Homer Lifts Florida State in 13th

The ball came off Karl Jernigan’s bat and just kept going, taking Florida State into the championship game of the College World Series.

Jernigan’s three-run homer in the 13th inning Friday gave Florida State a 14-11 victory over Stanford and put the Seminoles in the title game for the first time since 1986.

With runners on first and third and none out, Jernigan said he wasn’t trying for dramatics.

“All I was trying to do was get a ball to the outfield and bring in a run,” he said. “The last thing on my mind was a home run.”

It will be an all-Florida final today when the second-seeded Seminoles (57-13) play top-seeded Miami (48-13). The Hurricanes won five of six regular-season games against Florida State this season.

Florida State’s Bobby Spano led off the 13th with a walk. He went to third when Ryan Barthelemy bounced a single over the glove of first baseman John Gall, who charged after trying to hold Spano.

Jernigan then hit a 1-0 pitch from reliever Tony Cogan (7-4) into the left-field bleachers.

He pumped his fists as he rounded the bases, and the Seminoles swarmed him at the plate.

Amid the celebration was Florida State Coach Mike Martin, who has brought his team to Omaha 18 times in his 19 seasons but has never won the title. Arizona beat Florida State, 10-2, in Martin’s only other final in 1986.

The Hurricanes owned the season series between the teams and Martin has few options on the mound after using seven pitchers against Stanford (50-15).

Nick Stocks (13-2), Florida State’s No. 1 starter, pitched the last two innings in relief.

Stanford, which rallied from a 7-2 seventh-inning deficit, appeared to have the game won with a 9-7 lead going to the bottom of the ninth. Cardinal Coach Mark Marquess elected to stay with right-hander Jason Young, who already had three complete games in the postseason.

It turned out to be the wrong choice. Young issued a leadoff walk to Jeremiah Klosterman and Kevin Cash then hit a two-run homer into the left-center bleachers, tying the score at 9-9.

It was Young’s 167th pitch.

“The only time to extend him is in the postseason,” Marquess said. “We talked to him. To be honest, I thought he had a better fastball in the eighth and ninth than he had in the fourth and fifth.”

Stanford got the lead right back with two runs in the top of the 10th on run-scoring singles by Josh Hochgesang and Damien Alvarado.

The Seminoles again came up with two runs to tie the score as Marshall McDougall led off the bottom of the inning with a homer to left and, after an out, Sam Scott homered to left on the first pitch.

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College World Series

TODAY

* Championship game--Miami (48-13) vs. Florida State (57-13), 9:30 a.m., Channel 2