No. 9 overall seed Florida State rallies to beat Mississippi State 5-2, win Tallahassee Regional

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Cal Fisher tied the game with a two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh inning and Max Williams gave No. 9 overall seed Florida State the lead with a two-run single in the eighth as the Seminoles rallied to beat Mississippi State 5-2 on Sunday and win the Tallahassee Regional.

Florida State (41-14), in its 61st appearance in the NCAA Tournament, clinched a berth in the super regionals. The Seminoles have advanced to the College World Series 24 times and never won it. They were the runners-up in 1970, 1986 and 1999. Only Texas (38) and Miami (25) have more CWS appearances than Florida State.

Gehrig Frei put Mississippi State (36-23) on top when he homered to left field on the first pitch of the game from Wes Mendes (7-2). Joe Powell homered to left off Mendes in the fifth for a 2-0 lead.

Mendes gave up five hits with nine strikeouts.

Florida State couldn’t get anything going against Bulldogs starter Karson Ligon despite getting four hits and drawing five walks in his four innings. Luke Dotson (1-2) pitched three innings and surrendered the lead on four hits and a walk. Ligon and Dotson both struck out seven. Ryan McPherson gave up the final two runs.

Fisher homered off Dotson after Myles Bailey led off with a double. Dotson left after issuing a leadoff walk in the eighth. Bailey drove in the third run of the inning with a single.

Mississippi State was making its 41st appearance in the tournament. The Bulldogs have made 12 CWS appearances. They won it in 2021 and were the runners-up in 2013.

The Seminoles beat the Bulldogs 10-3 on Saturday.

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AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports