OMAHA, Neb. – One spoke with his bat, the other with his arm.
Jaime Ferrer homered twice and knocked in four, while Carson Dorsey fanned seven over 7.0 innings as No. 8 Florida State topped No. 12 Virginia 7-3 on Sunday afternoon in an elimination game at the 2024 College World Series.
“To explain the feeling of sitting up here Friday night is not something I can remotely relay to you,” FSU head coach Link Jarrett said. This team’s response of playing arguably the best game we’ve played this year pretty much sums up what’s in that dugout. To watch them play their best game, that was just a thrill I’ll never forget here.”
The Seminoles (48-16) will play a second elimination game on Tuesday, June 18, at 1 p.m. CT against North Carolina. The Cavaliers ended their season at 46-17.
James Tibbs III drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the third as FSU took a 1-0 lead.
Ferrer deposited the first pitch in the bottom of the fourth into the bleachers in left for his 21st homer of the season to give the Noles a 2-0 advantage.
“I was just trying to see something up,” Ferrer said. “He struck me out in the at-bat before on all heaters. I felt I was feeling the heaters. I was trying to be fastball timing. I was trying to see something up. And I saw a slider up in his hand. I got enough on it to get out of the ballpark.”
FSU put together a two-out rally in the fifth as Cam Smith doubled and scored on a base hit by Marco Dinges, and Ferrer capped the frame with a three-run dinger to left to push the lead to 6-0.
Alex Lodise launched a solo shot on the first pitch of the sixth inning as the Noles went up 7-0.
UVA stranded six over the first six innings before breaking through in the seventh. Ethan Anderson and Anthony Stephan started the innings with consecutive singles. With two away, a base hit by Henry Godbout plated Anderson and a Casey Saucke single brought home Stephan as the Cavs cut the deficit to 7-2.
Jacob Ference had a leadoff single in the eighth and scored on a double by Stephan to make it 7-3.
Dorsey allowed three hits and a walk without recording an out against the Cavs in the ACC Tournament, a game FSU won 12-7. All four of those base runners scored. He went 7.0 against UVA on Sunday, giving up nine hits and three runs with two walks and seven strikeouts.
“Today we had these guys behind us the whole time making great plays the whole game,” Dorsey said. “But being able to have more than just the fastball working and trusting in those pitches is what really made the difference between today and the last time.”
Godbout earned a one-out walk in the ninth, but Saucke lined to short and Godbout was doubled off first to end the contest.
Brennen Oxford pitched the final two innings for FSU with one hit, one walk and one strikeout.
“They were very, very opportunistic,” UVA head coach Brian O’Connor said. “First and foremost, Dorsey was outstanding. I think he was the best that he’s been in weeks and really commanded multiple pitches.
“They capitalized in the inning where they scored four runs. There were two outs, nobody on. And we didn’t make a catch in right field. And they opened it up and were very, very opportunistic. We had our chances to capitalize and didn’t capitalize on it enough.”
Notes
Florida State left three on base, all in the third inning.
The Seminoles have outscored opponents 87-29 in the third inning, including 7-0 in Omaha and 14-0 in the past six games.
Max Williams singled in the third to extend his on-base streak to 19 straight games and hit streak to nine straight games.
Including his four RBI vs. Virginia, Jaime Ferrer leads all players with 15 RBI in the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
Virginia has lost six straight CWS games and went 0-2 in Omaha for the second straight season.