St. John’s Eliminates Florida State, Wins Tallahassee Regional

The St. John’s Red Storm blew through the Tallahassee regional and wreaked havoc on No. 10 Florida State’s postseason dreams.

In a 5-4 win in the Tallahassee regional final, St. John’s dealt the Seminoles one final dagger to the heart and advanced to the super regional.

Florida State (40-19) was leading 2-0 and held St. John’s (36-24) scoreless until the fifth inning, when the Red Storm erupted for four runs on a grand slam by Adam Agresti that gave St. John’s a 4-2 lead they would never relinquish. They added an insurance run in the sixth inning to make the score 5-2.

The Seminoles were held scoreless until the ninth inning, when Florida State third baseman Cal Fisher rocketed a two-run home run (his second of the game) to deep right field to narrow the deficit to 5-4, but that was all the Seminoles could muster as their season came to an end.

The Tallahassee regional was marred by weather delays that led to postponements and forced Florida State to use up all its good arms on the mound. Reliever John Abraham was one of five Seminole pitchers who toiled in the Monday heat to try to save their season. 

Abraham took the loss after giving up the grand slam to Agresti and issuing three walks on two hits in two innings of work. He did record two strikeouts.

Fisher, right fielder Brody DeLamielleure and first baseman Ben Barrett led the Seminoles at the plate, combining for seven of Florida State’s nine hits in the game.

But when it came to scoring, the Seminoles batted just .143 as a team with runners in scoring position. St. John’s batted .167, and got the bulk of their runs on one swing of the bat.

It was the 62nd appearance in the NCAA tournament for Florida State, No. 2 all-time, and the 38th regional hosted by the Seminoles, the most in college baseball.

Among the players that could return to the program next season include ACC-All Freshman outfielder John Stuetzer and power-hitting first baseman Myles Bailey. Stuetzer finished his freshman season with a .270 average, with 10 home runs and 43 RBI. He stole 13 bases on 18 attempts.

Bailey was batting .363 with 13 home runs and 33 RBI before going down with a season-ending leg injury.

ACC Pitcher of the Year Wes Mendes finished the season with a 9-3 record and recorded 125 strikeouts vs. only 25 walks. He allowed opposing hitters to bat just .207 against him with a 2.90 ERA and WHIP of 1.02.

Florida State suffered just their sixth loss of the season at Dick Howser Stadium, a venue where the Seminoles won 83 percent of their games.  

The 40 wins this season was the third consecutive campaign with that many victories during coach Link Jarrett’s tenure.

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