It didn’t go as smoothly as it appeared destined to in the early innings, but Florida State still came away with its second straight win over Notre Dame, this one by a 9-7 margin, to clinch the weekend series Saturday afternoon at Dick Howser Stadium.
When the No. 8 Seminoles (27-11, 11-6 ACC) took a 6-1 lead in the second inning and a 9-2 lead in the fifth, they seemed to be on their way to a second straight run-rule win over the Fighting Irish (17-17, 7-13).
But Notre Dame came surging back, bringing
the tying run to the plate in each of the last four innings. Some clutch escapes from John Abraham — the last three of which he created himself — ensured the Seminoles didn’t entirely blow what had been a seven-run lead.
Facing Notre Dame’s best pitcher in Jack Radel, the FSU offense jumped on him early. After the leadoff batter was retired in the bottom of the first, the next five Seminoles reached base. Consecutive RBI singles from Nathan Cmeyla and John Stuetzer before Cal Fisher’s RBI double highlighted a four-run first for the Seminoles.
FSU tacked on two more in the second, loading the bases with no outs and tacking on with a Hunter Carns sacrifice fly and Stuetzer’s RBI groundout.
Radel entered with a 2.82 ERA and had thrown six-plus innings in his last four starts. He lasted just three frames, allowing six runs on seven hits with three walks and no strikeouts.
When Notre Dame plated its second run in the fourth, FSU responded with a two-run triple from Stuetzer — bringing his RBI tally to a career-high-tying four — when Brandon Logan lost a deep flyball in the sun.
Then Eli Putnam tacked on his seventh homer of the season — and second of the weekend — in the sixth to push that edge to 9-2.
That seemed like it could be enough for FSU left-handed starter Trey Beard, who allowed a leadoff homer in the first and another solo homer in the fourth but was largely great through five innings. He allowed two runs on three hits over five innings, striking out seven and walking none.
But FSU elected to send him back out there for the sixth in a decision that aged poorly. After a leadoff strikeout, Beard allowed a double, walk, double and single in order. All four of those runners came around to score, the last after Beard’s exit on a single to left Abraham allowed to the first batter he faced.
Chase Williams made a clutch throw home to gun down Jayce Lee, who was trying to score from second, to finally end the inning after the Irish cut what had been a 9-2 deficit to 9-6.
While FSU was able to rack up hits and runs against Notre Dame’s best pitcher, it struggled to carry that success over against the Irish bullpen. After Putnam’s leadoff homer in the fifth, the next 12 FSU batters were set down in order. The only baserunner over that span — a bunt single from Gabe Fraser in the seventh — was erased by a double play.
After the Seminoles had eight hits through four innings, they finished the game with the same number of hits as Notre Dame. They also struck out nine times over their final five innings after not striking out even once in the first three innings.
Abraham, FSU’s best reliever who has been used as a bulk guy this season, was not at his sharpest Saturday. He allowed the first two batters of the seventh and ninth to reach. In the eighth, he retired the first two batters before putting himself in danger with back-to-back two-out walks.
While it was an ugly stat line by his high standards (three hits, three walks, one hit-by-pitch over 3 1/3 innings), he allowed just one unearned run on a Fraser error, stranding seven runners over the four innings he finished to record his fifth save of the season.
The Noles go for the sweep Sunday at 1 p.m. Neither team has announced a starter, a potentially ominous sign for Bryson Moore’s availability after he left last Saturday’s game at Georgia Tech after just three innings.
