FSU baseball splits doubleheader at Wake Forest, drops weekend series

Series don't get much closer than Florida State baseball's three-game set this weekend at Wake Forest.

Each of the three games the teams played this weekend were tied in the eighth inning.

As close games always do, it came down each time to which delivered in the clutch. The Seminoles failed to do so twice in the three games, including in Saturday night's rubber match at David F. Couch Ballpark in Winston-Salem, N.C.

After winning the first game of the doubleheader 9-6 Saturday afternoon, the No. 8 Seminoles (31-8, 11-7 in ACC) had just two hits in 17 at-bats with runners on base (.118) in Saturday's second game, falling 10-9 to Wake Forest (26-13, 11-10) to drop their second ACC series of the season.

The Demon Deacons won the rubber match Saturday evening on a pair of walks followed by a pair of wild pitches thrown by FSU freshman John Abraham in the bottom of the ninth. This after Wake Forest took the lead for good in Friday's 5-4 win on a bases-loaded walk.

But the offense isn't exempt from some blame here either. In the Seminoles' two losses at Wake Forest, FSU was a combined 4 for 24 (.167) with runners in scoring position.

Game 1

After failing to come through in the clutch in Friday night's series opener, the Seminoles made sure the same couldn't be said in the second game of the series to kick off Saturday's doubleheader.

FSU plated six runs over the final three innings of Saturday's opening game to secure a 9-6 win. When Wake scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to tie the game at 6, the Seminoles plated three two-out runs in the top of the ninth.

First, Marco Dinges laced an RBI double to center, which allowed James Tibbs to race around the bases and score from first base. Jaime Ferrer followed that up with a mammoth two-run home run to left field.

That capped off an impressive offensive showing for the Seminoles, who had 13 hits and six extra-base hits (three homers and three doubles) in the opening game of the doubleheader.

Tibbs made it 5-2 in the seventh inning with a two-run homer, his 16th of the season. McGwire Holbrook also extended FSU's lead in the eighth inning with a solo home run, his second of the season.

Dinges and Daniel Cantu each had three hits in the victory.

While Connor Hults recorded his first career FSU win in the victory by getting the final four outs, Carson Dorsey was the Seminoles' pitching MVP of the opening game of the doubleheader with his second consecutive stellar road start against an ACC opponent.

The junior lefty allowed just two runs on four hits over six innings of work, walking one batter while striking out a career-high 11 Wake batters. In two road starts at Boston College and Wake Forest, Dorsey has allowed three total runs on five hits over 11 innings of work (2.45 ERA).

Game 2

With a depleted weekend rotation setting up a depleted bullpen, a strong start from the offense seemed to put the pitching staff in a good spot early in Saturday night's rubber match.

The Seminoles plated five runs in the third inning to take a 5-1 lead. The lion's share of those runs came on Cantu's grand slam, the program-record-tying eighth grand slam of the season for the Seminoles.

However, the Demon Deacons responded with three runs on no hits in the fourth inning as three FSU pitchers combined to walk three batters and hit three more.

After FSU plated two more runs in the fifth inning, Wake tied it up with a pair of home runs in the bottom of the fifth.

In the final game of the series, six FSU pitchers combined to issue nine walks, hit five batters and throw three wild pitches, the final two of which scored the decisive run.

These pitching struggles -- buoyed by being without weekend starters Cam Leiter and Conner Whittaker -- covered up what was a fairly strong day for the offense. Cantu homered twice and Max Williams homered as well, with six of FSU's nine hits being of the extra-base variety.

However, FSU stranded 10 runners on base in the final game -- 29 over the three-game series -- and left the bases loaded in the eighth inning after plating just one run.

Up Next

FSU hosts North Florida Tuesday at 6 p.m. before heading back to North Carolina for a three-game series vs. No. 6 Duke, which begins Friday at 6 p.m.