When Texas Tech’s Taylor Floyd struck out Reese Albert to end the game — and Mike Martin’s career — the Florida State coach walked up the dugout steps, took off his glasses and strode across the field to shake hands with the opposing coach one more time.
While the fans at TD Ameritrade Park showered Martin in applause, his wife of 55 years, Carol, greeted well-wishers in the stands. Martin then waved to and thanked fans who gathered above the dugout.
After the 4-1 loss in the elimination game, Martin heads into retirement with 2,029 career wins — most by any coach in any college sport. Each of his 40 teams won at least 40 games and played in the NCAA Tournament.
But, he never won a national championship.
“I can fake a smile with the best of them and I’ll get through the rest of this night with a smile because I got to watch young men grow up,” Martin said. “I got to work for Florida State for 45 years and I’ll never forget the times I’ve had out here in Omaha.”
Brian Klein broke a 1-1 tie in the sixth with his second homer in three games, and third of the season, and Texas Tech (46-19) won a second game at a CWS for the first time in its four appearances.
“In the back of your mind, obviously, you’re thinking about ’11’ a little bit,” Tech coach Tim Tadlock said, referring to Martin by his nickname. “All the respect in the world for him. Love him, and just appreciate everything he’s done for college baseball.”
FSU (42-23) had no trouble scoring while sweeping through a regional in Athens, Georgia, and a super regional at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to earn Martin his 17th trip to the CWS. The Seminoles beat Arkansas 1-0 here Saturday, but lost 2-0 to Michigan before the Red Raiders eliminated them.
Martin’s last team was one of the final four squads awarded at-large bids to the 64-team national tournament after struggling for stretches of the regular season.
“To have the success we’ve had the last three years, the ACC championships, two trips to Omaha, 40 wins every year,” third baseman Drew Mendoza said. “To experience that with him and be part of his legacy is a dream come true.”
The Seminoles batted .124 in Omaha (11 of 89) and their two runs in three games tied a CWS record low. Their 0-for-17 batting with runners in scoring position was the lowest by a team in at least 20 years, according to ESPN. Florida State also struck out 15 times against Texas Tech.
“Who would have ever thought six weeks ago that we would even get to Omaha?” Martin said. “The young men are disappointed now. What they accomplished will not go unnoticed — to get to Omaha and have an opportunity.”
Cameron Warren put Tech up 1-0 in the fourth when he chopped a grounder past diving Mendoza at third, allowing Dylan Neuse to score from second.
The Seminoles’ only run came in the bottom half thanks to Tech mistakes. Bryce Bonnin (7-1) walked Robby Martin on four pitches and hit Matheu Nelson in the bill of his batting helmet. The runners moved over on a bunt, and Martin came home when catcher Braxton Fulford threw into center field trying to pick off Nelson at second.
The Red Raiders went ahead for good when Klein lofted an off-speed pitch from Conor Grady (9-6) into the right-center bleachers for his ninth homer in 150 career games.
“I have no idea where the home runs started to come from, but today it happened that it gave us a really big run, and I’m super thankful for it,” Klein said.
Chase Haney pitched two shutout innings in relief of Grady, and then Martin went to J.C. Flowers. Texas Tech pounced on the star closer, who didn’t record an out and gave up three singles, with Klein reaching on a dropped third strike.
Flowers left with the bases loaded, and it was 4-1 when Antonio Velez walked in a run.
The Seminoles had at least one runner on base each inning and looked as though they might get something going in the eighth when, with a man aboard, Carter Smith sent a drive into the right center gap. But center fielder Dylan Neuse laid out to make the catch.
Floyd pitched one-hit shutout relief over the last four innings for his fifth save.
“Probably the biggest thing, this group, they really like to play,” Tadlock said. “They’re not going to let some type of circumstance, the results dictate their effort and their preparation. They’ve been really good about respecting the game and trying to play the game the right way. Not saying we always get great results, but as long as the preparation is right, we’re happy with them.”
UP NEXT
Texas Tech plays Friday against Michigan. The Red Raiders would have to beat the Wolverines and again Saturday to reach the best-of-three finals next week.
VANDERBILT 6, MISSISSIPPI STATE 3 (Winners Bracket)
After being constantly reminded for more than a week about his no-hitter in the NCAA super regionals, Kumar Rocker found himself on the mound for the first time on a bigger stage at the College World Series.
Vanderbilt’s 6-foot-4, 255-pound freshman star never let the pressure get to him, turning in another strong start and getting plenty of support from Stephen Scott’s two home runs and four RBIs in a 6-3 victory over Mississippi State on Wednesday.
“That first inning I was a little bit zoned out,” Rocker said. “I had to take my time and get my feet under me and just started cruising. It took me a little bit to do that.”
No. 2 national seed Commodores (56-11) gained the inside track to the best-of-three finals next week. They need a victory Friday or Saturday to advance.
Rocker, who struck out 19 against Duke on June 8 in the first no-hitter of the 20-year super-regional era, held the No. 6 Bulldogs (52-14) scoreless until Rowdey Jordan’s two-out RBI single in the sixth inning. That ended Rocker’s 19 2/3-inning shutout streak.
“When you see guys that back up performances or become consistent, it’s all about competition and their mindset inside of competition,” Vandy coach Tim Corbin said. “He just wants to win. There’s no pomp and circumstance. He’s not trying to posture. He’s not trying to do anything but get out there and compete. He loves these moments.”
Rocker (11-5) used his fastball and a flummoxing breaking pitch to limit the Bulldogs to five hits. He walked one, hit a batter and struck out six before Patrick Raby took over to start the seventh. Rocker won his fifth straight start and is 9-1 over his last 10.
“He was able to command two pitches for strikes. He’s got a fastball that’s mid-90s and a 12-6 slider that works,” said the Bulldogs’ Jake Mangum, the SEC’s career hits leader. “He was able to keep us off balance. He pitched really, really well. He’s a freshman. That speaks volumes of his last two starts. The future is really bright for him.”
Scott hit a solo homer in the second inning and a three-run shot in the fifth to break open the meeting of SEC rivals. It was the 13th and 14th for the 6-hole batter.
“Their whole lineup has had a really good year, and you’ve got double-digit home runs there late in their lineup with a couple guys,” MSU coach Chris Lemonis said. “I thought we pitched him good at times and we left some balls over the plate, and for a good hitter, man, he took advantage of it and crushed them.”
The Bulldogs, who came from three runs down in the ninth inning to beat Auburn 5-4 on Sunday and have a nation-leading 28 come-from-behind wins, got their offense going once Rocker left.
Marshall Gilbert homered leading off the seventh against Raby and Mangum doubled and scored when Tanner Allen doubled past diving center fielder Pat DeMarco to make it 6-3.
Tyler Brown entered with two outs and runners on the corners and struck out Dustin Skelton. He limited the Bulldogs to one hit over the last two innings to earn his 16th save, the seventh that required him to get six or more outs.
“That was a tough one to swallow,” Mangum said. “We have to go home tonight and turn the page quick.”
JJ Bleday’s RBI double started a five-run fifth for Vanderbilt and knocked out MSU starter Peyton Plumlee (7-5). Trysten Barlow took over, and Ethan Paul singled and Philip Clarke walked to load the bases. That brought on Riley Self, and DeMarco tapped his first pitch for an RBI groundout before Scott launched a first-pitch slider over right field for a three-run homer and 6-0 lead.
“We went into this game confident with Kumar on the mound, and he really showed up,” Scott said. “That’s a pretty scary team top to bottom, so we were looking to give him some run support.”
It was the Commodores’ second win of the season over MSU. The teams didn’t meet in the regular season; Vandy won 1-0 in the SEC Tournament.
UP NEXT
Vanderbilt plays Friday against winner of the Thursday elimination game between Louisville and Mississippi State.
LOUISVILLE 5, AUBURN 3 (Elimination Game)
Wins are always hard to come by for Louisville at the College World Series, and this one was no different.
Two relievers had to survive anxious moments to hold Auburn to two runs over five innings before the 5-3 victory was secure Wednesday, completing a game suspended by rain one day earlier.
The No. 7 national seed Cardinals (50-17) improved to 32-1 all-time when scoring five or more runs in an NCAA Tournament game. But they are just 3-10 overall at the CWS.
“As I’ve learned, it’s not easy winning out here, and they don’t give you anything,” said Dan McDonnell, the coach for all five of Louisville’s CWS appearances. “You’ve got to earn it. We talk about toughness and playing with an edge, and our guys really showed that yesterday and today being in the elimination game.”
Auburn (38-28), which squandered a three-run lead in the ninth inning of a 5-4 loss to Mississippi State on Sunday, went 0-2 in its first CWS since 1997.
“Hate that it ends today,” Tigers coach Butch Thompson said. “I think our players, just right up to the end, you could see that our guys are pretty resilient and continued to fight.”
Louisville led 4-1 when the game was suspended after four innings Tuesday.
It was 5-2 in the eighth when the Tigers mounted their biggest threat against closer Michael McAvene, who took over for Adam Elliott (3-2) to start the seventh inning.
The bottom of Auburn’s order produced three straight singles to load the bases with two outs, and McAvene ran the count full against leadoff man Judd Ward. But Ward swung and missed on a 96-mph fastball on the outside half of the plate and finished 0 for 10 in the CWS.
“It was pretty deflating, but at the same time, all year long we faced a ton of adversity throughout our games and we’ve always battled back and we’ve always responded well,” Auburn’s Steven Williams said. “We tried to go back out in the ninth, get a shutdown inning, get back in here and have some good at-bats and see what happens.”
Michael Kirian came on in the ninth and gave up Conor Davis’ one-out home run off the top of the fence in left center, cutting the lead to two. Williams hit a two-out double into the right-field corner before Kirian struck out Rankin Woley to end the game and record his fifth save.
Louisville’s celebration on the field was muted.
“We’re looking for the next game, like we’re not done yet,” the Cards’ Drew Campbell said.
The Cards’ first four runs came before play was suspended. Tyler Fitzgerald homered in the first, and the Cardinals converted one hit, three walks and two errors into three runs in the fourth against Bailey Horn (4-2) and Elliott Anderson.
“It’s something I wanted to do as a 3-hole hitter, get our lineup started early, and something I wasn’t able to do the game before,” Fitzgerald said. “So just to get the momentum in our favor, top of the first inning, was huge for us and just set the tone early on.”
Once the teams returned Wednesday, Davis’ two-out RBI double got Auburn within 4-2 in the seventh. The Cardinals got back that run the next inning on Campbell’s base hit with none out. The Tigers escaped further damage when Justin Lavey popped out trying to bunt, Ryan Watson picked off pinch runner Trey Leonard at second and Henry Davis struck out.
“Just to get here and to make a mark like we have, it’s been 22 years and we’ve been working really hard,” Auburn’s Conor Davis said. “I just can’t wait to see where the program goes with Coach Thompson at its head.”