June 10, 2012
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.-- Stanford staked Florida State to six runs over the first two innings and never recovered as Florida State (48-15) moves onto the College World Series following a 2-0 sweep of the Cardinal (41-18) and 18-7 win on Sunday evening.
First round pick Stephen Piscotty ended his career 4-for-5, as the junior utility player started every game in his Stanford career, 172 games. Jake Stewart, a ninth round pick of the Tigers, ended his junior season on a 12-game hit streak.
Sophomore Austin Wilson drove in three and went 3-for-5, producing a double and home run, his team-leading tenth.
Stanford mounted a rally in the seventh, sending 10 men to the plate and scoring four times to close to 10-6. Four hits in the inning, including an RBI double by Wilson and RBI singles from Kenny Diekroeger and Alex Blandino. FSU then scored eight to make it 18-6.
Gage Smith (5-0) got the win in relief, pitching 2.1 innings and giving up four runs in the middle innings.
Brett Mooneyham (7-6) could not get an out in the second, facing eight batters and allowing five runs on three hits. A two-run homer by Jayce Boyd in the first was followed by a three-run homer by Sherman Johnson off reliever A.J. Vanegas in the second to make it 6-0
Stanford left five runners in scoring position over the first five innings, managing just one run in the third and another run in the fifth. FSU pitchers benefited from three double plays.
Mike Compton gave up two runs on 11 hits over 4.0-plus innings, as Stanford left eight on base through five innings.
The Johnson homer was the only hit (or run) Vanegas would allow until a two-run sixth, as the sophomore righthander gave up four runs on three hits over 5.0-plus innings of relief of Mooneyham. He also struck out six.
Johnson drove in five on the night with the three-run homer and two-run hit in the sixth.
NOTES: Saturday's originally scheduled game two was rained out and moved to Sunday.... Mark Appel finishes his career 10-2 with a 2.56 ERA in 2012 and 18-10 with a 3.22 over 57 career games. Mooneyham finished his career 16-16 with a 4.70 ERA over 45 games, including a 7-6 record and 4.75 ERA this year.... Kenny Diekroeger finishes his junior season with 170 career games and a .308 career average with 105 runs and 103 RBIs. Stewart played in 148 games with a .265 career mark, 96 runs and 62 RBIs and Piscotty in 172 games had a .340 career average with 124 runs and 32 RBIs.
Stanford had five four-year players on its squad (Christian Griffiths-23 games, Mooneyham, Busick-2 appearances, Elliott Byers-4 appearances, AJ Talt-6 appearances) and had seven players drafted (Appel-1st, Piscotty-1st, Mooneyham-3rd, Kenny Diekroeger-4th, Stewart-9th, Eric Smith-18th, Tyler Gaffney-24th). Starters Alex Blandino (3B), Danny Diekroeger (2B), Brian Ragira (1B) and Austin Wilson (RF) were all underclassmen starters. Ragira led the team in batting (.329) and Wilson in homers (10) and runs (56). Piscotty had a team-best 56 RBIs.