Wells' hot streak continues; 'Noles pound Boston College, 13-7
Box Score: FSU 13, Boston College 7
BOSTON – Playing at historic Fenway Park for the first time in program history, No. 18 Florida State (28-12, 10-9 ACC) beat Boston College 13-7 in front of 5,433 fans as part of the Eagles’ annual Pete Frates ALS Awareness Game.
Steven Wells continued to swing a hot bat, hitting 4-for-5 Saturday and 13-for-14 over the past four games. His average has jumped from .195 to .297 in that span.
“It was special because we were able to play in a game that was so meaningful for ALS,” head coach Mike Martin said. “Pete Frates was a young man that we competed against and he was a heck of a player. The turnout was great today and our guys will tell their kids that they played here.”
Tyler Ahearn (1-0) earned his first career win, pitching four innings and allowing just one run. Cobi Johnson earned the save, pitching the final three innings, and also went 1-for-4 with three RBI as the DH. His two-run triple gave FSU an 11-5 lead in the sixth inning.
CJ Van Eyk made his second career start, allowing five runs (four earned) and five walks in two innings before Ahearn took over.
Wells again led the Florida State offense. Over the past four games, Wells has reached base in all 20 plate appearances – 13 hits, five walks and twice reached on an error (one a sacrifice bunt). Wells leads FSU with a .490 on-base percentage and is second with a .297 average.
“I don’t know what Steven is doing, I need to ask him,” Martin said of Wells. “This guy is seeing the ball very well, not trying to do too much. He’s hit the ball to right field a number of times. He’s hit home runs. I’m excited for him because he means so much to our team.”
“It’s a little surreal right now,” Wells said of his current run. “I’m just working on fixing my bat plane and staying through the zone a little longer and I’ve been seeing the ball great. I don’t really have many words about it.”
Wells’ four hits tied a career high, first set Wednesday in FSU’s win against Stetson.
Jackson Lueck and Reese Albert each added two of FSU’s 13 hits. The Seminoles have scored in double digits in three straight games (44 runs total).
Johnson, a redshirt junior pitcher, made his first career start as the designated hitter. After earning his second career plate appearance Wednesday against Stetson (and hitting a three-run home run), Johnson has a hit in each of the last three games and two three-RBI games. At Fenway Saturday, Johnson’s triple down the right field line was FSU’s fifth three-bagger of the season.
Johnson took over on the mound in the seventh inning, allowing an eighth-inning run and three hits to earn the save.
“Meat (Mike Martin, Jr.) has done such a good job with him,” Martin said of Johnson. “He has told us that we need to get Cobi some at-bats. We did a couple times yesterday and liked what we saw. Cobi Johnson is a pretty good baseball player.”
Dan Metzdorf (0-6) pitched 4.0 innings for the Eagles, allowing seven runs (all earned) on five hits with seven walks. As a team, FSU drew 11 walks after entering the series’ first in the country with 235 walks. The Seminoles have 23 walks against the Eagles.
Boston College took a 2-0 lead in the first inning, but FSU answered with three in the top of the second. Wells dropped a ground-rule double into the right field stands for a run and Johnson and Nick Derr had RBI groundouts for a 3-2 lead.
The Eagles answered with three runs in the bottom of the frame for a 5-3 lead, but FSU scored nine consecutive runs over the next four innings. Rhett Aplin hit an RBI double in the third; Lueck doubled off the Green Monster in left field and Aplin had a sacrifice fly in the fourth; FSU scored four runs in the fifth on three hits, including an RBI double from Derr and a two-run single from Lueck.
The three-run sixth was highlighted by Johnson’s two-run double.
Boston College scored a run in the sixth inning against Ahearn and in the eighth against Johnson, but could not get closer than a five-run deficit.
FSU capped the scoring in the ninth inning on back-to-back-to-back singles from Wells and pinch hitters Kyle Cavanaugh and Rafael Bournigal, the last of which provided the final margin.
Johnson worked around a walk and a fielding error in the ninth inning to close the game.
Road to 1,976 -- FSU’s win was head coach Mike Martin’s 1,972nd of his career. He needs just four more to become the winningest coach in college baseball history. He currently only trails the late Augie Garrido (1,975 wins). Martin is now 32-5 against Boston College.
Up Next -- Florida State and Boston College will wrap the three-game series Sunday at 1 p.m. at BC’s Brighton campus. RHP Andrew Karp (6-3) will make his first weekend start of the season.
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