Behind five combined scoreless innings from Payton Manca and John Abraham on the mound and 10 walks at the plate, Florida State baseball (3-0) run-ruled Jacksonville (4-1) 13-3 on Tuesday. The Seminoles were held scoreless through the first three innings, but opened the game up with 10 runs over the fourth, fifth, and sixth, including a six-run sixth, to take control of the game and remain unbeaten.
Florida State started slowly at the plate, not picking up its first hit until Brayden Dowd flicked
a two-out single to center in the third, with only Myles Bailey reaching base on a walk up until that point. However, LHP Payton Manca, in his season debut, held serve by working out of a two-on, two-out jam in the first before inducing a double play to post a zero in the second. The lefty fired his first 1-2-3 inning in the third as he grew into his start and mixed his fastball with off-speed pitches. However, that was all for Manca, as he only three innings and 50 pitches. Link Jarrett told Eric Luallen before the game that they were unsure whether Trey Beard would pitch over the weekend because of his illness and wanted to limit Manca in case they needed him on Sunday.
The FSU offense threatened for the first time in the top of the fourth. Bailey took an uncompetitive walk, Cal Fisher roped a two-strike single up the middle, and Hunter Carns loaded the bases with nobody out after poking a base knock through the left side. FSU drew first blood as Bailey scored on an error from the JU first baseman, before Carns came home on a 5-3 putout, doubling the Seminole lead to 2-0. With two outs in the inning, Gabe Fraser beat out a slow roller on the infield, allowing Chase Williams to touch home, as small ball led to a three-run fourth, giving FSU a 3-0 advantage.
The Seminoles extended their lead in the fifth after Noah Sheffield drilled a double into the left-field corner, the first FSU extra-base hit of the game, and in the next at-bat, Fisher fisted a two-out RBI single into left center, making it a 4-0 game.
John Abraham relieved Manca in the bottom of the fourth and struck out the side, including two punchouts with his slider in the dirt. The Tampa native worked around a swinging bunt in the home half of the fifth, and, helped by an outstanding defensive play by Bailey to snare a high chopper, kept the FSU shutout intact. It says a lot that Jarrett turned to Abraham on Friday, and again with a fully rested bullpen tonight, but the junior has repaid the head coach’s trust.
Leading 4-0 in the top of the sixth, Chase Williams manufactured a run all by himself. The speedster walked to lead off the inning, stole second and third on back-to-back pitches in the next at-bat, his first and second swipes of the season, and sprinted home on a wild pitch, pushing FSU ahead, 5-0. After the 7-8-9 in the Seminole lineup drew walks, the lineup flipped over with the bases loaded and nobody out.
Dowd began to open the game up, ambushing the first pitch of his at-bat and pulling a two-RBI single into right as the Noles went up, 8-0. Another run came into score on an error, before Bailey walked for the third time to reload the bases with still no one gone. A Cal Fisher walk, the fifth of the frame, brought home another run, and Williams’ fielder’s choice made it 10-0, putting the game in run-rule territory.
RHP Gabe Nard made his Seminole debut in the bottom of the sixth, but allowed a three-run homer as the first three batters he faced reached, which kept the game alive. Nard settled in and sat down the next three Dolphin batters to limit the damage.
Jarrett’s team took two runs back in the top of the seventh as Dowd walked, advanced to second by tagging up, and scored on a Bailey two-out RBI single. In the ensuing at-bat, Fisher sent a mile-high popup into the air that the JU infield completely butchered, fumbling the sure out into the outfield, which plated Bailey.
With a commanding 12-3 advantage, Jarrett decided to empty the bench in the eighth. After Williams got on, John Stuetzer picked up his first-career hit, serving an opposite-field single to right. In the ensuing at-bat, Jace Estes’ RBI single brought in Williams to put the run rule back in play.
Team-captain Ben Barrett earned the final out of the eighth, locking down the Noles’ second-straight run-rule victory as the Noles defeated JU, 13-3.
