Dinges' grand slam, Leiter's 12 K's propel Florida State to Game 1 win

As they have a couple of times this season, Florida State found itself down early against Louisville after surrendering a solo home run in the second inning of Game 1. The Seminoles (21-3, 4-3 ACC) were able to inch their way back and use a grand slam off the bat of Marco Dinges to defeat the Cardinals (16-10, 2-5 ACC) by a score of 8-3 and take game one of the series.

The bases-clearing slam from Dinges was his seventh home run of the season and his first career grand slam. It was also the Seminoles' sixth grand slam of the season. Including Thursday's game against Louisville, Florida State has hit 16 home runs in its last five games — including three grand slams. This barrage of offense has helped the Seminoles score 47 runs in that time span.

Dinges ended the game with five RBIs — earning the fifth on a double in the 7th inning to add some insurance to the lead. Drew Faurot and Jaxson West also contributed RBIs in the win.

"Marco's at-bat... clearly you have to have guys deliver at moments if you are going to play the game at a high level and be a competitive team. Somebody has got to deliver and Marco did that today," Link Jarrett said postgame. "He's probably hit as many balls hard this year with not always (getting) something to show for it. It was neat to see those balls land for him and not in a glove."

"A lot of barrels recently," Dinges added. "Nothing was really falling but you've got to stick to the approach. When the swing feels good you don't change anything so you just kind of keep doing the same thing. I was feeling it, I knew I was going to get me one. I had a good swing last AB. He hung that slider - I knew they were spinning me the whole game so I got a hanging one and went and got it."

Right-hander Cam Leiter was one strikeout away from tying his career high of 13 strikeouts. While the outing had its blemishes, it was a sound turn-around from a mixed-bag outing at Clemson last week. He ended the game with 12 strikeouts in 5.2 innings, surrendering three runs on five hits and three walks. Only two of those runs were earned.

"He had flashes of probably the best I've seen since he has been here with all of the pitches... he really had it all going there for a little while and they are tough to pitch to. It's not an easy lineup to navigate and they will pressure you as they did today. I think he did just fine," Jarrett said of Leiter.

Andrew Armstrong came on in relief to finish the 6th inning but ran into trouble in the 7th. Joe Charles replaced Armstrong with the bases loaded and surrendered no runs in what was a pivotal moment of a then 6-3 ballgame. Charles finished the outing just as strong as he entered it, striking out four batters and earning his first career save.

"The difference in the game was Joe Charles," Jarrett said postgame. "When you have the bases loaded and nobody out, somebody has got to answer and respond... I thought Joe really did that and probably had the best stuff I've seen him have since he's been with me. He has been through a lot to get back where he is actually healthy and able to pitch. He owned that moment today and it was the difference in the game."

Florida State and Louisville will play Game 2 of the series on Friday at 6 p.m. The game will be televised on ACC Network Extra. Jamie Arnold is expected to take the mound for the Seminoles.