Florida State falls 7-2 to Tennessee in the national semifinals

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Tennessee will play in the finals of the College World Series for the first time in modern times after beating Florida State 7-2 on Wednesday to win the pool.

Zander Sechrist held the Seminoles scoreless for six innings and the Volunteers struck for four early runs, becoming the first No. 1 national seed since 2009 to advance to the best-of-three finals.

The Volunteers (58-12) will play either Texas A&M or Florida for the championship starting Saturday.

The Seminoles (49-17) came into the game still smarting from their 12-11 loss to Tennessee in their CWS opener. They led 11-8 and reached the bottom of the ninth inning of that game. The third base umpire’s call on Blake Burke’s two-hit, two-out check swing went against FSU, and Dylan Dreiling drove in the winning run in the Vols’ walk-off victory.

Tennessee left no doubt about the outcome of the rematch while completing three-game sweep-through bracket play.

The Vols broke through under coach Tony Vitello after winning a combined five games during trips to Omaha in 2021 and 2023. They will try to become the first top-ranked player to win the championship since Miami in 1999.

FSU coach Link Jarrett started freshman John Abraham in place of top prospect Jamie Arnold, who pitched Friday and would have had four days of rest. Abraham (5-2) made his first start since April 9 and third of the season. He struggled with his control and faced only five batters before being pulled with one out.

Tennessee led 4-0 when Burke singled in a run in the second and capped the scoring in the ninth when he hit his 20th home run of the season. That made the Vols the first team in Division I history to have five players with at least 20 home runs. They have a league-leading 178, nine behind LSU’s Division I record in 1997.

Sechrist (5-1) entered the game 3-0 in his previous four starts with an 0.78 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 23 innings. His scoreless streak in the NCAA Tournament ended in 17 1/3 inning when Daniel Cantu and Alex Lodise hit back-to-back home runs in the seventh.

In a CWS marked by breathtaking defensive plays, Tennessee’s Kavares Tears equalized teammate Hunter Ensley’s one against North Carolina on Sunday. Tears chased Marco Dinges’ deep drive into the middle, catching the ball as it crashed into the wall, his sunglasses and hat flying off.

Post-game notes

• Florida State ends the season with an overall record of 49-17, its most wins since finishing at 50-17 in 2012.
• Florida State fell to 32-48 all-time in the MCWS. The Seminoles made their 24th trip to the MCWS, the third of all schools, and their first visit since 2019. The Seminoles were seeking their first title and remain the only school with more than 15 MCWS appearances not to win an award. title not yet.
• The Seminoles are 206-134 all-time in 60 all-time NCAA Tournament appearances. Their 206 wins are the second-most in NCAA history, trailing only Texas (257 wins, 63 appearances).
• The Seminoles finished the season with 49 wins, after finishing 23-31 the previous season. The 26-win improvement is the best year-over-year improvement in Division I this season and the best in program history.
• Link Jarrett is the 16th coach to lead multiple different programs for the MCWS and of those 16, he joins Mike Gillespie as the only man to do so after playing in multiple MCWS as a student-athlete at Florida State. He is also one of two coaches (Brian O’Connor) this season to have been to the Division I Men’s College World Series as a player and now as a coach.
• Florida State has won multiple games in one trip to Omaha for the first time since 2012 and only the second time in the past six MCWS appearances. The Seminoles went 2-2 in 2012 and have had three 1-2 seasons (2010, 2017 and 2019) and one winless trip to Omaha (2008) in the past two decades.
• With two home runs on Wednesday afternoon, Florida State has hit 131 home runs this season, which ranks second in program history (146 in 1985; 131 in 1982). The Noles hit a home run in 61 of 66 games this season.
• FSU has now hit a home run in 19 consecutive games, dating back to a May 11 game at Pitt. The 19-game HR streak is the second-longest streak in program history, trailing only the 21-game HR streak earlier this season.
• Additionally, the Seminoles’ 78 home run improvement from last season is the largest improvement in the nation, surpassing Austin Peay’s 71-HR improvement from a season ago.
• With just one walk on Wednesday, Florida State had drawn 63 walks in this year’s NCAA tournament, the most of any team in this year’s field. Additionally, the Seminoles had drawn 23 walks in Omaha.
• Florida State’s 29 runs were the most in four games at the MCWS (24^e appearance) (previous high was 28 in 1999). The Seminoles’ 29 points scored were also the second-most of any ACC team through four games in the MCWS, trailing only Clemson’s 30 points in 1996.
• Florida State’s 87 runs in seven games this NCAA Tournament (9.6 per game) are the second-most runs per game of any team in the tournament this season, trailing only Tennessee’s (9.9 runs per game ) Florida State and Tennessee entered the game as the only other teams averaging at least 10 runs per game in the postseason.
• Max Williams finished the day 2-for-4 with a single and a double, extending his on-base streak to 21 straight games and his hit streak to 11 straight games. His two-hit day was part of his 19^e multi-hit game of the season.
• Marco Dinges closed with a 1-for-4 performance at the plate on Wednesday, extending his on-base streak to 18 straight games.
• Max Williams and Marco Dinges’ 16 hits in this year’s NCAA tournament rank second among all players in the tournament this season, behind Tennessee’s Blake Burke’s 17 hits.
• James Tibbs III pushed his active team-leading on-base streak to 24 straight games after singled up center in the bottom of the sixth inning.
• Daniel Cantu opened the scoring for the Seminoles in the bottom of the seventh inning, blasting his ninth home run of the season into the bullpen in right field.
• Alex Lodise followed with his ninth home run of the season with a solo shot from 300 feet to right. It was the ninth time this season that Florida State recorded back-to-back home runs in a game.
• The back-to-back home runs from Daniel Cantu and Alex Lodise marked only the fifth time players hit back-to-back home runs at the MCWS since the move to Charles Schwab Field Omaha in 2011 (Jaxson West of Florida State and Max Williams in 2024, Florida’s Wyatt Langford and Jac Caglianone in 2023, Ole Miss’ TJ McCants, Calvin Harris and Justin Bench in 2022 and Florida State’s Quince Nieporte and Cal Raleigh in 2017). Florida State has accounted for 3 of the 5 back-to-back home runs in the MCWS since moving to Charles Schwab Field Omaha in 2011.
• In 2017, Florida State’s Quincy Nieporte and Cal Raleigh hit the first back-to-back home runs in stadium history when they did so in the 9th inning against LSU (they actually did it on back-to-back pitches).
• The audience of 24,696 was a Session 11 record, surpassing the old figure of 22,344 in 2007.
• The MCWS 2024 has attracted 269,219 fans after 11 sessions, the most fans after 11 sessions in the past 20 years. Last year’s MCWS set a single-season record with 366,105 fans and stood at 268,311 after 11 sessions.
• The 2023 MCWS was the 17^e straight MCWS to attract 300,000 fans or more. As of 2024, the MCWS has averaged at least 20,000 fans per game each of the previous 27 times it has been hosted. Including 2024, the event has attracted more than 100,000 fans in the past 43 MCWS and 22 consecutive years with 200,000 fans or more.