It was a dogfight. It was an unbelievable game. We had chances early to separate a little bit. \u2026 We eventually separated a little bit, but clearly very sound approach with their hitters. They kept at it. And they delivered the result.\u201d<\/p>\n
FSU reliever Chris Knier gave up a leadoff homer in the eighth to Dylan Fitzsimmons, who was only in the game because St. John\u2019s starting left-fielder Lewis Rodridguez severely injured his ankle on a play in the second inning.<\/p>\n
After the Fitzsimmons bomb, Knier then walked the next batter on a 3-2 pitch and then allowed a sharp single to center. John Abraham, who hadn\u2019t pitched in three weeks but has been the Seminoles\u2019 best reliever all year (and one of the best in the country), came on in relief of Knier.<\/p>\n
A wild pitch scored one run. A passed ball scored another. Abraham was able to get out of a bases-loaded jam, despite missing out on a strikeout because of a catcher\u2019s interference call on Hunter Carns, but the visitors had still tied the game at 5-5.<\/p>\n
The Red Storm then took the lead in the top of the ninth when Fitzsimmons \u2014 who else? \u2014 lined a single to center to start the inning. Stole second. And then scored on a single to center.<\/p>\n
Knier and Abraham have been, by far, the best relievers on the team this year for Florida State. On Friday, the right-handed duo was charged with four runs (three earned) in 3 2\/3 innings.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the FSU offense scored zero runs on the St. John\u2019s bullpen despite having a big opportunity in the bottom of the ninth. Brayden Dowd led off with a single, and then Carns had a one-out single to left to put runners on first and second with one out. But Eli Putnam grounded into a double play to end the game and send the Seminoles into an elimination game at 2 p.m. on Saturday against Coastal Carolina, which dropped the late game to Northern Illinois, 12-10.<\/p>\n
Florida State scored its five runs on the strength of two solo homers \u2014 one in the first from leadoff hitter John Stuetzer and a solo shot by Gabe Fraser in the second \u2014 and then two Dowd two-out RBI hits. Dowd\u2019s double to left in the bottom of the sixth was almost a two-run homer, but St. John\u2019s left fielder Cristian Bernardini brought the ball back from over the fence with his glove but couldn\u2019t hold onto the ball.<\/p>\n
Still. It wound up saving a run. <\/p>\n
Florida State players celebrate John Stuetzer\u2019s home run Friday against St. John\u2019s. (Matt LaSerre\/Warchant)<\/p>\n
Dowd led the Seminoles with three hits and Fraser, Cal Fisher and Carter McCulley each had two for the Seminoles, who got five innings from starter Bryson Moore, who allowed just two runs while striking out six.<\/p>\n
And now for Florida State to get back to the Supers, it will be an uphill climb. Starting on Saturday afternoon. The Seminoles still have ace Wes Mendes for the elimination game, and then Trey Beard for the game after if they win.<\/p>\n
So, it\u2019s not like all is lost. <\/p>\n
But Jarrett knows it\u2019s not going to be easy. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe reality is we absolutely are (in this position), there\u2019s no way around it,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it does allow you to enter the building tomorrow knowing you have a very capable arm. You have enough in the bullpen to support that. We have to defend. And like we\u2019ve talked about all year, there have to be moments offensively where we can separate a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dowd has a unique perspective of the challenge facing the Seminoles. Last year, while at USC, he and his Trojans were in the Corvalis, Ore., Regional. They saw host Oregon State lose the first game of the regional and then storm all the way back, winning four straight, to advance to the Supers and then eventually knock off Florida State to advance to the College World Series.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very well aware that it\u2019s capable of being done,\u201d Dowd said. \u201cWhat I saw in that team last year, that Oregon State team, is how well they played, how they played for each other, how their fans rallied behind them, it was incredible. And I would say we have a better group here and better fans here \u2026 so, now it\u2019s lose or go home. I think that\u2019s when you see the character of your team.\u201d<\/p>\n