When Tyler Holton was not pitching this week, he managed to bat close to .500 with two home runs and six RBIs. But when he took the mound, all Holton did was shut down one of the most potent lineups in the nation.
Florida State's sophomore star was just that. He started in right field and collected two hits and two RBIs in FSU's 4-3 loss to No. 16 Wake Forest in Game 1. Less than two hours later, he tossed his first complete game shutout and led the Seminoles (33-19, 12-13 Atlantic Coast Conference) to a 4-0 win on Saturday at Dick Howser Stadium.
"It did not hit me until it was after the seventh inning," Holton said about the prospect of throwing a complete game. "I realized: 'It's after the seventh inning.' That was a quick game. ... Definitely after the seventh inning, I realized there's only two innings. I felt good, my body felt good. I don't know how many pitches I threw."
Holton' opus consisted of 124 pitches. Eighty-six -- or nearly 70 percent -- were strikes. The former Tallahassee Lincoln High ace allowed four hits and struck out nine of the 31 batters he faced. The most impressive stat? He did not issue a single walk.
Seminoles coach Mike Martin is only a week into the Holton experiment, but so far, the results are appealing.
FSU lost right fielder Rhett Aplin for the season after he broke a bone in his right foot last weekend against Pacific. With Aplin out and freshman utility man Tyler Daughtry lost with a torn ACL, it left Holton as the team's strongest option in right.
He's batting .461 with two home runs and six RBIs this week alone. Holton had two hits and two RBIs in FSU's weather-interrupted Game 1 loss. FSU and Wake (34-16, 16-10) were going into the top of the fifth on Friday when heavy rains stopped the game; it restarted at 3:03 p.m. Saturday.
FSU had a chance to win the game in the bottom of the ninth. Sophomore catcher Cal Raleigh drew a walk and Holton reached on a single with one out. The game ended when freshman center fielder J.C. Flowers hit into a double play.
"That one, that one stung," Martin said. "Did we deserve to win? No. I'm not saying that. I'm just saying we had our chances and it didn't work out. You can't do everything except let's be ready to go to tomorrow.
"Well, we needed to go ... in the next hour and a half. It was a good bounce back."
