Florida State outfielder Jaime Ferrer (7) bats during an NCAA college regional baseball game against Stetson on Friday, May 31, 2024 in Tallahassee, Fla. (AP Photo/Gary McCullough)
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OMAHA, Neb. — Jaime Ferrer hit two homers, Carson Dorsey turned in a third straight strong start, and Florida State bounced back from a gut-wrenching loss two days earlier to stay alive in the College World Series with a 7-3 win over Virginia on Sunday.
The Seminoles (48-16) have won at least one game in five straight CWS appearances since 2010 and will play Tuesday against the loser of Sunday night’s North Carolina-Tennessee matchup.
The Cavaliers (46-17) went 0-2 in Omaha for the second straight year and have lost six straight CWS games since 2021.
Florida State was coming off a 12-11 walk-off loss to No. 1 national seed Tennessee in its CWS opener Friday night. Many in garnet and gold thought the Seminoles were robbed of a win when a check-swing call that could have ended the game instead went Tennessee’s way before Dylan Dreiling’s game-winning hit.
FSU coach Link Jarrett said Friday’s outcome left him with a terrible headache that lasted well into Saturday, and he was concerned about how his team would respond.
“This probably was the best game we played this year,” Jarrett said. “That sums up what’s in that dugout. It’s not easy to go to bed after that, not a pleasant day. To watch them play their best game, that’s a thrill I’ll never forget here. That’s beyond an experience I’ve ever had here, just the response.”
Ferrer connected on Virginia starter Jay Woolfolk’s first pitch of the fourth inning and launched a wind-aided fly into the left-field bullpen off Joe Savino for a three-run shot in the fifth. Ferrer has three homers in two CWS games, five in his last four games and 22 for the season.
Ferrer has driven in four runs in back-to-back games, making him the first player with multiple games with four or more RBIs in a single CWS since Southern California’s Robb Gorr in 1998, according to ESPN.
Dorsey (8-4), who allowed three runs and struck out seven, was lifted for Brennen Oxford after giving up a base hit to start the eighth. In three NCAA Tournament starts, Dorsey has yielded five earned runs and struck out 20 in 21 innings.
All four of Dorsey’s pitches were working at a high level, particularly his curve, and he leaned on the breaking more than usual.
“We saw it work early in the game and we decided to stay with it,” he said. “No need to change what’s working.”
The left-hander held the Cavaliers scoreless until the seventh, when the ball popped out of Ferrer’s glove as he tried to make a sliding catch of Henry Godbout’s liner to left. That allowed Ethan Anderson to score from second, and Casey Saucke followed with an RBI single.
Woolfolk (4-2) left in the fourth after he tweaked his right knee on the pitch Ferrer drove out for his first homer of the game. Athletic trainer Brian McGuire made a mound visit, and Woolfolk threw some warmup pitches to see if he could continue. He got an out and walked Drew Faurot, prompting another visit from McGuire. This time Woolfolk came out and Savino relieved.
“Freak accident,” an emotional Woolfolk said. “I feel fine. I feel great now. Just something that happened. I wish I could have kept going.”
It was a difficult ending for Woolfolk, originally a two-sport athlete who was expected to compete for the starting quarterback’s job on the football team in 2023. He announced a month before fall camp that he would give up football to focus on baseball, and he was a weekend starter the first month of the season.
He struggled with his control and went to the bullpen, but coach Brian O’Connor gave him another opportunity to start in the postseason and he turned in two of the best performances of his career in regionals and super regionals. He was sharp Sunday until he got hurt, striking out three while retiring the first six FSU batters.
The game was delayed more than five minutes in the eighth inning after home plate umpire Linus Baker was shaken up when a foul ball into the dirt behind the plate bounced into his right knee and up under his mask’s chin pad. Medical personnel tended to Baker and gave him the OK to continue and equipment staff checked his mask before play resumed.
TENNESSEE 6, NORTH CAROLINA 1
OMAHA, Neb. — Kavares Tears and Reese Chapman homered, Drew Beam limited North Carolina to one hit over five shutout innings, and Tennessee took control of its bracket at the College World Series with a win.
The Volunteers (57-12), trying to become the first No. 1 national seed since 1999 to win the championship, will advance to the best-of-three finals if they can beat Florida State or North Carolina (48-15) on Wednesday. Those teams will meet Tuesday in an elimination game. The Vols would have to lose twice to be denied a first appearance in the finals.
Beam (9-2) limited North Carolina to three base runners through five innings, and his team was up 4-0 when he went out for the sixth.
Tar Heels starter Shea Sprague (3-2) retired nine of the first 10 batters he faced before he gave up a single and walk in the fourth. Then Tears drove an elevated change-up off the back wall of the right-field bullpen, next to the North Carolina logo, for his 20th homer of the season. Chapman, 1 for his last 15 when he came to bat, connected for his seventh to start the bottom of the fifth to chase Sprague.
Vance Honeycutt broke through against Beam with his 27th homer of the season to start the sixth, and Casey Cook and Parks Harber singled to bring on Kirby Connell.
Connell, he of the handlebar mustache, held the Tar Heels scoreless for two innings and turned things over to Nate Snead to start the eighth.
The first meeting of the teams since 2019 began with each teams making sterling defensive plays.
Carolina’s Colby Wilkerson threw to first from his knees to get Moore. Tennessee’s Hunter Ensley took off in a full sprint and stretched out his left arm to snag Anthony Donofrio’s deep fly to center just before crashing into the wall and leaving eyeblack smudged on the padding. Though he didn’t show any immediate sign of injury and batted twice, he was replaced by Colby Backus in center to start the fifth.
Home-plate umpire Kellen Levy was replaced in the fifth by Scott Cline, who had been working second base. Levy was hit in the facemask by a foul ball the previous inning and began feeling unwell. An NCAA spokesman said Levy was being monitored for concussion symptoms. The game was delayed 16 minutes while Cline was in the umpires’ locker room changing into protective gear.