Trey Beard and John Abraham carry Florida State baseball to series-tying win over UVA, 5-2
Trey Beard and John Abraham combined for nine innings of two-run baseball with 13 strikeouts to carry Florida State baseball (22-7, 8-3) to a series-tying win over Virginia (24-8, 8-6), 5-2. Beard started the game for Florida State, and while he had traffic on the bases in every inning he pitched, the lefty never let go of the rope and held UVA to only two runs across 5. 0+ IP, while striking out seven.
Abraham came in for Beard after the starter allowed a solo home run to begin the sixth and shut the door. The righty punched out six across 4. 0 shutout innings.
He stranded two runners on base in both the eighth and ninth, preserving FSU’s 5-2 win along with the rest of the Seminole bullpen. Abraham’s 69 pitches were a career-high, and his length has given Link Jarrett one of the best bullpen arms in the sport. On the offensive side, it was another up-and-down day for the lineup, but clearly, the Noles did enough.
Hunter Carns was the story for FSU as he went 3-5, including a two-run home run in the sixth to push Florida State out in front, 5-1. Along with Carns, Noah Sheffield was the only other Seminole to record a multi-hit day, going 2-5 with a double and a run scored. There were still far too many unproductive at-bats, as FSU struck out 15 times on Friday with only three walks, but the recipe for Florida State is clear: if the arms can hold their opponent to four runs or less, there should be enough offense to scratch across enough runs.
For the second day in a row, Florida State put two men on in the top of the first as Brayden Dowd reached on an error and Hunter Carns singled, but back-to-back outs stranded the runners. In the bottom of the frame, Trey Beard answered as he marooned a runner on second with back-to-back punchouts. After a quiet second, FSU took an early 1-0 lead thanks to some sloppy play from Virginia.