BOX SCORE: FSU 11, BC 1 (GAME ONE)
BOX SCORE: FSU 13, BC 0 (GAME TWO)
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Nick Derr, over the span of six-plus hours, played 16 innings of baseball and took more hits with his body than he had with his bat.
Derr's day was long and painful yet rewarding. He helped the No. 2 Florida State baseball team sweep Boston College in a doubleheader Saturday at Dick Howser Stadium. He went 0 for 0 with an RBI and three walks in FSU's 11-1 win in Game 1. In FSU's 13-0 win in Game 2, he went 1 for 2 with an RBI but tied a school record with three hit-by-pitches.
"It was pretty much taking one bat at a time and getting on base," Derr said. "We have a good lineup, and you know anyone can drive you in at any point of the game. So we just need to get on base and let the team do some work."
FSU (13-3, 2-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) exercised patience a day after BC (6-7, 1-2 ACC) handed the Seminoles their first loss to open conference play since 2010.
The Seminoles collected a total of 19 walks with 11 coming in the first game.
Derr, senior second baseman Matt Henderson and junior shortstop Taylor Walls combined for 10 walks in Game 1. Although Derr didn't draw a walk in Game 2, freshman Tyler Daughtry did pick up four free passes.
"You know, that's one of the things they preach when you come here," Walls said of the team's plate discipline. "It's not swinging at bad pitches, swinging at strikes, taking the balls. That's something we work on in the cage and something they preach on when you come here. We just kind of take it to our approach and the at-bats don't change."
Derr's first RBI came when he drew a bases-loaded walk to give FSU a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first in Game 1. His second RBI came on a sacrifice fly to left field to score sophomore catcher Cal Raleigh. The run gave FSU a 5-1 lead in what would be a five-run bottom of the sixth.
Seminoles coach Mike Martin used Derr at DH in the first game and kept him there for the second game.
FSU opened Game 2 with a 1-0 lead after Derr was unintentionally beaned with the bases loaded.
"When he was hit the first time, it was a big run for us," Martin said. "We had a one-run lead and their lefty is throwing well. Tell you what. We got a big lift when he got drilled, and it hurt."
Derr, who batted sixth, was plunked again in a fourth inning that saw the Seminoles plate six runs to take a 7-0 lead. He recorded a single in the bottom of sixth but was hit for the third time in the bottom of the seventh.
The third hit-by-pitch tied a school record for the most in a game. It's a record he now shares with Justin Gonzalez, Hayden Kelly and Karl Jernigan.
"I don't take it personal," Derr said of the three hit-by-pitches. "Honestly, it's just getting on base, and I'm just happy about it. You've just gotta move on. It didn't hurt too bad, but the one on the calf kinda stung. It wasn't too bad."
Control didn't come easy for the Eagles in Game 2. BC used five pitchers who combined to throw 92 strikes out of 169 pitches, which means 54 percent of their pitches were in the strike zone.
The Eagles walked eight batters and beaned six more in Game 2.
"I would just describe it as [the pitchers] missed their spot," Derr said. "It was nothing intentional. So I don't take it personally."
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