The Florida State Seminoles (20-13, 8-8 ACC) started off what might possibly be a season-defining series on a high note as they beat the No. 16 Clemson Tigers (25-8, ACC 11-4), 6-2 on Friday evening.

Three Up:

• The Seminoles’ southpaw Drew Parrish finally looked like Florida State’s ace after having his best performance of the season earning his fourth win and improving to, 4-3 on the season. He pitched a season-high eight innings, striking out 12 Tigers in the process allowing no runs on just three hits and walking one. In 110 total pitches, Parrish threw 78 strikes and retired 18 batters in a row between the first and seventh innings.

• At the bottom of the third, Nanders De Sedas was hit-by-pitch allowing him to reach base and followed by FSU catcher Jonathon Foster who walked as well. In the ninth spot of the lineup, Elijah Cabell bunted beautifully down the baseline boosting both baserunners into scoring position. The addition of another walk from shortstop Mike Salvatore, loaded the bases. Alec Sanchez flied one out to right-field scoring De Sedas. After a long replay review, Sanchez’ sac-fly upheld and the Seminoles took a slim, 1-0 lead. Facing two outs with two on base, Drew Mendoza came in clutch smacking his team-leading ninth home run of the season off the scoreboard. The three-run home run was the Seminole’s sole hit of the fourth inning, but the slam extended FSU’s lead over the Tigers to a cushy, 4-0.

• It’s no secret that the Seminoles have struggled defensively over the middle stretch of the season committing 19 errors over the last 13 games. Tonight’s zero errors were a bright spot for Florida State as the ’Noles faced a very great Clemson offense.

Three Down:

• After shutting out Clemson, 6-0 through eight innings, relief pitcher Jonah Scolaro’s first pitch of the game resulted in a Logan Davison home run. His poor outing trickled down farther and a single to center field combined with a hit-by-pitch placed two Tigers on base with zero outs. Scolaro was replaced by Chase Haney and Haney’s first pitch resulted in a double-play providing Florida State with some space to breathe. The Seminoles still struggled to put this one away and a single and a walk led Haney to be replaced by J.C. Flowers. Of positive note: Flowers sealed the victory picking up his seventh save of the season after his third pitch induced the game-ending foul-out.
• Five of the Seminoles’ six runs were scored by players who walked or were hit-by-pitch. While this certainly is a positive because Florida State put themselves in a position to score, the Seminoles had only four hits total tonight. Of those hits, two were at the hands of Mendoza and not much can be said about the rest of the lineup. Without the mistakes and miscues, Florida State would not have raked in as many runs, but it’s still important to credit the Seminoles’ for walking seven times. Only four Seminoles’ struck-out and not a single player did so more than once and despite FSU’s inability to record hits tonight, the ’Noles still found a way to get on base and bring runners home.
• The Seminoles should not expect the Tigers to play as ineffectively in the second game of the series. Clemson has answered each of their last 15 losses with a win in their next game dating all the way to back-to-back losses on April 13 and 14, 2018. Florida State will have to be somewhat more successful at-bat if the ’Noles want to pickup a much-needed second win in this tough ACC series. While the Seminoles failed to record a plethora of hits on Friday evening, the ’Noles weren’t just simply striking out, so this isn’t a horrible sign heading into Saturday.

Game two between Clemson and Florida State is on Saturday, April 13 at 2:00 p.m and will be broadcasted on ACCN.

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