Florida State overcomes early deficit, but squanders 9th-inning lead to crash out of the ACC tournament
Florida State’s chances of a top-8 national seed ended with one swing of the bat with two strikes and two outs in a rainy top half of the ninth inning. A three-run homer from Pitt turned a 6-5 FSU lead into an 8-6 deficit that the Noles could not overcome, as Florida State went one-and-done in the ACC tournament after losing to Pitt 8-6 on Friday night. It was the true FSU experience on Friday, as the Seminoles were sloppy in parts of the game, but never let go of the rope after falling behind 4-0 and 5-1.
The Noles were not sharp from the get-go, committing two errors in the first inning and four errors in the game, while leaving 12 runners on base. However, a grand slam from Ben Barrett tied the game at five in the fifth, and a small-ball run in the eighth gave FSU its only lead of the night. However, as mentioned, the poor play early in the game and a lack of composure late, did the Seminoles in.
Florida State’s defense let down Wes Mendes in the first inning, allowing the Panthers to break out to an early lead. In the first at-bat of the game, a routine grounder kicked off Ben Barrett’s glove, putting a man on first. In the ensuing at-bat, a passed ball put the runner on second, and then a bunt single, followed by an error on the throw to first from Cal Fisher, scored the runner.
After a strikeout and a walk, Trey Fenderson, the hottest hitter on the Pitt team, came to the plate with two on and one out. The second baseman smashed a three-run homer to right as the Panthers jumped out in front 4-0 in the first inning and drove Mendes’ pitch count to 28. The Seminoles tried to respond in the bottom of the frame as John Stuetzer led off with a single, moved over to second on a wild pitch, and touched home off a Brody DeLamielleure single.
However, the three outs in the inning were strikeouts as the worst qualities of this FSU team, bad defense and unproductive at-bats, reared their ugly heads early on. FSU’s bad defense continued in the second as Gabe Fraser committed an error, but an inning-ending double play stranded the runner as Mendes posted a zero. In the bottom half, the Noles were unable to cut into the deficit.
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