3 up 3 down: Florida State walks off NC State on back-to-back nights

Entering the 9th clinging to a 1 run lead Florida State couldn’t hold on as NC State right fielder Brock Deatherage hit his 2nd home run of the game to tie it up. FSU threatened in the bottom of the 9th but didn’t pull ahead until the 10th when Reese Albert took an 0-2 pitch over the fence in right. The Seminoles took the game 6-3 and the series from NC State.

Three Up

• The bottom of the lineup carried the day for Florida State. J.C. Flowers, Albert and Mike Salvatore combined for 6 of FSU’s 9 hits, none bigger than Alberts 3 run HR to win the game in the 10th inning. The 3 combined for just 2 strike outs but also walked 2 times and had all of the Seminoles RBI with Albert gathering 5 on the night.
• Andrew Karp struggled with his fastball but his breaking stuff was on point. Karp only had 2 clean innings and he only gave up 2 home runs on the day but both were solo shots as Karp scattered 8 hits and walked nobody. The junior went 8 strong innings and left with the lead with almost 2/3s of his pitches going for strikes.
• Florida State finally broke through in the 6th. With 2 outs to start the inning Cal Raleigh singled, Drew Mendoza and Steven Wells walked and Flowers got the Seminoles on the board with an infield single. Reese Albert put the ‘Noles up 3-2 with a single to right field. That was 5 straight batters without recording an out. In the 10th inning the ‘Noles did it again 3 straight batters reaching base on a walk, single and home run to end the game.

Three Down

• Florida State started off the game with Jackson Lueck getting to 3rd on a bunt single, error and a passed ball but back-to-back fly outs ended the threat. In the bottom of the 9th with the game tied the ‘Noles got the 1st 2 runners on base but back-to-back strike outs and a line out ended the inning. The Seminoles got runners in scoring position in all but 1 inning on the day but only scored runs in the 6th and 10th. Many of these situations were with 2 outs but that’s too many opportunities to only score 3 runs in 9 innings.
• With 10 hits on the day and 5 errors by the defense you might expect more than 6 runs but only of 1 of FSU’s hits went for extra bases severely limiting their potential damage. Extra base hits allow for productive outs to be all that more effective but FSU got only 1 on the day and no productive outs.
• Holding onto a 1 run lead in the bottom of the 8th the Seminoles got 2 runners on via 1 out walks but both were retired on pick offs from the catcher. Aggressive base running can be good but it still needs to be responsible. Florida State had an opportunity to stretch the lead as NC State pitcher Evan Justice walked 3 batters in the inning but poor base running killed the threat.

BOX SCORE

GAME THREAD

On Deck:

The Seminoles move to 39-16 on the season and 16-12 in conference play. Florida State looks to sweep the #4 team in the country as they host NC State for the last home regular season game Saturday at 1 PM.