FSU baseball drops series opener against Georgia Tech, 4-3

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Florida State baseball dropped the series opener against Georgia Tech, 4-3, on Thursday, April 9, at Russ Chandler Stadium in Atlanta.

The No. 5 Seminoles (25-8, 9-4) kept the nation's top offense in the country quiet, but No. 3 Georgia Tech (28-5, 13-3) stacked together runs in a crucial spot and took advantage of miscues to snatch game one from FSU.

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Both starting pitchers, FSU's Wes Mendes and Georgia Tech's Tate McKee, dualed with excellent outings. Mendes tossed 5.1 innings with nine strikeouts, six hits, and three earned runs on a career high 114 pitches. McKee threw six innings with seven strikeouts, six hits, and three earned runs allowed.

The Seminoles erupted for three runs in the second inning to score the game's first runs, kick-started by an RBI single from John Stuetzer. He took a fastball to the opposite field, and on the very next pitch, Cal Fisher left the yard with a two-run home run, his second home run of the season and second in the last three games.

A single from Brayden Dowd was the last hit of the inning, as a strikeout from Noah Sheffield started a run of 15 straight FSU batters retired, 13 of which were retired by McKee. That streak was broken when Fisher was hit by a pitch by reliever Mason Patel in the seventh inning.

Georgia Tech got a run back in the second inning, a solo home run off the bat of Will Baker to make it a 3-1 game. Mendes and McKee dualed for the next three innings, with zeros painting the scoreboard before the Yellow Jackets took advantage of FSU miscues with a three-run sixth.

John Abraham replaced Mendes in the sixth with runners on first and second base. He quickly balked, which moved both runners up a base, crucially, as an infield single scored a run and moved another to third base.

That was followed by a wild pitch that tied the game, and moved Carson Kerce from first base to third base, which allowed a bloop single from Drew Burress to give Georgia Tech the lead, 4-3.

Abraham found himself in a bases-loaded jam in the seventh, but worked out of it without allowing a run. A leadoff double for Dowd in the eighth inning gave the Seminoles a chance to tie the game, but three straight outs kept the Yellow Jackets ahead by a run.

Abraham finished his night with two innings pitched, two strikeouts, and one earned run on three hits. The combination of Jake Echols and Cade O'Leary got FSU out of the eighth inning with a pair of Yellow Jacket runners left stranded.

The Seminoles got a pair of one-out base runners in the ninth, Chase Williams and Stuetzer, and a double steal put both base runners at second and third base.

After a grounder back to the pitcher from Fisher resulted in him being thrown out at first, Williams broke for home on Patel's toss to the bag, and he was thrown out by first baseman Kent Schmidt for a double play to end the game. FSU went 3-for-20 at the plate after the three-run second inning, failing to find a consistent spark offensively.

FSU vs. Georgia Tech baseball pitching matchups

  • Friday: LHP Trey Beard (3-0, 3.58 ERA) vs. RHP Porter Buursema (0-1, 3.77 ERA)
  • Saturday: RHP Bryson Moore (5-1, 4.19 ERA) vs. RHP Jackson Blakely (4-1, 1.82 ERA)

How to watch FSU baseball vs. Georgia Tech

  • When: Thursday, April 9 - 7 p.m. / Friday, April 10 - 8 p.m. / Saturday, April 11 - 3 p.m.
  • Where: Russ Chandler Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia
  • Watch: Thursday and Friday - ACC Network; Saturday - ACC Network Extra

Liam Rooney covers Florida State athletics for the Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at [email protected] or on Twitter @__liamrooney.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida State baseball falls to Georgia Tech in game one

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