No. 16 Florida State baseball (28-20, 19-15 ACC) dropped game one to No. 23 NC State (27-14, 18-13 ACC) by a score of 6-4 on Luca Tresh’s walk-off home run in the ninth. The Seminoles were down four late, but stormed back to tie the game and send it to the bottom half of the ninth. The ‘Noles produced eight hits at the plate and left six men on base. FSU allowed 10 hits and three homers to the Wolfpack’s powerful offense. Neither team made an error in the field.
Three up
- Logan Lacey makes the Seminoles offense go. Lacey has been the energizer bunny for the ‘Noles the last couple weeks. In the seventh inning, Lacey got the ‘Noles back into the game with a clutch blast. Dylan Simmons led off the inning with a single into left, his second hit of the day. Nander De Sedas also poked a single through the left side with one out. Tyler Martin worked a two-out walk to load the bases for Lacey. Lacey got all of a 92-MPH fastball, Reid Johnston’s 1117th pitch, and sent it over the center field wall to tie the game at four. The homer was Lacey’s sixth of the year. It was the redshirt junior’s first career grand slam and FSU’s seventh of the season. Lacey’s average is up to .302.
Y'all wanna see a game-tying grand slam @LoganLacey_ comes through AGAIN!
— FSU Baseball (@FSUBaseball) May 21, 2021
T7 | FSU 4, NC State 4 pic.twitter.com/c5P9h66uxX
- Hunter Perdue was clutch out of the Florida State pen in a couple big situations to keep the game tied late. After stranding the bases loaded with a first-pitch groundout in the sixth, Ross Dunn started the seventh on the bump. After an infield single and a walk, Perdue entered the game with two on and none gone. The right-handed pitcher struck out Jose Torres on five pitches for out #1. It took four more pitches for Perdue to strike out Luca Tresh for out #2. The redshirt junior finished off the inning three pitches later, freezing Terrell Tatum for strike #3 and out #3 to strand two runners.
YEEESH!
— FSU Baseball (@FSUBaseball) May 21, 2021
Two on, no outs and @perdue_19 comes in and K's the next 3️⃣ batters!
T8 | FSU 4, NC State 4 pic.twitter.com/JIZKKziKEn
After Lacey’s grand slam, the shutdown inning was crucial to keep the momentum on Florida State’s side. In the next inning, Perdue came up with another big strikeout. After a two-out walk and single, the righty stranded two runners in scoring position with a strikeout of Tyler McDonough.
Another inning-ending K with ✌ on for this absolute beast!
— FSU Baseball (@FSUBaseball) May 21, 2021
T9 | FSU 4, NC State 4 pic.twitter.com/HUdGG72X60
Perdue gave up a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth for a NC State walk-off, but the ‘Noles wouldn’t have gotten to the bottom of the ninth without Perdue’s clutch outs in the seventh and eighth innings.
- Matheu Nelson had a big impact on the game today on both sides of the ball. Johnston had retired the first 11 Seminoles he faced before Nelson ripped a two-strike single to the opposite field. The next inning, it was more hard contact for the right-handed hitter, as he lined a single up the middle to put two runners on. Today’s game was the 19th multi-hit game of the season for the catcher. In the bottom of the fifth, Nelson gunned down a runner trying to swipe second by a few steps for his 15th caught stealing of the season. Behind the plate, he’s thrown out exactly 50% of runners.
Three down
- Bryce Hubbart had been as hot as any pitcher in the ACC entering today’s game, but ran into a buzzsaw of an offense. The Wolfpack have been as powerful as anyone in the country this season, eighth in the country with 1.67 HR/G, and made Hubbart pay for some mistakes up in the zone. After a scoreless first, Luca Tresh greeted Hubbart with a first-pitch homer to open the second inning. Tresh’s homer, his 10th of the year, traveled over 430-feet. After a 1-2-3 third inning, the Wolfpack doubled their lead in the fourth as a curveball in the dirt got away from Nelson to plate a two-out run. In the fifth, Jonny Butler took advantage of a two-strike mistake. After a two-out double, Butler doubled the lead to four with a two-run homer over the right-center field wall on a hanging curveball. Hubbart didn’t pitch bad, but the Wolfpack took advantage of the mistakes. For the southpaw, the emphasis over the next few days will be to get the CB down in the zone. The redshirt freshman posted a final line of 5 IP, 5 H, 3 BB, 6 K’s, 4 R, 3 ER, and 91 pitches (62 strikes). Today was the first time in six outings that Hubbart allowed more than two ER. His season ERA is at 3.43.
- Robby Martin had better swings and plate appearances against Clemson last weekend after entering in a massive slump. Despite that, he still didn’t see much production as he couldn’t get the ball to drop. Tonight, Martin struggled to put the bat on the ball. In his first at-bat, Martin struck out swinging on four pitches. Two innings later, he stranded a runner in scoring position as he K’d looking. With two runners on and one out in the sixth inning, the outfielder struck out on four pitches. His average is down to .251.
- Outside of the grand slam in the seventh, the Seminoles offense was extremely quiet. FSU struck out sixteen times and worked just one walk. The ‘Noles had eight hits, but just one extra base hit. Four of nine starters were hitless. To beat the Wolfpack and their potent offense, the ‘Noles will have to be more productive at the plate the next two days.