Clemson’s Doug Kinsmore Stadium has been a bit of a house of horrors of late for the Florida State baseball team.
The Seminoles were swept in disastrous fashion their last time there two years ago and have dropped their last four series on the road against the Tigers.
It appeared things could be going that way again when the Tigers loaded the bases and brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth. But Payton Manca, out of the bullpen in relief of closer John Abraham, who left with
an apparent injury, got a flyout to preserve the 14th-ranked Seminoles’ (35-14, 16-9 ACC) 8-4 win in Friday’s series opener.
They’re one win away from their first series win at Clemson since 2014.
The top of the FSU order helped run the Seminoles’ win streak to six games. The top four in the lineup had a combined seven hits, including two hits each by Brayden Dowd (three runs), Brody DeLamilleure (homer, three RBIs) and Hunter Carns (two RBIs).
FSU scored in four of its first five innings at the plate, jumping out to a 7-2 lead.
That was more than enough for junior southpaw Wes Mendes, who delivered his fourth double-digit strikeout showing of the season with 10. He allowed three runs on five hits over six innings, walking two while securing his ninth win of the season.
The main difference between the teams’ offensive outputs in Friday’s opener was that the Seminoles were able to put up crooked numbers while Clemson was not.
After FSU jumped ahead 1-0 on Carns’ RBI single, it tacked on three more runs in the third. After Carter McCulley’s leadoff single to push his hit streak to five games, Dowd, DeLamielleure and Carns followed with consecutive one-out singles, the latter two of which plated runs, before Nathan Cmeyla’s sacrifice fly to deep center made it 4-0.
Clemson got on the board with a single run in the bottom of the third, but FSU responded with a two-spot on John Stuetzer’s two-run homer, his eighth of the season and third in the last five games.
The Tigers got another run off Mendes in the fourth, and the Seminoles again responded, this time with DeLamielleure’s sixth homer, a solo shot which made it 7-2 in the fifth inning.
After FSU’s lineup had nine hits in the first five innings, it managed just two more in its final four innings at the plate. But the damage had been done.
Clemson plated additional single runs in the sixth and seventh frames on two-out hits. But the Tigers struggled to string together hits like the Seminoles did.
FSU tacked on a final run in the ninth on a sacrifice fly from DeLamielleure after Dowd walked, stole second and took third on a throwing error.
After Chris Knier covered the seventh inning, John Abraham got five of the final six outs, but then had to exit with an apparent injury. A walk by Brodie Purcell, who was put in a tough spot, loaded the bases, but Manca got a flyout to right-center to finish off the win.
Game 2 is set for 6 p.m. EST and will be broadcast on ACC Network.
