FSU baseball beats Duke to open series
The FSU Seminoles opened their series against Duke with a win after Wes Mendes threw a gem.
The No. 8 Florida State Seminoles beat the Duke Blue Devils 3-1 on Friday at Dick Howser Stadium in Tallahassee, Florida. FSU improved to 20-5 overall and 6-1 in ACC play with the win.
Wes Mendes threw another gem for the Seminoles, pitching 6 2/3 scoreless innings with 12 strikeouts on four hits and a walk. He improved to 6-1 with the win, lowering his ERA to 1. 33.
John Abraham pitched the final 2 1/3 innings, allowing one run on three hits with four strikeouts. Neither offense was able to get anything going until the sixth inning, when Myles Bailey hit a leadoff double, took third on a wild pitch, and scored on a single by Kelvyn Paulino Jr. Chase Williams made it 2-0 with a two-out single, scoring Hunter Carns, who reached on a fielder's choice.
Duke got on the board in the eighth inning with back-to-back doubles. FSU turned an inning double play when Will Bavaro fielded a grounder at third and for the hitter at first, with Myles Bailey throwing it back to him to get the runner who tried to advance from second. The Seminoles got the run back in the bottom of the inning after Paulino Jr.