FSU defeats Alabama 9-5 with 13 hits
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TALLAHASSEE, Fla.-- On a night when Sean Gilmartin didn't have his best stuff on the mound, it was the Florida State offense that came up big Saturday night.
FSU (44-17) scored nine runs on 13 hits to beat Alabama (34-27) 9-5 to stay in the winner's bracket.
By the end of the fourth inning Gilmartin had already given up a season-high five earned runs on 11 hits.
In the top of the sixth, FSU scored four runs on four hits to take an 8-5 lead over the Crimson Tide. After regaining the lead Gilmartin allowed just one hit and no runs as he earned the win to improve to 12-1 on the year.
"The guy to my right (Gilmartin) has been in this program for three years and he just pitched four innings that were totally uncharacteristic of him, and yet he goes out in the 5th, 6th, and 7th…and just fights to get his team in the dugout," head coach Mike Martin said after the game. "Throws up three zeros, and our young men did a great job of scoring runs."
As Gilmartin was getting hit hard, Alabama starter Adam Morgan was being hit just as hard by FSU.
In the top of the third inning, FSU scored three runs to take a 4-2 lead. Mike McGee drove in Devon Travis on an RBI groundout. FSU added two more runs on a pair of RBI doubles from Jayce Boyd and Sherman Johnson.
Alabama answered right back in the bottom half of the inning with two runs to tie the game at four, on RBI singles from Josh Rosecrans and Brett Booth.
The Tide then took a one-run lead in the bottom of the fourth, as Brandt Hendricks scored on a wild-pitch.
In the top of the sixth, a two-run double by Rafael Lopez gave FSU a 6-5 lead. Morgan made Lopez look off-balance in his first two at-bats of the night, but when he stepped into the batters box the third time, the senior singled down the left field line on a 1-2 count with the bases loaded.
"I was just trying to hit it the other way," Lopez said of the hit. "He threw another slider which was the pitch he was making me look dumb on the whole game and just try to slow it down a little bit and just put the bat on the ball."
After McGee lined out, James Ramsey drove in two more runs on a single to center to give FSU an 8-5 lead. The hit ended Morgan's night - he gave up eight earned runs on 11 hits and three walks, and struck out five taking the loss to fall to 5-7.
"They had a good offensive approach," Alabama head coach Mitch Gaspard said after the game. "I thought it was a game where both teams competed really well all night and they were able to have the big inning in the sixth and we had a tough time recovering from that."
Lopez walked to start the eighth, and then stole second after McGee flied out. Ramsey doubled off the wall in left to give FSU a 9-5 lead. The junior right fielder finished the game 4-for-5 with a double and four RBIs.
Gilmartin gave up five earned runs on a career-high 12 hits and two walks, and struck out six in his seven innings of work.
Brian Busch pitched a scoreless eighth, and Daniel Bennett struck out the side in the ninth to close it out.
Ramsey said it was gratifying for the team to be able to pull out a win for Gilmartin the one time this year he didn't have his best stuff (in his only loss he gave up just two runs in a complete game to Virginia Tech).
"This is the first time all year we've really had to grind to get a win with Gilly out there on the mound," Ramsey said. "The biggest thing we realized is that he's going to go out there and still give us good innings. They're not going to put 10 on him, they're not even going to put seven. As soon as they got that fifth run I had a pretty good feeling that that's it…when he gave up five runs we definitely weren't going to let him lose this one."
Alabama will play Central Florida, who defeated Bethune-Cookman 16-5 to stay alive in the first game on Saturday, Sunday at noon. FSU will face the winner at 6 p.m. Mike McGee (3-3, 4.33 ERA) will start on the mound.
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