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3 up, 3 down: Florida State is heading to the ACC Championship Game

With its third straight win in the ACC Tournament, FSU will be moving on to the finals.

By Andrew Miller
Ross Obley

After a commanding 5-1 victory over Duke on Saturday afternoon, Florida State will be moving on to the ACC Tournament Championship game.

Three up:

  1. Cole Sands pitched what may have been his best game all season. The sophomore struck out a career high eight hitters in another career high 6 2/3 shutout innings. In the middle of his gem, Sands retired 15 consecutive batters and only yielded two total hits without walking anyone. It was the outing that everyone has been waiting for, as Sands had struggled in his Friday Night duties this season. Saturday was also the first time in 2017 that he had not allowed a run in an outing.
  2. Dylan Busby continued his torrid ACC Tournament performance, going 3-5 on Saturday including his 17th home run of the season. Through the first three games in Louisville, Busby is 7-14 with four doubles, one home run and four RBI. On the season, his batting average is up to .319, second on the team.
  3. No Errors!

Three down:

  1. Offensively, the 4-9 hitters in the lineup were not very productive at all on Saturday. That part of the lineup went a combined 4-18 with one RBI and one extra base hit. Fortunately, the top of the order performed well enough to put runs on the board, and pitching kept them up.
  2. Situational hitting was another area where FSU struggled. As a team, the Seminoles went 3-17 (.176) with runners on base, 2-12 (.167) with runners in scoring position and 2-9 (.222) with two outs. Once again, it wasn’t a game costing down on Saturday as FSU was able to produce enough with one and two outs, but going further into the ACC and NCAA Tournament, it could be a game-changing stat.
  3. Mother nature came along in the middle of the top of the seventh inning, forcing Sands’ start to be cut short after the rain delay of 1.5 hours. Sands only threw 87 pitches to that point, and could have thrown another inning. Martin was forced to go to his bullpen and use an arm which would have otherwise been fresh for Sunday’s championship game.

Florida State will now face the winner of Miami and North Carolina in the tournament’s other semifinal. The championship game will be played on Sunday at 12 PM and broadcasted live on ESPN 2.

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