Wayne McGahee III | Tallahassee Democrat

Wayne McGahee III, Tallahassee Democrat

OMAHA, Neb. – It's the end of an era in college baseball.

Florida State’s (42-23) season came to a close with a 4-1 loss to No. 8 National Seed Texas Tech (46-19) in the College World Series here at TD Ameritrade Park Wednesday night.

The Seminoles couldn’t find the offense for the third straight game and exit the College World Series with two runs scored across three games.

With the loss, the 24,104 fans in attendance watched as FSU coach Mike Martin’s career came to a close after 40 years.

"I got to work for Florida State for 45 years," FSU coach Mike Martin said.

"And I'll never forget the times that I've had out here in Omaha. Yeah, I'll go ahead and say it, 17 times. I ain't going to say we never won one, because you know, just getting out here is just so much fun to be with people that are living in the heartland of America and creating something that every college baseball player aspires to, and that's to get to Omaha.

"Well, we got here. We got beat, but it does not take away from any of our enjoyment as a result of what the young men did in order to get here."

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Martin leaves FSU as the all-time winningest head coach in college baseball history (2,029-736-4) and the only coach in college athletics to reach 2,000 victories in any sport.

He has been the head coach at FSU since 1980 after playing for the Seminoles from 1965-66. He was also an assistant coach on the FSU staff from 1975-1979.

Martin has been a part of 19 of the Seminoles 23 College World Series appearances, including 17 as the FSU head coach.

He has led the Seminoles to the NCAA Tournament in all 40 seasons of his career and has reached the 40-win plateau in every year as well.

It is the third straight trip to the College World Series that has ended after three games for FSU. The Seminoles have yet to win a College World Series title.

"It's no doubt the most difficult, the most unpredictable sport," Martin said in his postgame interview with ESPN.

"I mean, who would have ever thought six weeks ago that we would get to Omaha? I'm just so proud of the young men. They're obviously very disappointed now, but what they accomplished just will not go unnoticed."

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A look at FSU vs. Texas Tech baseball at the 2019 CWS

Bats stay cold

FSU had scored just one run in its first two games of the College World Series and didn't improve that by much against the Red Raiders.

The Seminoles scored one run in the fourth inning despite not getting a hit in the innings. TTU catcher Braxton Fulford threw a pick-off attempt into center field, which allowed Robby Martin to score.

FSU finished the game with just three hits. None were more than singles.

"It's really cool when you can sit in an opposing dugout and compete against somebody," TTU coach Tim Tadlock said.

"He's got a lot of respect for guys that go out and compete at a high level. You can see that... You can tell that he really can appreciate good performance because he's seen so many, and he respects that."

Right fielder Reese Albert, second baseman Nander De Sedas, and left fielder Tim Becker combined for 10 strikeouts.

FSU finished with just 11 hits for the entire College World Series. The Seminoles had 15 strikeouts in the game.

"I think that's just baseball," FSU shortstop Mike Salvatore said.

"We faced some good pitching, some good teams, and just some things didn't go our way."

Wayne McGahee III, Tallahassee Democrat

Grady does enough

Sophomore right-hander Conor Grady (9-6) made his second start in a month and shined on college baseball's biggest stage.

He allowed two runs on six hits through five innings of work. Grady struck out four and walked two TTU hitters.

He gave up a lead-off homerun to TTU second baseman Brian Klein in the sixth and was relieved by right-hander Chase Haney. That home run was enough to give him the loss.

Grady didn't have his best stuff of the night, but kept the Seminoles in the game despite the offensive struggles.

Haney threw two innings of no-hit baseball in relief. He had two strikeouts and allowed just one baserunner via a walk.

Bullpen struggles late

FSU's bullpen had been one of its biggest weaknesses during the season and one of its biggest strengths during the postseason.

Outside of Haney, FSU's bullpen went back to being a weakness against the Red Raiders.

Closer J.C. Flowers was credited with allowing two runs, one earned, after loading the bases and allowing an RBI single to shortstop Josh Jung in the eighth.

Antonio Velez came in to relieve him and walked a batter to bring in a run, which was charged to Flowers.

Jonah Scolaro came in and pitched a scoreless ninth inning.

"We used five pitchers tonight, and all of them had pretty good outings," Martin said.

"J.C. was the only one that was not J.C."