Weekend Series Recap: FSU deafeats Boston College in a gritty, "grind-it-out" weekend series
I know it's a little later than usual, but we're back with another edition of the Stevens Scoop.
The now #10 Florida State Seminoles won their second consecutive ACC series this weekend against the BC Eagles. FSU's second rubber match win on the season on Sunday clinched this series and improved the Noles' record to 26-5 overall and 7-5 in the ACC, while BC fell to a 17-13 overall and 6-9 in the ACC.
GAME RESULTS:
Game 1 - FSU: 12 | BC: 4
Game 2 - FSU: 6 | BC: 7
Game 3 - FSU: 9 | BC: 2
RECAPS AND NOTABLE PLAYERS:
Game 1
Scoring:
Game one took place on a very cold and cloudy day in Chestnut Hill. This played into the pitchers' favors as no runs were but on the board until the 3rd inning. The Eagles would open up the scoring for the day after a three run HR from Cameron Leary, his team-leading 11th of the season.
FSU would chip away at the three run lead with a lead of HR from Jaime Ferrer in the top of the 4th. However, they wouldn't add anymore after the rest of the Seminole batters went down in order.
This would finally start picking up in the top of the 5th. Cam Smith his a double to right center field which put runners on the corner for James Tibbs III. Tibbs would walk and load the bases for DH Marco Dinges. A timely throwing error from the Eagles' defense allowed Jaime Ferrer to reach first and scored two unearned runs, tying the game at three a piece. DH Marco Dinges would follow this with a double that would bring two more runs across for FSU, giving them a 5-3 lead. BC wouldn't be able to respond as they went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of this inning.
A Cal Fisher single started a two out rally for the Noles in the 6th, followed by a walk from Max Williams. Cam Smith would draw a walk next, bringing James Tibbs III up to bat with the bases loaded. Tibbs did what he has done all season and brought two runs across with a single into left field, extending the Seminole lead to 7-3. In the next at bat, Dinges would hit his second Dinges Dinger of the game to left center field, capping off a five run inning for FSU.
In the 7th inning Max Williams grounded out to the BC first baseman with the bases loaded, but Daniel Cantu was able to score the 11th run of the game for the Noles.
Boston College wouldn't cut into the Seminole lead until the bottom of the 8th when Nick Wang doubled and brought Cameron Leary across home plate. A Drew Faurot HR in the top of the 9th would put this game on ice.
James Tibbs III is as consistent as it gets, finishing his day 2-4 with 2 RBIs, and Jaime Ferrer brought some offensive power going 2-5, 2 HRs, and 4 RBIs.
Pitching:
Jamie Arnold picked up his 7th win on Friday as he pitched seven innings, stuck out nine batters, walked one, and gave up two ERs. Jamie really had one tough inning in which he gave up his second HR of the season, but would respond in a great way and gave the offense time to catch up and close the BC lead.
Noah Short gave up the 4th run of the game, but the bullpen did it's job and took care of the two innings it needed to. Connor Hults, sealed it by forcing the three batters he faced to go down in order.
Boston College went deep in to its bullpen, which usually isn't a great thing. The Eagles used seven pitchers who would walk more batters than they struck out (6 BBs and 5 Ks). Evan Moore would pick up the loss after giving up five runs.
Game 2
Scoring:
Saturday's game was another cold and cloudy day. This time around FSU would open up the scoring with a RBI double from Daniel Cantu. Boston College responded quickly with a leadoff triple from Nick Wang, who would score from an RBI single by Vince Cimini.
FSU would take the lead again in the top of the 3rd from a RBI single by Jaime Ferrer, right up the middle. The Noles would keep this 2-1 lead until the bottom of the 4th. BC catcher, John Collins, would ground out to second basemen Drew Faurot, but a runner would score for the Eagles and tie the game, 2-2.
In the home half of the 6th, Boston College would take the lead. Back-to-back wild pitches from Joe Charles would allow BC to score two runs and take a 4-2 advantage. A sac fly from John Collins would bring the third run of the inning in for the Eagles and had a 5-2 lead going into the final three innings.
FSU would cut the lead to one run thanks to a two run homer from Max Williams in the top of the 7th. Nick Wang batted into a fielder's choice in the bottom of the inning and scored another run late in this game for the Eagles, making it a 6-4 game.
The Seminoles began to have their backs against the wall and needed to get something going in the top of the 8th. Daniel Cantu would lead the rally with a double into left field. Jaxson West followed that with a double of his own; West scored. With the tying run standing at second base, Alex Lodise singled into center field and tied the game at six all.
Neither team could get anything going to end this game in regulation, so there was free baseball played on Saturday afternoon. The Noles failed to get anything going in extras and Cameron Leary hit his 11th home run in walf-off fashion and gave the Eagles the win.
Pitching:
The pitching in this game was heavily assisted by the weather conditions. The cold weather and the rain heavily hindered the hitting ability for both of these teams.
Conner Whittaker definitely didn't have his best performance in this outing. He finished the day after five innings with 2 Ks, 0 BBs, 9 of the 11 BC hits, and 4 ERs. Maybe the rain was affecting his mentality or how he was holding the ball, but his stuff just wasn't missing bats or getting the batters to hit those weak ground balls that he has become skilled at.
The bullpen didn't perform terribly. They only allowed two earned runs and two hits, one of them just ended up being the walk-off HR. John Abraham received the loss as he was the pitcher that gave up the HR to Leary.
The Eagles only used two pitchers the entire game. John West would get the start and strike out six batters, while allowing four runs. For the majority of the game, West was on top of the FSU offense, getting them to weakly hit balls or get them to swing into pop ups. He had his stuff going as well and he just missed bats the way you need a starting pitcher to do. Eric Schroeder would get the win, his second of the season. He didn't record a strikeout or walk any batters. He allowed two runs, but was able to keep the lead and give the Eagles enough time and chances to win the game.
Game 3
Scoring:
Game 3 was yet again another cold and cloudy game.
BC, riding the momentum they gained the day prior, would score right away in the bottom of the first due to a pop out from Kyle Wolff which allowed Patrick Roche to score the game's first run. The score would remain 1-0 until the 5th inning.
FSU wouldn't record their first hit until the top of the 5th inning. Marco Dinges would finally get a hit in the box score thanks to a Marco Dinges single. After two consecutive fly outs, Jaxson West would hit a single of his own and move Dinges over to third to put runners on the corners for Alex Lodise. Lodise would hit a single of his own and finally break the goose egg in FSU's run column.
The score would stay tied until the bottom of the 6th. The bases were loaded for Adam Magpoc. Joe Charles continued a rough weekend and hit Magpoc with a pitch to walk the leading run home. However, FSU responded emphatically.
Cal Fisher tied the game by hitting his third home run of the season. Later in the inning, Max Williams would load the bases after West walked and Lodise bunted, with a single to the Boston College SS. BC would return the free run FSU gave them in the 6th and hit Cam Smith to tie the game 2-2. A James Tibbs III double brought two more runners home and extended the lead 5-2. Due to a great weekend, Jaime Ferrer was intentionally walked which brought Marco Dinges up to the plate, who hit into a fielder's choice would reach second because of a throwing error. Smith also took advantage of this error and made it across home plate for FSU's 6th run of the game and its 5th of the inning.
James Tibbs III would seal the scoring after a three RBI double in the top of the 8th, now at 52 RBIs on the season.Pitching:
Carson Dorsey started this game for the first time this season. He performed very well, as he finished the day with 3 Ks, only 1 hit, and 1 ER. He was replaced by Joe Charles, who struggled a little this weekend. He walked two more batters today and gave up one earned run. Brennen Oxford would pick up his first win of the season. Oxford finished the day with 3 Ks, and 3 Hs, but didn't give up one walk or run.
AJ Colarusso picked up his third loss of the season. His final statline was 6.1 IP, 3 Ks, 3 BBs, 6 ERs, and 7 hits. The Noles' bats finally woke up this game and Colarusso was on the receiving end of that five run inning.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Another (mostly) good weekend for FSU baseball. There were some concerns that showed up, but for the most part the Noles took care of business and found ways to win when they needed to. In two out of the three games this weekend, FSU was down on the scoreboard and found ways to get themselves back into the game.
There was continued evidence of a team starting to play really complementary baseball. Jamie Arnold gave up a HR early in game run to give BC an early lead, but the bats responded effectively and tied the game to take some of the pressure off of Arnold later in the game. In the third game, the bats just could not get going. As mentioned previously, the Noles didn't record a hit until the 5th inning. During that stretch, however, the arms on the mound only allowed two runs to score and, in turn, gave the offense enough time and opportunity to find itself and explode like they did in the 7th inning like it did. They just didn't put it all together and suffered a loss in the second game, although FSU was in it the entire game.
A concern I noticed is the hitting against left handed pitchers. This lineup has a harder time when it comes to batting against left handed pitcher. When FSU was going through their batting slump early in the rubber match, BC had left handed pitcher AJ Colarusso on the mound. Last week they dropped a game to Louisville when they started a lefty. This is certainly Link Jarrett will work on with the team, especially as they get into tougher competition and tourney games later in the season.
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