Bethune-Cookman falls in Tallahassee baseball regional
Wildcats lose to Florida State and Jacksonville

Florida State 8, Bethune-Cookman 1
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (5/25/01) - The NCAA regional tournament game betweenFlorida State and Bethune-Cookman looked like a mismatch at first.

The host Seminoles had been nationally ranked throughout the season.Bethune-Cookman came into the game with a below-.500 record.

But for six innings Friday, Florida State and Bethune-Cookman were deadlockedin a battle between their starting pitchers.

However, Florida State would break open the game, scoring seven runs in theseventh and eighth innings to win, 8-1, and move into a second-round gameSaturday against Auburn.

Seminoles coach Mike Martin said the key to the game was pitcher Blair Varnes,who scattered six hits over 7 2/3 innings. Varnes (9-1) struck out six and did not give up any walks.

"Blair Varnes was the story," Martin said. "If you can hold a club to one run, you certainly expect to win."

"Unfortunately, we don't play seven innings here," said BCC coach Mervyl Melendez. "It was the same story last year. We played well until the 7th inning and things got out of hand and the game got away from us. We can't make mistakes against a team of this caliber."

The Seminoles led 1-0 after six innings but took control of the game asJohn-Ford Griffin and Ryan Barthelemy each drove in three runs in the seventhand eighth innings.

Griffin and Barthelemy had consecutive run-scoring doubles in the seventh,forcing the removal of Bethune-Cookman starter Cesar Montes de Oca (7-4).

They followed in the eighth with Griffin belting a two-run double and Barthelemyhitting a two-run triple.

James Carter scored Bethune-Cookman's only run in the eighth inning on aVarnes wild pitch.

Score by Innings                    R  H  E-------------------------------------------BCC................. 000 000 010 -  1  6  4FSU................. 010 000 34X -  8  8  0-------------------------------------------

The day before, Alexander's bullpen squandered a lead and put his Dolphins onthe verge of elimination from the NCAA regional tournament. "I'm thinking,'Please Lord, let Darren finish it, and don't make me use my bullpen,' " Alexandersaid.

Truty came through, throwing a six-hit complete game to lead Jacksonville to a3-0 win over Bethune-Cookman in the four-team double elimination tournamentat Florida State.

Bethune-Cookman (26-34) was eliminated after losing its second straightgame.

"We came in here with one purpose -- to have a good showing, win somegames and hopefully move on even though we knew it would be a tough task," said Bethune-Cookman coach Mervyl Melendez. "The bottom line is that we just didn't get it done offensively. We had two great pitching performances, but didn't swing the bats and that was the story in these two games."

Truty (9-5) struck out six and walked three. Chad Oliva drove in all the Dolphins'runs.

Melendez said his team blew too many chances to score. Bethune-Cookmanstranded 10 runners and had two men on base in each of the last four innings. "It was more the lack of execution on our part than it was him (Truty)," he said.

The Dolphins (39-24) broke open the game in the seventh inning when Oliva hit a two-out, two-run double offthe wall in right-center field, driving in B.J. Weed and Phil Nover.

Jacksonville took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Oliva singled to drive in Weed. Weed singled to lead offthe game and moved to second on a walk. Seth Jerue (3-5) was the losing pitcher.

"Big players step up when you need them to," said Melendez. "Seth pitched the second game for us last year too. He is a good pitcher, our #2 pitcher and he's not afraid to go after you. He is probably the only player who showed up to play for us this morning and he deserves a better outcome than he has gotten the last two years."

Score by Innings                    R  H  E-------------------------------------------Jacksonville........ 100 000 200 -  3 12  1BCC................. 000 000 000 -  0  6  0-------------------------------------------

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