TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—The third-seeded Samford baseball team dropped an 8-1 decision to top-seeded and third-ranked Florida State Saturday night in a winner's bracket game at the NCAA Tallahassee Regional at Dick Howser Stadium.
 
Samford will now take on second-seeded Mississippi State in an elimination game Sunday at 11 a.m. (CT). The winner of that game will then take on Florida State at 5 p.m. (CT).
 
Florida State pitcher Brandon Leibrandt (7-2) pitched 8.0 impressive innings, giving up no runs on three hits to earn the win. Leibrandt struck out a career-high 10 batters and allowed no walks in the win.
 
“Obviously, the story of the night was the Leibrandt kid,” Samford head coach Casey Dunn said. “I thought he got us really out of sync and out of rhythm early on, and he really did a great job of pitching both sides of the plate. Obviously, that was the story of the night.”
 
Samford's Josh Martin (12-2) pitched 6.2 innings, giving up seven runs on seven hits to take the loss. Martin struck out five batters and walked four. Joseph Burns, Lex Rutledge and Gil Walker also saw time on the mound for Samford.
 
For Samford at the plate, C.K. Irby drove in the Bulldogs' lone run of the night, going 1-for-4. Brad Moss, Saxon Butler, Phillip Ervin, Matt Frederick and Tyler Filliben also had one hit each for the Bulldogs.
 
Florida State was led at the plate by James Ramsey, going 2-for-4 with his first career grand slam and four RBI. Jayce Boyd went 2-for-5 with a double and two RBI. Sherman Johnson went 2-for-4 with a home run and one RBI for the Seminoles.
 
Florida State put the first run on the scoreboard in the top of the first inning. Leadoff hitter Johnson hit a home run to right-center field on the second pitch of the game for a 1-0 Seminole lead.
 
The Seminoles added three runs in the top of the sixth inning to push their lead to 4-0. Boyd drove in two runs with a single, while Stephen McGee drove in one run in the inning for Florida State.
 
Florida State added four more runs in the seventh inning to make the score 8-0. Ramsey hit a grand slam to right field with Devon Travis, Johnson and John Holland on base for an eight-run FSU lead.
 
Samford put its lone run of the game on the scoreboard in the bottom of the ninth inning. Pinch-hitter Frederick singled to lead off the inning. With one out, Filliben singled to left field. With two outs, Irby singled to left field to drive in Frederick to make the final score 8-1.
 
Samford drops to 40-22 with the loss. Florida State improves to 45-15 with the win.
 
Sunday's games can be seen live on ESPN3.com. Any game involving Samford can be heard in the Birmingham area on WVSU-FM 91.1, or worldwide on the internet at www.samford.edu/wvsu.