Florida State Baseball Walks-Off against UF

The Seminoles came back after being swept at Notre Dame determined and ready to battle in state rival Florida. It truly was a battle, as it took twelve innings before unlikely hero Quincy Nieporte sent everyone home with a walk-off home run.

"You play 56 games and you sometimes think its ok if you get beat, well its not ok. And our guys really showed from the beginning of BP today, a little something that I haven't seen all year. They weren't happy," head coach Mike Martin said after the victory.

Florida State entered the bottom of the eighth inning down 3-2, with both Florida State runs accounted for by Dylan Busby's two solo home runs. Chris Marconcini, in that eighth inning, hit a rocket over the right field fence to tie the game back up for the second time. Four innings later, Nieporte, who had gone hitless in his previous five at bats, hit a no doubter to left field, securing the first victory over rival UF at Dick Howser since 2011.

"It gives us a lot of momentum when we play the way we know how, it's going to be tough to beat us no matter who you are," Nieporte said. "Obviously when we struggled a little this past week, this is a huge win to kind of kick us in the rear and get us going in the right direction."

Bryant Holtmann got the nod, and pitched 5 1/3 innings allowing three runs on eight hits. The FSU bullpen made sure that's all the Gators were going to get. Dylan Silva relieved Holtmann, and pitched the next 2 2/3 innings without allowing a hit or walk. Senior Billy Strode finished the game and got the win after pitching the most he ever had in a Florida State uniform, throwing four innings of shutout baseball, and 69 pitches in total.

The Seminoles will welcome Pittsburgh (14-21,6-13 ACC) this weekend as they take on the Panthers beginning at 6:00 PM on Friday.