FSU breaks losing streak, salvages finale against Virginia Tech

Florida State was able to hold a lead.

It's not something that the Seminoles have been able to do recently as they have led frequently in games during this second stint of losing but have imploded late in ball games.

Florida State (14-25, 5-16 ACC) found a way to win on Sunday with a 4-3 victory against Virginia Tech (23-14, 10-10 ACC). The win prevented the Seminoles' second double-digit losing streak this season.

"The guys are still engaged and they work at it," FSU Head Coach Link Jarrett said postgame. "It's tough to go through this. And you have so many young guys that are trying to figure out what this is like at this level. That's a piece of it too - and we are all new. Some of the things that come up that we talk about, work on and drill, it takes a while for them to feel it and see it in games."

FSU got on the board early in the first inning as James Tibbs was able to score on some opportunistic base-running. Tibbs scored from second while a difficult play transpired at first base. Tibbs later inflated the lead to 3-0 with his 12th home run of the year.

"Tibbs had some very nice at-bats all weekend," Jarrett said. "I think the base-running play in the first inning gets lost in the later part of the game... I thought his base-running was key."

That particular lead did not last long as FSU starting pitcher Carson Montgomery ran into trouble in the 3rd inning. The Hokies were able to rally with two outs to tie the game at 3-3 in the top of the 4th.

Montgomery's day would end after that, as the right-hander was once again a mixed bag. He threw three innings, earning four strikeouts but allowed three runs on five hits and walked four batters.

Florida State answered in their half of the 4th with an RBI single by DeAmez Ross that scored Nander De Sedas.

From there, the lead would hold as the Seminoles pitching staff put up five shutout innings to secure the win.

Jamie Arnold came on in relief of Montgomery in the 5th inning and threw three hitless innings.

"He's had some really good outings out of the pen," Jarrett said of Arnold. "It hasn't been like that every time, but he is starting to show the ability to manage it and the fatigue of warming up in the pen."

Virginia Tech threatened to tie the game in the 8th inning after chasing Ben Barrett out of the game, but with runners on first and second and no outs, Doug Kirkland came on and retired three straight batters to save FSU.

Kirkland returned to the mound for the 9th inning and went after the Hokies, striking out two of the last three batters to deliver FSU the win and stop the losing skid. Kirkland struck out four of the six batters he faced.

"It was a much needed win - everybody knows that," Jarrett said. "The confidence is a piece of this. The execution, regardless of what is going on, is the key. The difference today was the late game execution and the pitch sequencing. Someone has to go out there and grab hold of the game and finish the game. We saw it today."

Whereas with the last losing streak FSU had to play the next day, this time around Florida State has a day to dwell on the victory before facing Stetson on Tuesday.

"It's nice to sit on a good vibe," Jarrett said. "Sometimes when you have to sit on it and it hasn't been going great, you just fester a little bit. It's nice to regroup a little bit. Tomorrow will be really nice for the fellas."

The Seminoles are hoping that this extra time can allow them to regroup before Stetson and build some momentum going into next weekend where Jarrett returns to his former institution in Notre Dame.

Florida State hosts Stetson in a midweek battle on Tuesday at 5 p.m. The game will be televised on ACC Network Extra.