FSU Baseball falls to rival Gators on walk-off homer
Sterlin Thompson hit a walk-off two-run home run to lead the Florida baseball team (33-19) to a 7-5 win over Florida State (32-19) Tuesday night at Condron Ballpark.
Logan Lacey tied a career-high with three hits, with a double and two singles. It was the redshirt senior’s 100th career start.
Davis Hare (1-3) was the tough-luck loser, allowing a two-out single to Langford in the ninth before Andrew Armstrong entered and surrendered Thompson’s home run.
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After a scoreless top of the first for the Seminoles, Langford homered on the first pitch he saw from Jackson Baumeister. Baumeister settled in and retired the next three batters, with a pair of strikeouts.
The 'Noles immediately answered with three runs in the second inning. Brett Roberts doubled and scored on James Tibbs’ ninth home run of the season. Nick Ficarrotta walked Brock Mathis, who scored on Lacey’s eighth double of the year.
Langford’s second home run started a four-run third inning that put the Gators back on top, 5-3. FSU tied the game in the fourth when Mathis scored on a wild pitch and Jordan Carrion – who played for Florida in 2021 – singled to score Tyler Martin.
Jonah Scolaro retired 12 consecutive batters between the third and seventh inning to settle the Seminoles out of the bullpen. Making his 116th career appearance – the fourth-most pitching appearances in FSU history – Scolaro struck out a career-high seven batters over a career-long 4.1 innings.
The Gators answered by sitting down 11 straight Seminoles between the fifth and ninth innings.
Florida State closes the regular season with three games at North Carolina beginning Thursday at 6 p.m. All three games will stream on ACC Network Extra.
OF NOTE:
* Logan Lacey made his 100th career start for the Seminoles Tuesday. He hit in the 9-hole for the first time in his career and tied a career high with three hits.
* Jaime Ferrer singled in his first two at-bats. He leads FSU with 58 hits on the season, the most for an FSU freshman since Cal Raleigh had 69 in 2016. He leads FSU with 14 multi-hit games.
* Ferrer was hit by a pitch in his third plate appearance, the 23rdtime he has been hit by a pitch this year. That is tied for the second-most in school history, behind Jose Zabala’s 24 in 1997.
* Brett Roberts doubled in the second inning. His 13 doubles are the second-most on the team and he has a hit in a team-high five straight games. He leads FSU with 35 runs scored.
* James Tibbs hit his ninth home run – second most on the team – to give FSU a 2-1 lead in the second inning. His nine home runs are the most for an FSU freshman since Drew Mendoza hit 10 in 2017.
* Jonah Scolaro struck out a career-high seven batters and tied a career high with 4.1 innings pitched. It was his 116th career appearance, tied for the fourth most in FSU history and the second-most among active Division I players.
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