TUCSON — Arizona kept its cool when St. John’s bolted to a big lead. Now the Wildcats are one win away from the College World Series.
Trent Gilbert hit a game-ending RBI single with one out in the 10th inning and Arizona erased a five-run deficit on its way to a 7-6 victory over St. John’s in the opening game of their super regional series Friday.
“We’ve been down quite a bit this year, but we always have the confidence that if we’re down we’re going to come back,” senior Bobby Brown said. “We’re a good offensive team.”
St. John’s (40-22) scored five times in the fourth inning, but Arizona got single runs in the fourth and fifth and tied it at 5 with three runs in the sixth. The Wildcats (42-17) have trailed in 22 of their 42 wins this season, including every game of the 2012 postseason.
“That’s a great one to win and a tough one to lose,” Arizona coach Andy Lopez said. “It’s a lot nicer feeling when you come out on top. I thought they did a marvelous job, St. John’s was outstanding.”
The Red Storm grabbed a 6-5 lead in the top of the 10th on Sean O’Hare’s RBI double, but the Wildcats tied it on Brown’s RBI single. Arizona loaded the bases against Kevin Kilpatrick (3-3), and Gilbert roped a 1-2 pitch to right center for the win.
Florida State 17, Stanford 1 • TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Devon Travis homered twice and drove in six runs as the Seminoles pounded Mark Appel.
Florida State (47-15) batted around in the fourth and fifth innings to build an 11-1 lead. Travis singled in a run in the fourth, hit a two-run homer in the sixth and belted a three-run shot in the seventh.
Appel (10-2) was hurt by his wildness and an error by shortstop Kenny Diekroeger, who booted a potential double-play grounder as Florida State scored its first run. It was the worst loss of the season for Stanford (41-17).
Freshman left-hander Brandon Leibrandt (8-2) pitched six innings before leaving with a 14-1 lead.
UCLA 6, TCU 2 • LOS ANGELES — Cody Regis’ three-run double capped a five-run sixth inning for the Bruins (46-14) at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
Stony Brook vs. LSU (suspended) • BATON ROUGE, La. — LSU hit tying home runs in the ninth, 10th and 11th innings, prolonging a thrilling game against the upstart Seawolves (50-12) long enough for a downpour to postpone it until today.
After Mason Katz’s blast to left off Stony Brook reliever Jasvir Rakkar tied it at 4, LSU (46-16) nearly won it when the next batter, Raph Rhymes, pulled a shot down the line that sailed over the left-field wall, but was ruled foul.
