3 up, 3 down: FSU out pitches Miami

With both top starting pitchers out with injury Florida State turned to Drew Parrish and the sophomore was up to the task. The 2 runs Florida State scored in the first were all Parrish would need on the day. With the 2-0 win Mike Martin now sits 2 wins away from taking the all time wins record in college baseball.

Three up

• Drew Parrish was a champ. Taking the mound for the Friday start for the 2nd time this year Parrish looked like he belonged there the whole season. 8 innings pitched with 13 strike outs 4 hits and only 3 walks will get the job done every time. Parrish held Miami to just 1 extra base hit on the day and that was a 2 out double in the 3rd that Parrish followed up with a strike out. Just as impressive Miami only had 1 inning with more than just 1 combined hits and walks in the 8 innings Parrish pitched. Parrish extinguished that threat by bare handing a bunt and throwing a strike to first base showing he can field his position well.
• Cal Raleigh provided all the offense FSU would need, and get, in the bottom of the first. After Rhett Aplin walked on a 10 pitch at bat Raleigh put the 2nd pitch he saw over the fence in right center field. In a game in which a team only has 3 hits extra base hits and walks are all the more important and of Raleigh’s 2 hits on the day none was bigger than the first.
• Like most of the bullpen Johan Scalaro has struggled as of late after starting the season on fire but the freshman found some of that early season magic late in the game. Taking over in the 9th with 1 out and the bases loaded Scalaro struck out the only 2 batters he saw to preserve the win for Florida State.

Three down

• While the 1st inning portended great things for the Florida State bats that’s all it did as FSU managed only 2 more hits the rest of the game, none of them resulting in runs. Miami pitcher Jeb Bargfeldt pitched a great game, to be sure, but Florida State must do better than 3 hits and 3 walks. Florida State looked to work the count early but Bargfeldt kept hitting his marks and when FSU tried to get hits early in the count they just couldn’t do so. Bargfeldt is having a very good year but he’s more of a pitch to contact pitcher so the 9 strike outs is a bit high also.
• Clinging to a 2 run lead in the top of the 9th Florida State turned to Connor Grady to close out the game but Grady couldn’t get it done. The inning started with a single and Grady did follow that up with a fly out but proceeded to load the bases with a walk and hit batter. It wasn’t that Grady was terrible as he got 3 of the 4 batters he faced to 2 strike counts but he couldn’t finish enough of them off.
• Cal Raleigh had a great game. He was the only Seminole to record multiple hits and any RBI and even threw out a runner to end the 7th. However he made a freshman mistake in the 9th. With 1 out and a runner at 1st Raleigh threw behind the runner but was off balance and the ball landed in right field. All errors are costly but ones like this are even more so.

Florida State looks to take the series from Miami Saturday at 6 pm.