The Florida State Seminoles (22-13, 10-8 ACC) swept No. 16 Clemson (25-11, 11-7) after a 6-4 win on Sunday. The three-game sweep was Florida State’s first against an Atlantic Coast Conference opponent at home since 2016 and was also the first time the ’Noles swept Clemson since 2008. The victory puts Florida State one spot behind the Tigers for third in the ACC Atlantic Division.

Three Up

• Florida State’s bullpen continued on with a phenomenal pitching weekend behind Conor Grady and J.C. Flowers. After coming into the game to relieve starting pitcher Shane Drohan ( 2.2 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 6 K) in the third inning, Grady pitched 5.1 scoreless innings, striking out 11 Tigers, allowing only one hit, and walking zero. Flowers earned his eighth save of the year, recording two strikeouts in the ninth inning. FSU’s 19 strikeouts were its most of the season and most since notching 22 in 14 innings against Villanova in 2016.

• After the Tigers took a 3-0 lead over the Seminoles in the top of the second, Florida State responded quickly to put the game back into their control. To start the inning, Junior Jonathan Foster and Freshman Matheu Nelson both walked. Foster scored after Senior Mike Salvatore singled to the left side and Nelson reached home after Alec Sanchez grounded out to first. Facing two outs, Drew Mendoza stepped up to the plate and hit his 10th home run of the season and second of the weekend to give Florida State the lead, 4-3.

• The Seminoles’ sweep of Clemson couldn’t have come at a better time for the program. After a couple of weeks of pure frustration with embarrassing in-series losses to NC State, Notre Dame, Boston College, Florida, and Miami, taking the series is an important game changer for Florida State. It’s promising that the Seminoles fought through adversity and didn’t give up after facing a rough stretch this season. Let’s hope the ’Noles use this new found momentum to generate a great showing on the road in Virginia this weekend.

Three Down

• The defense continued to be a sore spot for the Seminoles and the team had three errors on Sunday. A main reason Drohan struggled on the mound was because of Florida State’s defensive miscues. The Tigers took an early lead after Clemson’s Logan Davidson hit a fly ball that was well within reach of both Nander De Sedas and Alec Sanchez. Davidson was credited with a double and scored later on in the inning to put the Tigers on top 1-0. In the third inning, a successful double steal allowed Clemson catcher Kyle Wilkie to steal home to tie the game, 4-4 and another Tiger on second advanced to third thanks to a throwing error. Grady worked Florida State out of trouble though with a three-pitch strikeout of the Tiger’s Bryce Teodosio limiting the damage. In the sixth inning, Teodosio reached based due to a fielding error by Drew Mendoza and advanced to second thanks to a second throwing error. Florida State was lucky once again and none of the errors resulted in any runs. The Seminoles need to get this part of their game under control to help out their pitchers.
• Freshman Alec Sanchez is still struggling in the Seminoles’ second spot of the lineup as Florida State’s replacement for injured sophomore Reese Albert. Sanchez went, 1-6 today striking out twice with one hit, and zero walks. Of positive note, the ’Noles hope to have a status update on Albert’s injury on this Thursday.
• Pitcher Shane Drohan didn’t have an awful outing, but during a great pitching weekend for Florida State, he didn’t do quite as well in comparison. Drohan pitched only 2.2 innings which is not ideal from your starting pitcher. Drohan struck out six, but allowed four runs, six hits, and walked four. Drohan was replaced by Grady in the middle of the third with runners on both first and third.

Mike Martin post-game press conference:

The Seminoles will head to Virginia on Thursday to take on the Cavaliers at 6 PM.