FSU baseball drops series finale at No. 8 TCU, suffers first loss of season

The Florida State baseball team did just about everything right in the first two games of this weekend's road series at No. 8 TCU to clinch an impressive series win.

All that went right in those games did not carry over into Sunday's series finale. The red-hot bats went cold, the mostly secure defense had a few critical mistakes and the pitching staff couldn't get out of quite enough jams.

While the series win is impressive enough, the Seminoles (6-1) failed to sweep the Horned Frogs (4-3), falling 3-2 in Sunday afternoon's series finale.

The FSU offense, which had mashed 20 runs on 24 hits over the first two games of the series, managed just two runs on as many hits Sunday.

In many ways, the first inning was a sign of things to come in the series finale. FSU scored two runs on one hit in the top of the first as five straight Seminoles reached base with two outs, three of them by walk and one by hit-by-pitch.

However, FSU managed no more runs on just one hit over the final eight innings of the game. Only one FSU batter reached base over the final five innings, doing so on a walk, and the final 12 FSU hitters were retired in order.

TCU reliever Kole Klecker earned the win, shutting down the Seminoles with five strikeouts over four perfect innings to close out the game.

While FSU did get runners on base, especially in the early innings, it finished the loss 1 of 9 with runners on base (.111) and hitless in five at-bats with runners in scoring position.

Winning run scores on FSU error

While FSU's defense has shown improvement early this season, Sunday's series finale was not the brightest performance for the Seminoles in this area.

FSU had throwing errors in each of the first two innings, but was able to escape the innings without allowing runs.

In the seventh inning, though, the eventual winning run came around to score when second baseman Nander De Sedas threw what could have started an inning-ending double play into the go-ahead run with an errant throw to Jordan Carrion at second base.

TCU's Cole Fontanelle came around to score from second base on the error, completing a two-run inning that turned a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead that the Horned Frogs protected.

Montgomery does enough

Stepping into the Sunday spot after getting a few extra days of rest while recovering from a tweaked leg muscle, Carson Montgomery did enough to get FSU a win in Sunday's series finale.

The junior pitcher made it through five innings, allowing one earned run on five hits. He was far more effective at putting away TCU hitters, racking up five strikeouts. However, his control wavered some into the later innings as he issued one walk and hit two TCU batters.

It was an encouraging outing from Montgomery after he wasn't overly impressive in his Opening Day start. The question now is if FSU will again shuffle its rotation ahead of next weekend's home series vs. Florida Gulf Coast.

Andrew Armstrong was the tough-luck losing pitcher, taking the loss on an unearned run on De Sedas' error. It's an especially tough loss for him considering he escaped a bases-loaded, no-outs jam in the sixth inning, getting a lineout to third and then a 6-4-3 double play.

FSU's pitching was similarly clutch to TCU's on Sunday, often limiting damage or altogether escaping threats. TCU was 4 for 21 (.190) with runners on base and 4 for 15 (.267) with runners in scoring position.

The sheer discrepancy of scoring opportunities in the game is a major factor to blame for the loss.

Up Next

FSU starts an eight-game homestand Wednesday at 5 p.m. against South Florida. Then, FSU hosts FGCU next weekend.