Ace left-hander Parker Messick was good enough on a steamy Friday afternoon, and so was the Florida State offense.
The result was a 5-3 victory over No. 2 seed UCLA in the Auburn Regional, and it sends the Seminoles to the winners' bracket game on Saturday night. They'll face No. 1 seed Auburn, which blasted Southeast Louisiana, 19-7, Friday night.
Florida State, the No. 3 seed in the regional, grabbed the lead in its game after the fourth batter of the game and never relinquished it on its way to its 34th win of the season.
"We had a couple of clutch hits, made some nice plays," FSU head coach Mike Martin Jr. said. "Had a couple of miscues, but all in all I was pleased with the amount of focus I saw out of the guys. When you're relaxed you can focus, and that's key this time of the year."
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The Seminoles (34-23) were able to take a 1-0 lead in the first inning on an RBI single from freshman James Tibbs. But FSU squandered an opportunity for more when Logan Lacey grounded out to third with runners on the corners to end the inning.
Messick held that lead up for the next four innings, as the Bruins (38-23) managed just one hit off the lefty until the fifth.
Meanwhile, the Seminoles increased their lead to 3-0 in the top of the fifth when Jordan Carrion drove in Colton Vincent and Tyler Martin with a two-run triple into the right-field corner. Carrion then tried to score on Jaime Ferrer's fly ball to right field, but he was ruled out by the home-plate umpire. And after a lengthy review, the call was upheld.
UCLA managed to cut the lead to 3-2 in the bottom of the inning when Messick gave up a solo homer to Carson Yates with two outs. An infield single, a walk and a line-drive single to left plated another run for the Bruins before Messick was able to induce a flyout to end the inning.
Messick pitched five innings and finished with two earned runs and four strikeouts on 85 pitches.
"It's playoff baseball," Messick said. "It's basically a new season. What happened in the past happened in the past. That's the same kind of mindset after every start, no matter how good or bad it was. You prepare for a new team, and it's a new week, and ultimately try to give your team the best chance to win.
"I was ready to go Game 1. I wanted to set the tone."
Florida State got some insurance in the top of the sixth when Brett Roberts followed Tibbs' leadoff walk with a double off the wall in left. Reese Albert's RBI groundout scored Tibbs to push the lead to 4-2.
Again, FSU had a chance to score more, but Roberts got thrown out at home on a grounder to third by Lacey, and then Alex Toral flew out to center to end the threat.
Wyatt Crowell then came on to pitch the sixth for the Seminoles. Despite walking the bases loaded, he was able to survive the threat by inducing a groundball to Roberts to end the inning. He then pitched a 1-2-3 seventh inning.
Florida State had another chance to add an insurance run in the top of the eighth when Jaime Ferrer led off with his second double of the game and advanced to third by tagging up on pop-up to the second baseman. But Brett Roberts' fly ball to left-center wasn't deep enough to get him home, and then Albert struck out to end the inning.
UCLA cut its deficit to 4-3 in the bottom of the inning. Jonah Scolaro hit the first batter he faced and then gave up a ground-ball single to left to the next batter. After a sacrifice bunt advanced both runners, Mike Martin Jr. decided to pull Scolaro in favor of closer Davis Hare.
Hare struck out the first batter he faced, but a wild pitch allowed one run to score before Hare was able to get out of the inning.
Toral then extended the lead for the Seminoles to 5-3 in the top of the ninth with a towering home run to right -- his team-leading 15th of the season -- to give the Seminoles back their two-run cushion.
"He got a fastball where he could hammer it," Martin Jr. said. "And boy, did he. That's why he's in there. He's going to drive in runs. We're just trying to get everybody clicking. And I'm starting to see some things that I'm liking."
Hare then pitched around a two-out error by Lacey to finish off the Bruins for his fourth save of the season. Messick got the win to improve to 7-5.
"Davis came in and did his thing," Martin Jr. said. "We threw him some more fastballs to location, which is big for him. We can't just rely on that splitter. That's what we've got to do. We've got to execute pitches."
The Seminoles are now 82-1 in NCAA Tournament play since 1999 when having a lead after the eighth inning.
FSU and Auburn will square off today at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2. The winner will advance to the championship round, while the loser will play in an elimination game Sunday afternoon..
Stay connected with Warchant.com for complete postgame coverage from Auburn, Ala.
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