NCAA Baseball Roundup: Florida State Humiliates Ohio State

Florida State senior reliever Jimmy Marshall, who grew up cheering for Michigan thanks to a family tie, wanted to win one for "Big Blue" on Sunday against Ohio State. Marshall got his wish in a big way. Actually, make that in an unbelievable, eye-rubbing, historic kind of way.

Try 37-6, as the Seminoles set or tied 18 NCAA, school or postseason records.

"It was ridiculous because of how many runs we scored in a short period of time," said Marshall, who understands firsthand the Wolverines-Buckeyes rivalry since his father played golf at Michigan in the late 1970s.

"It wasn't like Ohio State was playing all that bad. We just exploded. Their guys were class acts the entire game. They played hard.

"It was just one of those games; I am sure Michigan fans noticed it (score)."

The Seminoles routed Ohio State at Dick Howser Stadium and advanced to the NCAA Super Regionals next weekend. The onslaught was punctuated by Stephen Cardullo's seven hits that included three of the Seminoles' NCAA-record 15 doubles.

The 64-team tournament opened on Friday and six of the nation's top eight seeds survived. No. 6 UC Irvine, the nation's top-ranked team by Baseball America, was beaten by Virginia, and No. 7 Oklahoma was upended by Arkansas. Six other regional winners among the 16 sites will be determined Monday in elimination games.

No. 1 Texas pointed the way for the victorious national seeds that included No. 2 Cal State Fullerton, No. 3 LSU, No. 4 North Carolina, No. 5 Arizona State and No. 8 Florida. The Longhorns relied on a pair of dramatic wins to advance.

Texas beat Army 14-10 on Sunday behind Preston Clark's game-winning grand slam in the bottom of the ninth inning to help erase a 10-6 deficit. Of course, that was child's play compared to Saturday.

The Longhorns beat Boston College 3-2 on Saturday in a game that lasted an NCAA record 25 innings. Texas reliever Austin Wood struck out 14 and allowed just two hits in 13 innings. He threw 169 pitches, 121 for strikes, after throwing 30 pitches in the Longhorns' opening 3-1 victory over Army on Friday. Army eliminated Boston College 4-3 earlier on Sunday to face Texas.

FSU's game against Ohio State, which eliminated Georgia earlier on Sunday after the Bulldogs beat the Buckeyes 24-8 on Friday, resembled a one-sided pinball machine. The Seminoles set NCAA postseason records with 37 runs, 38 hits and 66 total bases.

FSU led 8-0 after one inning and 20-0 after three in a game that both head coaches agreed to end after seven innings due to the mercy rule. However, their request was declined by the tourney's NCAA representative citing postseason championship guidelines. Ohio State pitchers surrendered 61 runs on 61 hits -- 29 extra-base hits -- in its two defeats to Georgia and FSU.

Sunday was déjà vu, but worse.

FSU, the visitors, scored in seven of nine innings, punctuated by an 11-run fifth inning. Ohio State starter Jared Strayer allowed seven earned runs without recording an out. Andrew Armstrong, the Buckeyes' fifth pitcher, allowed 11 earned runs in one-third of an inning in the fifth.

Fourteen FSU batters had at least one hit, and six had at least three hits - Cardullo (7), Mike Meschke (5), Ohmed Danesh (4), Jason Stidham (4), Stuart Tapley (3) and James Ramsey (3).

"I can honestly say I've never seen anything like it," FSU coach Mike Martin said.

The teams combined for a single-game postseason record for hits (51) and tied the mark for runs, which was previously set in Miami, Ohio's 35-8 victory over Quinnipiac on June 4, 2005.

"Everything they did was right," said Ohio State coach Bob Todd, who used seven pitchers. "Everything we did was wrong."

FSU will be making its ninth super regional appearance in 11 years when it meets Arkansas next weekend -- host sites will be announced Monday night.

Despite losing Buster Posey, the national player of the year, three other position players who hit above .332 and three pitchers who accounted for 39 victories, not to mention opening this season 9-8, FSU has positioned itself to reach the College World Series for the second consecutive year. The Seminoles advanced to the CWS last year for the first time since 2000.

FSU's record-setting performance against the Buckeyes simply reinforced Marshall's faith in FSU, as well as doubled his father's satisfaction. Prior to the game, Marshall fired off a text message to his father, Jim, to say it would be awesome to win the game, not only for the Seminoles, but for "Big Blue."

"Everything was obviously clicking," said Marshall, a four-year letterman with more than 100 career appearances and the Seminoles' closer (10 saves).

"We've got a bunch of guys on this team who really love to win. It's really a lot like last year's team, though I don't think anyone expected this team to be where it's at because of its youth and the way we started the season.

"But that absolute will to win is present, just like it was with last year's group."

Fresno State, last year's national champion, dropped its first two games in the Irvine, Calif., regional to UC Irvine and San Diego State. Georgia, which fell to the Bulldogs in the decisive third game in the CWS, was eliminated in the Tallahassee regional by Ohio State.