Florida State baseball defeats visiting Jacksonville

After trailing by two heading into the bottom of the sixth inning, the Seminoles fought back, and defeated the Jacksonville Dolphins 10-7. These two teams met last week in Jacksonville, where the Dolphins handed Florida State their first loss of the 2015 season.

Bryant Holtmann, the starting pitcher for Florida State, pitched four scoreless innings before giving up five consecutive hits, leading to four earned runs, in the fifth, and was promptly taken out of the game. On Bryant’s performance, Head Coach Mike Martin said,  "Bryant made some good pitches, and they (Jacksonville) got some good swings at them."

The Seminoles got off to an early start, scoring two in the bottom of the first, but then fell behind as the Dolphins scored 6 unanswered runs. Darren Miller tied the game back up with a two run home run in the bottom of the sixth.  "I think it was an off-speed pitch, and I got my barrel out in front, stayed good balanced, and got my first home run." After the game tying home run, the ‘Noles went on to score two more in that half of the inning, and kept the lead, winning by a score of 10-7

In total, freshman recorded 10 of the 11 total hits by Florida State, including three by each, Darren Miller and Taylor Walls. "It was a good time for us (Freshman) to break loose a little. Georgia was cold, guys’ first away trip. It builds confidence." Despite the rain, the ‘Noles were able to break out, as six of their ten hits went for extra bases.

The Seminole bullpen also put on a stellar performance. After Drew Carlton gave up two runs in his 1 1/3 innings pitched, the bullpen did not surrender an earned run for the remaining 3 2/3 innings of the game. Billy Strode recorded his second save of the season.

This is Florida State’s first victory after losing two out of three in Georgia, and the ‘Noles are now 5-3 on the young season. They get ready to take on UNC Wilmington for an out of conference series beginning Friday at 4 PM.