OMAHA, Neb. — The world will have to wait.
The only people the Stony Brook Seawolves shocked at the College World Series were themselves.
Carrying an unimaginable amount of confidence from their Super Regional triumph at LSU, the loveable Long Islanders were dominated for the second straight game by a perennial power and saw their remarkable season end yesterday with a 12-2 loss to No. 1 seed Florida State at TD Ameritrade Park.
“I’m very proud of them, but that doesn’t make the disappointment of this great season coming to an end any less painful,” said Stony Brook coach Matt Senk. “I know that this was like nothing else that’s ever happened to a college team from Long Island. These young men have done so much for the university in so many different ways and so much for Long Island. Hopefully this team has done some things that will have a ripple effect that goes on for a long, long time.”
As the second No. 4 seed ever to reach the College World Series, the Seawolves became the first team ousted from the tournament, unable to repeat the magic of their previous five elimination games. It was the first time Stony Brook (52-15) had lost consecutive games since March 25, having won 28 of 30 games before Friday’s 9-1 loss to No. 1 seed UCLA.
“We were hot for so long, it was something ridiculous,” third baseman William Carmona said. “Eventually the flame fizzles out, I guess.”
Center fielder Travis Jankowski said, “I’m sure as time goes on, we’ll reminisce on what we’ve done and I’m sure we’ll kind of forgot about these losses and raise our heads.”
Trailing 2-0 with two outs in the third inning, the Seawolves essentially booked their return flight to MacArthur Airport after a throwing error unraveled into six runs for the Seminoles.
With two runners on, shortstop Cole Peragine fielded a ground ball, but then made a walk in the park look like a climb up Mount Everest, under-throwing first baseman Kevin Courtney on what would have been the final out of the inning, allowing Florida State to take a 4-0 lead.
Two batters later, starter Brandon McNitt gave up a three-run homer to Justin Gonzalez. McNitt (8-4) had his shortest outing of the season, pitching 3 2/3 innings, allowing nine runs (four earned), six hits and three walks while striking out two.
“You can’t, against good teams, make the mistakes that we made and expect to survive that,” Senk said.
The Stony Brook offense didn’t do much to keep them out of the obituaries either.
Entering the game with the third-highest batting average in the nation (.333), Stony Brook stranded four baserunners in the first three innings and seven for the game, totaling seven hits. Seminoles starter Mike Compton (12-2) helped keep a muzzle on the majority of the 24,000 fans, as the freshman right-hander allowed two runs and six hits over six innings.
The Seawolves scored their only runs in the fifth inning, cutting the deficit to 9-2 on Pat Cantwell’s RBI groundout and Carmona’s RBI single.
Florida State (49-16) would smash the glass slipper minutes later with back-to-back doubles from Sherman Johnson and Devon Travis that brought in three more runs in the sixth inning.
“I look back on the season, and I think we did what no one thought we could ever do,” said Carmona, who went 2-for-4. “It’s what everyone thought was basically impossible and we made it happen somehow, and I’ll never forget that.”
When Senk was asked what this journey meant to him, 22 years after accepting the part-time position with Stony Brook’s Division III ballclub, the coach paused for several seconds, choking back tears.
“It means a lot,” Senk said. “It means everything.”