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A team that has lived for months with its back against the wall now
finds itself in that same familiar situation.
Freshman phenom Matt Purke lived up to his billing, and Texas Christian
got all the runs it needed in the first inning of a dominating 8-1
victory over Florida State.
The Seminoles (47-19) will return to Rosenblatt Stadium Monday at 4:30,
when they will fight to extend their season against the loser of
tonight’s Florida – UCLA game.
“They’re everything that I saw when I saw them play Texas on
television,” Seminoles coach Mike Martin said of the Horned Frogs
(52-12). “Well-coached, solid defense, outstanding pitching … And they
went out today and whipped us.”
Purke (15-0), who wowed college baseball with his commanding performance
in last week’s Super Regional, was no less impressive against FSU.
After allowing a pair of base hits to open the game, the freshman lefty
shut down the Seminoles to the tune of one run (unearned) on just four
hits. Purke, who turned down millions from the Texas Rangers to pitch
for the Horned Frogs, baffled FSU, and used all three of his pitches (a
94 mph fastball, curveball, and changeup) to keep the Seminoles
off-balance.
Time and again, Purke sent an offering that look good out of his hand,
only to break out of the zone and leave the Seminoles swinging in the
dirt. In all, FSU’s batters sent just three balls out of the infield –
singles from Tyler Holt and Devon Travis, and a warning-track fly out
from Sherman Johnson.
“We didn’t help ourselves out a lot,” said Holt, who scored FSU’s only
run in the top of the first. “I think it’s a totally different ball game
if we’re more patient and better – not swinging at that stuff that’s in
the first. I think we helped him along the way.”
Florida State gave Purke his biggest gift in the top of the first
inning. After taking an early one-run lead as the result of a single and
a TCU throwing error, Sherman Johnson stood on third base with no outs,
and FSU’s 3-4-5 hitters coming up to the plate.
But with a chance to put some early pressure on the 19-year old, the
Seminoles came up empty. Mike McGee, James Ramsey, and Stephen Cardullo
all took a crack at Purke, and all of three struck out, ending what
could have been a big inning, and effectively conceding early momentum
to TCU.
It didn’t take the Horned Frogs long to capitalize. TCU’s Jerome Pena
and Bryan Holaday notched a pair of singles off of Sean Gilmartin to
start things off, and Jason Coats smacked a double down the left field
line that scored both runners and put FSU down for good.
The Horned Frogs continued to roll from there, touching up Gilmartin for
three more runs as part of a 5-run inning that stunned the FSU dugout
and gave Purke a seemingly untouchable lead. Gilmartin (9-8) left after
just three innings, his shortest outing of the year.
“In the first inning, he (Purke) was going well. We caught a break and
he did a great job to come back and just stop the bleeding,” Sherman
Johnson said. “They kind of used that as momentum into the next half of
the inning.”
Purke made sure it never got any closer while TCU added a run in each of
the third, fourth, and eighth innings to provide the winning margin.
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