Link Jarrett certainly couldn’t have imagined himself watching his Florida State team clinch a second straight NCAA super regional appearance from a secluded room inside the stadium.
And yet, that’s exactly how his Sunday played out after his stunning second-inning ejection in No. 9 overall seed FSU’s 5-2 comeback win over Mississippi State in the Tallahassee Regional Final at Dick Howser Stadium.
Things took a quick and dramatic turn in the second inning of Sunday’s game. With the Bulldogs ahead 1-0 after a leadoff home run in the first, MSU starting pitcher Karson Ligon got a clutch strikeout of FSU designated hitter James Hankerson Jr. to strand the tying run on third base. He let Hankerson know about it, directing words and pointing directly at the hitter as well as the FSU dugout as he left the mound in an excited manner.
This reaction, which seemed to include a few choice words, triggered the FSU dugout and drew a massive response from FSU third base coach Ty Megahee and head coach Link Jarrett. Jarrett came out of the dugout and appeared to argue to home plate umpire Joe Burleson that Ligon should be ejected for what he said.
“There was a point of emphasis that we were instructed to adhere to in terms of unsportsmanlike activities and conduct. There are reasons that was put into place. There are times here throughout the course of this season where you saw the emotions and the outbursts and the language and the home runs get beyond, over the top,” Jarrett said. “That (point of emphasis) was appropriate. I felt like what happened, we were not adhering to the point of emphasis. That was what got me. I wanted to stand up for our guys.”
Burleson didn’t do that, simply issuing a warning to both dugouts. That wasn’t enough for Jarrett, who kept arguing and pleading his case to Burleson. When that continued after an extended debate and Burleson turning his back to the FSU head coach, the umpire threw out Jarrett, marking the first time this season he’s been ejected from a game.
“I did not intend to take it to that point, but that’s where it escalated to…” Jarrett said of his ejection. “My emotions probably went a little too far. I didn’t necessarily feel it in the moment, maybe I did (go too far). I was so upset about it it took me two or three innings to calm down.”
It was a dramatic response from Burleson so early in an NCAA regional final. And it was a surprising move from a veteran umpire like Burleson, a veteran baseball official who was the former supervisor of AAA umpires for Minor League Baseball and who has been an umpire for three College World Series and the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
The Osceola made a pool report request to ask what led to Jarrett's ejection. Burleson's report indicated Jarrett was ejected for "continuing to argue after he was given a warning."
Whatever the reasoning, Jarrett’s ejection was a shocking move that immediately elevated the intensity and emotion of the game. FSU starting pitcher Wes Mendes responded with a high level of energy coming off the mound after a 1-2-3 inning in the third right after Jarrett was thrown out.
“I didn’t really know what happened. It definitely lit a fire,” Mendes said of the ejection and its after-effect. “It got the crowd going, it was good.”
You could also tell that the ejection lit a spark in the FSU dugout with Seminole players buoyed by how adamantly their head coach went to bat for them.
“To see your head coach get ejected, if that doesn’t fire you up, there’s something wrong with you,” FSU center fielder Max Williams said. “We love Coach so much. All we want to do is perform for him. To see him do that for us meant so much.”
It was also a move that appeared to have some significant ramifications on FSU’s lineup once the team lost its head coach who is also a primary hitting coach.
The Seminoles had baserunners galore against the Bulldogs throughout Sunday’s game. They had a runner in scoring position in each of their final seven innings at the plate between the second and eighth innings. However, FSU’s first run as well as its first hit with runners in scoring position didn’t come until the seventh inning when Cal Fisher hit a two-run home run out to right-center after a leadoff double by Myles Bailey.
FSU stranded 12 runners in six scoreless innings to begin Sunday’s game and was hitless in nine at-bats with runners on base before Fisher came through to tie the game up at 2.
Then Max WIlliams came through in the eighth with a bases-loaded single that plated two runs and gave FSU its first lead of the night, immediately followed by a Myles Bailey RBI single on the very next pitch which made it 5-2 Seminoles.
That late breakthrough followed by Joe Charles closing out the game for the second straight night in the ninth finally allowed Jarrett to relieve himself of the the bad feelings he had been sitting with for getting tossed from the game and being forced to sit in a room in FSU’s stadium and watch the game play out with no way to communicate with his players or coaches.
“I felt tremendous guilt in there for the better part of that game. It was an awkward feeling,” Jarrett said. “For these guys, if I did something that impacted their ability to win this game and then looking to tomorrow, the feeling of thinking you might have to come back here tomorrow and did I do something to impact it, you feel guilty.”
And yet, Jarrett said he was tremendously confident in how his coaching staff would come together to manage the game as a unit without him. Even if this was his first time being ejected since his first season at FSU, meaning these assistant coaches hadn’t ever had to manage a game in which he was thrown out.
It speaks to a program Jarrett has built over the last few seasons that has thrived on response, resolve and grittiness in big moments.
“I’m proud of the way our assistant coaches took over and led it. These guys found a way to come back and grind…” Jarrett said. “These guys are tough. They know what they’re doing. Really nothing changed because I wasn’t out there.”
With the win, FSU is through to the super regional round for the second straight year under Jarrett. It’s the first time FSU has made consecutive super regionals since 2015 through 2017.
While No. 8 seed Oregon State has won three straight games since dropping its regional opener Friday, it needs to win one more game Monday over USC to advance to super regionals and keep FSU from hosting the best-of-three series next weekend.
If USC knocks off Oregon State on Monday, FSU would host a super regional for the second straight season – something that last happened in 2012-13 – against the Trojans. If Oregon State wins, FSU will travel out to Corvallis for a three-game series at OSU with a spot in the College World Series on the line.
And yet, that’s exactly how his Sunday played out after his stunning second-inning ejection in No. 9 overall seed FSU’s 5-2 comeback win over Mississippi State in the Tallahassee Regional Final at Dick Howser Stadium.
Things took a quick and dramatic turn in the second inning of Sunday’s game. With the Bulldogs ahead 1-0 after a leadoff home run in the first, MSU starting pitcher Karson Ligon got a clutch strikeout of FSU designated hitter James Hankerson Jr. to strand the tying run on third base. He let Hankerson know about it, directing words and pointing directly at the hitter as well as the FSU dugout as he left the mound in an excited manner.
This reaction, which seemed to include a few choice words, triggered the FSU dugout and drew a massive response from FSU third base coach Ty Megahee and head coach Link Jarrett. Jarrett came out of the dugout and appeared to argue to home plate umpire Joe Burleson that Ligon should be ejected for what he said.
“There was a point of emphasis that we were instructed to adhere to in terms of unsportsmanlike activities and conduct. There are reasons that was put into place. There are times here throughout the course of this season where you saw the emotions and the outbursts and the language and the home runs get beyond, over the top,” Jarrett said. “That (point of emphasis) was appropriate. I felt like what happened, we were not adhering to the point of emphasis. That was what got me. I wanted to stand up for our guys.”
Burleson didn’t do that, simply issuing a warning to both dugouts. That wasn’t enough for Jarrett, who kept arguing and pleading his case to Burleson. When that continued after an extended debate and Burleson turning his back to the FSU head coach, the umpire threw out Jarrett, marking the first time this season he’s been ejected from a game.
“I did not intend to take it to that point, but that’s where it escalated to…” Jarrett said of his ejection. “My emotions probably went a little too far. I didn’t necessarily feel it in the moment, maybe I did (go too far). I was so upset about it it took me two or three innings to calm down.”
It was a dramatic response from Burleson so early in an NCAA regional final. And it was a surprising move from a veteran umpire like Burleson, a veteran baseball official who was the former supervisor of AAA umpires for Minor League Baseball and who has been an umpire for three College World Series and the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
The Osceola made a pool report request to ask what led to Jarrett's ejection. Burleson's report indicated Jarrett was ejected for "continuing to argue after he was given a warning."
Whatever the reasoning, Jarrett’s ejection was a shocking move that immediately elevated the intensity and emotion of the game. FSU starting pitcher Wes Mendes responded with a high level of energy coming off the mound after a 1-2-3 inning in the third right after Jarrett was thrown out.
“I didn’t really know what happened. It definitely lit a fire,” Mendes said of the ejection and its after-effect. “It got the crowd going, it was good.”
You could also tell that the ejection lit a spark in the FSU dugout with Seminole players buoyed by how adamantly their head coach went to bat for them.
“To see your head coach get ejected, if that doesn’t fire you up, there’s something wrong with you,” FSU center fielder Max Williams said. “We love Coach so much. All we want to do is perform for him. To see him do that for us meant so much.”
It was also a move that appeared to have some significant ramifications on FSU’s lineup once the team lost its head coach who is also a primary hitting coach.
The Seminoles had baserunners galore against the Bulldogs throughout Sunday’s game. They had a runner in scoring position in each of their final seven innings at the plate between the second and eighth innings. However, FSU’s first run as well as its first hit with runners in scoring position didn’t come until the seventh inning when Cal Fisher hit a two-run home run out to right-center after a leadoff double by Myles Bailey.
FSU stranded 12 runners in six scoreless innings to begin Sunday’s game and was hitless in nine at-bats with runners on base before Fisher came through to tie the game up at 2.
Then Max WIlliams came through in the eighth with a bases-loaded single that plated two runs and gave FSU its first lead of the night, immediately followed by a Myles Bailey RBI single on the very next pitch which made it 5-2 Seminoles.
That late breakthrough followed by Joe Charles closing out the game for the second straight night in the ninth finally allowed Jarrett to relieve himself of the the bad feelings he had been sitting with for getting tossed from the game and being forced to sit in a room in FSU’s stadium and watch the game play out with no way to communicate with his players or coaches.
“I felt tremendous guilt in there for the better part of that game. It was an awkward feeling,” Jarrett said. “For these guys, if I did something that impacted their ability to win this game and then looking to tomorrow, the feeling of thinking you might have to come back here tomorrow and did I do something to impact it, you feel guilty.”
And yet, Jarrett said he was tremendously confident in how his coaching staff would come together to manage the game as a unit without him. Even if this was his first time being ejected since his first season at FSU, meaning these assistant coaches hadn’t ever had to manage a game in which he was thrown out.
It speaks to a program Jarrett has built over the last few seasons that has thrived on response, resolve and grittiness in big moments.
“I’m proud of the way our assistant coaches took over and led it. These guys found a way to come back and grind…” Jarrett said. “These guys are tough. They know what they’re doing. Really nothing changed because I wasn’t out there.”
With the win, FSU is through to the super regional round for the second straight year under Jarrett. It’s the first time FSU has made consecutive super regionals since 2015 through 2017.
While No. 8 seed Oregon State has won three straight games since dropping its regional opener Friday, it needs to win one more game Monday over USC to advance to super regionals and keep FSU from hosting the best-of-three series next weekend.
If USC knocks off Oregon State on Monday, FSU would host a super regional for the second straight season – something that last happened in 2012-13 – against the Trojans. If Oregon State wins, FSU will travel out to Corvallis for a three-game series at OSU with a spot in the College World Series on the line.
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