No. 14 Florida State (35-15, 16-10) squandered an early 3-0 lead as its bats fell silent en route to a 4-3 loss that sets up a Sunday rubber match against Clemson (30-21, 9-10).
As mentioned, FSU’s offense disappeared after the fourth inning as the Noles did not have a baserunner from the fifth inning on as the Tigers retired 17-straight batters. Brayden Dowd, Brody DeLamielleure and Hunter Carns combined for five of the eight Seminole hits and all three RBI, as the rest of the lineup did not pull
its weight, especially the 5-9, which went 3-19 with seven strikeouts.
On the mound, Trey Beard started off on a roll and did not allow a hit until two outs in the fourth inning, but he faded as his start went on and was pulled after 5 1/3 IP with three earned runs. Chris Knier entered for the second-straight day and settled the game down for FSU to finish off the sixth and hang a zero in the seventh. However, a wild pitch with the bases loaded in the eighth proved to be the difference for Clemson as the Noles could never push the game out or give its pitching staff any relief.
In the first inning, Florida State jumped all over Clemson as Dowd smashed a solo homer to put the Noles on the board before DeLamielleure doubled and Carns drove him in to give FSU an early 2-0 lead. After CU struck out the side in the second, Link Jarrett’s team extended its lead in the third as DeLamielleure homered in the third, his second of the weekend to make it a 3-0 game.
As mentioned, after Beard was one over the minimum in the first 3 2/3 innings of the game, he finally found trouble in the fourth as a two-out single and a two-run homer in the ensuing at-bat cut FSU’s lead to one. Beard responded with a 1-2-3 fifth, but let go of the rope in the sixth as back-t0-back base hits to begin the frame spelled trouble before an RBI single tied the game at three. Knier entered with two on and one out, but extinguished the threat by inducing a flyout and a popout.
The teams stayed deadlocked at three through the seventh before Clemson broke through in the eighth. With a runner on second and two outs, Jarrett decided to intentionally walk Jarren Purify, and a walk in the next at-bat loaded the bases. The head coach summoned Cade O’Leary from the bullpen to get out of the mess, and he put two strikes on the first batter he faced, but a wild pitch allowed the winning run to score. O’Leary limited the damage by getting a groundout to end the inning, but it was too much for an overwhelmed FSU order to overcome. All three Seminole bats punched out in the ninth as Florida State lost another one-run game, with its bats not doing enough to win.
