The Florida State Seminoles baseball team secured a spot in the regional final after defeating Northern Illinois 7-4 in a 10-inning game on Sunday night.
Florida State overcame three fielding errors and multiple base-running mistakes to push the game into extra innings after trailing 4-3 at the end of the seventh inning.
Strong Relief Pitching
Relievers Chris Knier and Brodie Purcell combined to throw 6.2 innings, striking out 12 batters and allowing only one unearned run.
Starter Cooper Whited pitched 3 1/3 innings.
Florida State took an early lead in the first inning on an RBI double by Brody DeLamielleure, but Northern Illinois responded with a two-run home run to lead 2-1.
The Seminoles reclaimed a 3-2 lead in the second inning after Carter McCulley drove in Ben Barrett and John Stuetzer hit an RBI single to score Gabe Fraser.
Northern Illinois tied the game 3-3 in the fourth inning when Gavin Baldwin hit his second home run of the day off Whited.
The Huskies capitalized on an FSU throwing error and a bases-loaded walk in the seventh inning to take a 4-3 lead.
Florida State leveled the score in the eighth inning when Nathan Cmeyla lined an RBI double into the left-center gap to bring home Hunter Carns from first base.
The Seminoles broke the tie in the tenth inning when Hunter Carns drove in Brayden Dowd, followed by a two-out, two-run home run by Ben Barrett to finalize the 7-4 score.
Florida State is scheduled to play a doubleheader against St. John's tomorrow, needing two victories to advance from its own regional.
