3 up, 3 down: Late inning thriller moves ’Noles to 10-0

The Seminoles took down UNC Asheville for the second day in the row, a 4-3 victory coming in their final at bat.

Three up:

• Saturday saw another strong outing from a Seminoles’ starter. This time, it was Drew Parrish, who struck out 9 Bulldogs over 5.2 scoreless innings, while allowing only 1 hit. His ERA is now 1.06, and he possesses a 4.3 to 1 strikeout to walk ratio.
• Conor Grady was thrown into an almost impossible situation Saturday night when he entered a 3-3 game in the ninth inning, with runners on the corners and nobody out. The freshman reliever allowed the first batter to reach on a bunt single to third, but then struck out the next two batters on seven pitches, before ending the threat with a ground out to short. Ten strikeouts through his first five collegiate innings has Mike Martin raving, “Here’s a freshman pitching in an environment that is just fantastic, and he’s in total control of his emotions.”
• Drew Mendoza was the offensive hero on the night finishing 4-for-5 in the game with three RBI. All four of his hits were singles but none was bigger than the one in the bottom of the ninth. After a Rhett Aplin walk and stolen base, Cal Raleigh walked. Then the sophomore third baseman drove a single back up the middle on the first pitch he saw to keep FSU’s perfect record intact. Mendoza is enjoying a great weekend, raising his average to .465 after seven hits through the first two games of the series.

Three down:

• With a 3-0 lead entering the seventh inning Florida State turned to Jr. RHP Gage Hutchison. He promptly allowed a three hits in four batters, breaking the shutout and leaving runners at the corners with only 1 out. The next batter struck out, but reached first on a wild pitch, which brought across UNCA’s second run. The next batter grounded out to Mike Salvatore at shortstop, but it brought home the tying run when the ’Noles were unable to complete the double play.
• After six of the nine hits recorded on Friday night went for extra bases there was another power outage in Tallahassee Saturday night. Eight hits, none for extra bases on Saturday leaves the Seminoles with an anemic .371 slugging percentage on the season, including only three HR’s.
• Eleven pitching changes is a recipe for a long game. Include an ejection, (Asheville’s head coach was ejected in the fifth inning), and it turns into a late night. Fortunately, the fans that sat through the 3:31 affair went home happy with a theatrical walk-off winner.

Florida State looks to sweep the series Sunday afternoon as freshman Austin Pollock (1-0, 0.90 ERA) takes the mound.