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.
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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.
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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.
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Florida State is scheduled to play a doubleheader against St. John's tomorrow, needing two victories to advance from its own regional.
