FSU Baseball picks up dramatic 8-4 win Friday night at Clemson
When it left the bat, it looked like it might be a game-tying grand slam.
But Florida State center fielder Brayden Dowd ran the ball down right in front of the fence, and the Seminoles held on for a pivotal 8-4 victory at Clemson on Friday night.
Wes Mendes got the win, allowing three runs and five hits while striking out 10 in six innings of work, and the Florida State offense got some runs with small ball and the long ball to pick up the road victory at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.
But there also was a scary moment for the Seminoles, as All-America candidate John Abraham had to leave the game with two outs in the ninth inning with an apparent injury. Abraham allowed two hits and zero runs in his 1 2/3 innings of work, but after walking a batter and giving up a two-out, two-strike single in the ninth, he was replaced by Brodie Purcell.
Purcell immediately walked the first batter he faced on four pitches and was replaced by Payton Manca, who got down 3-1 in the count to Tryston McCladdie. The Clemson cleanup hitter then launched a ball to the deepest part of the park, only to see Dowd run it down to end the game and extend the Seminoles’ win streak to six overall.
After the game, Florida State head coach Link Jarrett said Abraham’s issue was with his side, not his arm, and he doesn’t expect the right-hander to miss much time moving forward.
Florida State’s offense scored a run in the first when Hunter Carns’ bloop single with two outs scored Dowd. The Seminoles then scored three more in the third when Carter McCulley and Dowd both singled to put runners at the corners. Brody DeLamielleure then blooped an RBI single to left, Carns followed with his second RBI single of the day, and then Nathan Cmeyla hit a deep sacrifice fly to center to put the Seminoles up 4-0.
Clemson got one back off Mendes on a two-out single to left, but FSU immediately responded with two in the top of the fifth when freshman John Stuetzer crushed a two-run homer to right-center field for his eighth bomb of the season.
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DeLamielleure then launched his sixth homer of the year to lead off the sixth, and the Seminoles were able to get much-needed insurance in the top of the ninth on a DeLamielleure sac fly to center to score Dowd, who had singled, stolen second base and then advanced to third on an errant throw by the catcher.
The Florida State pitching staff then survived the ninth, and the Seminoles improved to 35-14 on the season and 16-9 in the ACC. The win snapped FSU’s six-game road losing streak in conference play.
Dowd, DeLamielleure, Carns and Cal Fisher all had two hits each for the Seminoles, who will try to secure the series win on Saturday evening when Trey Beard gets the start in Game 2.
The teams will play Saturday at 6 p.m., followed by a 3 p.m. contest on Sunday. Game 2 will air on the ACC Network channel, and Sunday’s contest will be on ESPN2.
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