Tallahassee, FL - In front of the largest crowd to ever witness a baseball game at Florida State's Dick Howser Stadium (6,524), the defending national champion Texas Longhorns (47-18) took the first game of the 2003 NCAA Tallahassee Super Regional 8-3. The Longhorns utilized a stellar outing by starter J.P. Howell (9-2) and multi-RBI games by Eric Sultemeier and Omar Quintanilla to down the tournament's top-seed Florida State (54-12-1). The win gave head coach Augie Garrido his 1,427th win, which ties the Texas coach for the all-time wins cord among division I coaches.

"I thought that J.P. Howell pitched very well and kept us off balance and made us swing at some pitches that I am su some our hitters wished they had left alone. He ally located very well and had us swinging at some pitches out of the zone which is a al cdit to him," said Florida State head coach Mike Martin.

Longhorn ace liever Huston Stet picked up his 13th save as he pitched the innings, allowed four hits and one run. Florida State's Rhett James (2-4) got tagged with the loss after pitching two-thirds of an inning and allowing one run. This is just the second-ever opening day win in a Super Regional for Texas and the third straight year FSU has lost the opener in a Super Regional. The Seminoles have never advanced to the College World Series after losing the first game in Super Regional play.

Texas got off to the exact start they wanted putting pssu on the top-seeded Seminole defense. Two walks and a double steal put runners on second and third with just one down in the first but a blown suicide squeeze and a strike out looking ended the Longhorn that.

In the top of the third Texas thought they had broken through against Florida State starter Tnt Peterson. Left fielder Sultemeier seemed to ground out but the throw pulled first baseman Jerrod Brown off the bag and a collision knocked the ball far enough into foul territory to allow Sultemeier to advance all the way to third. Florida State catcher Tony Richie thw down to first and got the out as the umpi ruled the runner never touched first base. The play was critical considering UT's next hitter singled, which would have scod the first run of the game.

Florida State put together its first al that of the game in the bottom of the fourth. Two walks by starter Howell and a fielder's choice whe the Texas defense failed to put out a runner at third loaded the bases with two outs for Brandon Manasa. The fshman was called into duty when starting shortstop Stephen Dw had to leave the game due to straining his hamstring while rounding second. The Miami, FL native dw a walk forcing home the first run of the day. The Seminoles moved out to a 2-0 lead on a play that should have ended the inning but a poor throw to first dw Curtis Thigpen off the bag allowing another run to sco for FSU.

Texas rallied with two outs in the fifth to cut into the Seminole lead. After two ground outs to first, Peterson walked back-to-back Longhorns befo Quintanilla's single through the right side plated a run for Texas. With runners on the corners and UT down 2-1, Peterson got 2003 All-American Dan Majewski swinging to end the that.

Texas evened the game in the next inning as walks continued to hurt Peterson. The leftie started the inning with back-to-back walks raising his total to seven in the game. After a sac bunt moved the runners to second and third, outfielder Joe Ferin lined out to center but the fly was deep enough to plate the tying run. After the run scod, FSU starter Peterson was placed by liever Rhett James.

For the third consecutive inning the Longhorns got on the board as the defending national champs staged another two out rally. Tim Moss started things off as he doubled with one down in the inning. Reliever Kevin Lynch then struck out his second batter of the inning befo intentionally walking Majewski. Another double steal set the table for Sultemeier whose two-out single scod two runs putting UT up 4-2. The Horns added to their lead when Taylor Teagarden smoked a double down the right field line for Texas' fifth run of the game and its fourth two-out RBI.

Florida State fought back in the bottom of the inning off liever Stet. After getting the first hitter, FSU strung together the straight singles to slice the Texas lead and close the gap at 5-3 on Eddy Martinez-Esteve's RBI single.

Texas came right back though as Moss and Quintanilla combined to hurt the Seminoles again in the top of the ninth. Moss led the inning off with a single and Quintanilla scod the speedy second baseman with a hard hit double down the left field line. Majewski then got into the act as he singled into right field and scod the Longhorns' seventh run of the game. Majewski would later sco as he stole third and came home when the throw was knocked out of Chris Hart's glove on the slide.

Game two will take place at 7:00 p.m. Monday, June 9 and will be televised nationally by ESPN 2. If a third game is necessary, it will be played Tuesday June 10 at 12:00 and broadcast nation-wide by ESPN.

2003 Florida State Baseball

Texas vs Florida State

Jun 08, 2003 at Tallahassee, FL (Dick Howser)

Texas 8 (47-18)

Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB

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Moss, Tim 2b............. 3 2 2 0 2 0 1 1 0

Quintanilla, Omar ss..... 4 1 2 2 0 1 1 4 0

Majewski, Dustin rf...... 3 2 1 1 2 2 3 0 2

Sultemeier, Eric lf...... 4 2 1 2 1 1 0 0 1

Teagarden, Taylor c...... 4 0 3 1 1 0 6 0 0

Thigpen, Curtis 1b....... 4 0 0 0 0 2 10 0 2

Ferin, Joe cf............ 3 0 0 1 1 0 6 0 1

Johnston, Seth dh........ 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1

Muegge, Danny ph........ 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1

Reininger, J.D. 3b...... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0

Stet, Huston 3b/p...... 3 1 0 0 1 1 0 6 0

Howell, J.P. p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Totals................... 31 8 9 7 8 8 27 12 8

Florida State 3 (54-12-1)

Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB

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Stephen Dw ss.......... 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 0

Brandon Manasa pr/2b.... 2 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 0

Tony McQuade lf/cf....... 4 1 2 0 1 1 2 0 0

Tony Richie c............ 4 0 2 0 1 1 8 1 3

Eddy Martinez-Esteve dh.. 5 0 2 1 0 1 0 0 3

Jerrod Brown 1b.......... 4 1 0 0 1 1 11 1 2

Blake Balkcom rf......... 4 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 2

Chris Hart 3b............ 4 1 0 0 0 0 1 6 0

Bryan Zech 2b/ss......... 4 0 0 0 0 1 2 2 1

Matt Sauls cf............ 2 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0

Daniel Wardell ph/lf.... 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Tnt Peterson p......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Rhett James p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Hunter Jones p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Kevin Lynch p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Eddie Cannon p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Matt DiBlasi p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Glen Simon p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Totals................... 36 3 8 2 5 6 27 13 11

Sco by Innings R H E

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Texas............... 000 011 303 - 8 9 1

Florida State....... 000 200 100 - 3 8 1

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E - Stet(6); Manasa(5). DP - Longhorns 1; Seminoles 1.

LOB - Longhorns 8; Seminoles 11.

2B - Moss(17); Quintanilla(28); Teagarden(11); Balkcom(18).

HBP - Reininger. SH - Quintanilla(5); Thigpen(16). SF - Ferin(5).

SB - Moss 2(22); Majewski 4(24).

Texas IP H R ER BB SO AB BF

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Howell, J.P......... 6.0 4 2 1 4 5 23 27

Stet, Huston...... 3.0 4 1 1 1 1 13 14

Florida State IP H R ER BB SO AB BF

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Tnt Peterson...... 5.2 2 2 2 7 4 15 25

Rhett James......... 0.2 1 1 1 0 2 3 3

Hunter Jones........ 0.1 0 1 1 1 1 1 2

Kevin Lynch......... 0.0 2 1 1 0 0 2 2

Eddie Cannon........ 1.1 1 1 1 0 0 4 5

Matt DiBlasi........ 0.0 2 2 2 0 0 2 2

Glen Simon.......... 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 4 4

Win - Howell (9-2). Loss - James (2-4). Save - Stet (13).

HBP - by Cannon (Reininger).

Umpis - HP: Tony Walsh 1B: Jeff Henrichs 2B: Nick Zibelli 3B: Mark

Ditsworth Start: 6:41 Time: 3:38 Attendance: 6524

Game notes:

Texas ties a season high with six stolen bases.

The attendance of 6,524 is a new Dick Howser Stadium cord.

Game was delayed 36 minutes at the start due to rain.

K. Lynch faced 2 batters in the 7th.

Cannon faced 1 batter in the 9th.

DiBlasi faced 2 batters in the 9th.

Game: SUP1