Via FSU Athletic Dept.

Florida State pounded Stanford in the first game of their Super Regional, 17-1. They knocked out Stanford ace Mark Appel, the 8th pick in Monday’s draft, after just four innings. He allowed SEVEN runs in the 4th inning.

The Seminoles offense just kept on clicking, with ten of their runs coming with two outs. The top five in their lineup went 11-for-19 with 11 runs scored and 12 RBIs. They also walked seven times to just one strikeout.

Devon Travis went 3-for-5 with two homeruns and six RBIs. Captain James Ramsey also had three hits in his first game after being a first round pick of St. Louis.

All of that offense made a winner of freshman starter Brandon Liebrandt, who won his second start this postseason. He allowed just one run on six hits over six innings.

*After spurning the Pittsburgh Pirates and their local media on draft night to focus on the NCAA Tournament, how well do you think Appel was “prepared” for his start?

It took a big 7^th inning for Team USA to defeat the Japanese on Sunday afternoon, 7-6.

The Japanese trailed 1-0 heading into the 5^th inning but scored six runs against Team USA starter Mark Appel (Stanford). The inning was capped by Hotaka Yamakawa’s first-pitch-he-saw grand slam. That was the only inning that the Japanese scored.

Deven Marrero (ASU) drove in the first run of the 7^th inning, on a double (he had two hits and drove in two runs). Dominic Ficociello (Arkansas) drove in two on a single to right field to tie the game at 6-6. He scored the go ahead (and winning) run on Josh Elder’s (Oral Roberts) single (he also had two hits). Elder dropped in a base hit to center, but it skipped past the centerfielder, allowing Ficociello to score from first (and Elder went all the way to third base).

Late in the game, Team USA rode the dominant arm of Duke reliever Marcus Stroman. He entered in the 8^th inning with one out and men on base and immediately squashed the Japanese rally. He induced a ground out and picked up yet another strikeout. He pitched a perfect 9^th inning to earn his third save of the summer.

Team USA and Japan continue their series on Monday night at 6:05pm ET at Durham Bulls Athletic Park. Kevin Gausman of LSU will get the start.

*In roster news, Matt Boyd (Oregon State), Ryan Stanek (Arkansas), and Eric Anderson (Missouri) were let go. Boyd returned to the Cape Cod League.