Bryson Moore entered Saturday’s Florida State rubber match at Virginia with plenty of pressure on his shoulders.
Top-10 series. FSU’s run of ACC series wins to begin conference play.
Oh, and he was facing off against his former team.
Not only did he rise to that occasion, but it brought out the best start of his young FSU career as he threw seven scoreless innings against the 10th-ranked Cavaliers (24-9, 8-7 ACC), for whom he played his first two seasons in college, to lead No. 7 FSU (24-7, 9-3) to a 9-3 win
in the rubber match of the series in Charlottesville, Va.
With the win, the Seminoles have won their first four ACC series to remain atop the conference standings. To do it, they beat a Virginia team which had lost just twice in its first 17 home games on back-to-back days after losing Thursday’s series opener.
Moore (5-1) worked around a leadoff walk in the first and then allowed back-to-back singles to begin the second before really buckling down. Starting with a double play and groundout to escape that jam, Moore retired the next 13 batters he faced, seven of them on strikeouts.
Were it not for an error by Brayden Dowd in center on a liner with two outs in the sixth, he very well could have ended his outing with 17 straight retired.
In all, Moore tossed a career-high seven innings, allowed just two hits and one walk and tied his career high with seven strikeouts. He was commanding his entire pitch mix, pounding the strike zone and consistently getting whiffs with his offspeed pitches.
Moore’s outing proved to be more than good enough as a balanced offensive approach for the FSU lineup. Eight of the nine hitters had at least one hit and all nine reached base. The bottom of the order, in particular, was effective as Cal Fisher, John Stuetzer and Carter McCulley. Each of them had two hits, with Fisher and McCulley providing two RBIs each.
Fisher opened the scoring with a two-run homer — his first of the season — in the second inning.
Hunter Carns (who also had two hits) and Eli Putnam added RBI hits in the fourth to stretch that advantage to 4-0.
McCulley and Chase Williams (who was in the leadoff spot) had consecutive two-out RBI hits to make it 6-0 in the fifth.
After a trio of two-run frames, FSU finally broke through with a three-run seventh inning. McCulley started the scoring with an RBI double under the third baseman’s glove before Williams (RBI groundout) and Noah Sheffield (sacrifice fly) followed with productive outs to stretch that advantage to 9-0.
It was an effective day at the plate for the Noles, who put the leadoff hitter on five times, were 8-of-22 (.364) with runners on base and 5-of-16 (.313) with runners in scoring position. FSU was only set down in order once, in the ninth inning when the result was effectively in hand.
Brodie Purcell replaced Moore on the mound in the eighth. He had allowed homers to Kyle Johnson and Antonio Perotta on his first pitches to end the combined shutout bid and another leadoff homer to Joe Tiroly in the ninth.
Gabe Nard came out of the bullpen to get the final three outs and preserve the victory and series win.
Up Next
With another ACC series in hand, the Seminoles return home for a chance to salvage one game from its midweek rivalry series vs. No. 21 Florida. The series concludes Tuesday at Dick Howser Stadium with a 7 p.m. start which will be broadcast on ESPN2.
