3 up, 3 down: Florida State offense goes cold in loss to Georgia Tech

Florida State got another solid outing from their starting pitcher but couldn’t scratch across enough runs to take the series from Georgia Tech. Outside of Drew Parrish not a whole lot went right for the ‘Noles who lost 2-1.

Three Up

• Drew Parrish only gave up 1 run in 6 innings but did have 8 hits to go along with 2 walks in his 6 innings of work. The sophomore didn’t have his A game but fought hard, got strike outs at key times and only gave up 1 extra base hit. 64 strikes in 103 pitches is not great but Parrish made it work.
• Florida State had 5 hits on the day but only 2 players contributed to that total. Mike Salvatore had 3 singles in 4 at bats. Just as you’d expect Salvatore did cross the plate but was the only Seminole to do so.
• Rhett Aplin also had a multi-hit and was the only Seminole with a RBI. Aplin ended the day with a single and a triple. Florida State did have some well struck balls on the day but outside of these 2 no other player could get those balls to drop in safely.

Three Down

• Connor Grady entered the game with FSU tied at 1 in the 7th and gave up a double to Oscar Serratos, his 2nd on the day. Serratos came around to score on a sacrifice bunt followed by a close play at the plate on an infield fielder’s choice and Georgia Tech had all the runs they would need. Grady didn’t give up another hit or run but his 3 walks in 2 innings is pretty bad.
• Drew Mendoza’s slump continues. With 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th he got aboard with on an errant throw by the 2nd baseman but Mendoza was easily thrown out while trying to get to 2nd base. The sophomore has to be more aware of his situation. Mendoza was well down the 1st base line when he realized the throw went wide and should have just stood at 1st giving FSU’s leader in home runs, Nick Derr, a chance at the plate.
• FSU makes it’s living on forcing pitchers to throw their pitch but they were never able to get Connor Thomas out of his grove. Thomas isn’t a pitcher that wows you with his stuff but he throws a lot of strikes and Florida State reacted as they should have. They swung early in counts and tried to foul off balls to raise Thomas’s pitch count but it was to no avail. Most of the credit goes to Thomas for pitching so well (116 pitches in 9 innings with 78 going for strikes) but the Seminoles only managed 1 walk to go along with their 5 hits compared to 9 strike outs on the day.

Florida State faces Georgia Tech in the rubber match this Sunday at 1. Austin Pollock (2-2, 4.94 ERA) will get the call for the Seminoles.