Baseball Recap: #10 Florida State 8 Carolina 4

Carolina lost its second consecutive game in ACC tournament pool play to Florida State 8-4. The Heels started slow, not getting a base runner before the fourth inning and struggling to get around on the FSU starter Mike Compton. The Carolina pitching staff let down the team, walking eight batters even though they struck out 17 Seminoles. Without those eight extra base runners, the Seminoles would not have lost the game. The Heels were flat for most of the game and never really got on base until the late innings. Carolina now needs to win against Clemson on Friday to increase its odds of making the NCAA tournament as they probably don't make it without a win in pool play and having ended the season 1-9 in ACC play stretching back to late April.

Inning by Inning Game Summary:

Trent Thornton took the mound for the home team Heels to start the second of Carolina's round robin games. Seminole lead off man Josh Delph got things started for FSU with a double to left center. John Sansone came up to bat second and attempted to bunt Delph over, accruing two quick strikes before going down looking on the third pitch. Seminole stud DJ Stewart then came up for FSU and struck out swinging on a full count. This brought up Quincy Nieporte with two outs and Delph on second. Nieporte strolled down to first after a four pitch walk, bringing up the DH Chris Marconini who singled to right to score Delph and advance Nieporte. Thornton then struck out Dylan Busby to end the top of the first. Mike Compton took the mound for FSU to face Tyler Ramirez, the Carolina lead off hitter. Ramirez grounded out to second to bring up Alex Rayburn with one out. Rayburn flew out to third to bring up Landon Lassiter who struck out to end the inning.

Ben DeLuzio led off for FSU, and drew a walk from Thornton to bring up Taylor Walls with one on and no outs. Walls ended up bunting DeLuzio over to third after Deluzio stole second. Thornton then threw two straight balls to the nine hitter Danny De La Calle, prompting a visit from Pitching Coach Forbes. De La Calle then hit a sacrifice fly to deep right field for the out and the run. Delph hit a slow grounder up the middle which Rayburn had to charge and then drew over Joe Dudek at first. The ball went out of play to advance Delph to second. Sansone then hit a double off the top of the Blue Monster in left to plate Delph. This prompted Trevor Kelley to start warming up in the Carolina bullpen. Stewart then struck out swinging to end the half inning with the score 3-0 FSU. Bolt led off for the Heels with a fly out to left before Korey Dunbar grounded out to second. That brought up Logan Warmoth who grounded out to third to end the inning.

This brought up Nieporte to lead off for FSU. He hit a fly out to left field to bring up Marconcini with one out. Marconcini struck out looking. This brought up Busby who singled up the middle to bring up Deluzio. DeLuzio tripled to score Marconini. Walls then came up and struck out to end the innign with the score 4-0. Dudek led off for the Heels with a fly out to shallow center field. Adam Pate then came up and flew out to right. This brought up Zack Gahagan who struck out swinging to end the inning.

De La Calle led off for FSU and he flew out to center. Delph then came up to bat and struck out swinging. Sansone then came up struck out to bring Carolina up to bat. Ramirez and Rayburn had back to back strike outs for the Heels. Lassiter then came up and hit a triple off the wall to break up the perfect game. This brought up Skye Bolt who struck out looking to end the inning.

Stewart then led off for the Noles with a single up the middle but was caught stealing on the first pitch against Nieporte. Nieporte then grounded out to short and brought up Marconcini who got hit on the arm. This got Jason Morgan up in the UNC bullpen as Busby came to bat. Busby struck out to end the half inning. Dunbar led off for the Heels who hit a ground ball that was too hot to handle for the FSU short stop Walls. Warmoth lined out to center field to bring up Dudek. Dudek hit a soft grounder up the middle which got Dunbar out a second but the first baseman Nieporte missed the throw and Dunbar got on. This brought up Adam Pate who struck out swinging to end the inning with the score 4-0.

Deluzio led off for FSU and hit a single to left. Walls followed up with a single to center to bring up De La Calle with runners on first and second. De La Calle bunted foul with two strikes to strike out. This brought up the top of the Seminole order with Delph. Coach Forbes then pulled Thornton for Spencer Traynor. Delph hit a fly ball that ducked in fair on the third base line and was a long run for Pate from his left field position and resulted in a run and a double. This brought up Sansone who struck out swinging to bring up Stewart who was intentionally walked. This brought up Neiporte who struck out. This brought up Zack Gahagan to lead off for the Heels, down 5-0. Gahagan lined out to center where FSU's DeLusio made a diving catch. Ramirez then tripled to the right field corner to bring up Rayburn. Rayburn hit a fly out to left, Ramirez tagged and beat an errant throw to the plate to score. Landon Lassiter hit a hard ground ball to third which bounced off the third baseman Busby's glove and allowed Lassiter to beat Walls' throw to first to reach. The FSU pitching coach then came out to talk to Compton with Bolt at the plate. Dylan Silva then started to warm up for FSU in the bullpen. Bolt hit a single to right field to bring up Dunbar with 2 outs and men on first and second. Dunbar looped a single into right field, scoring Lassiter from second and advancing Bolt to third. Warmoth then came up to bat for the Heels but before a pitch was thrown Compton was pulled for Silva. Warmoth struck out swinging to end the inning with the score 5-2.

A.J. Bogucki came in for the Heels to pitch, facing Marconcini to start his outing. Bogucki threw Marconcini a four pitch walk to bring up Busby. Busby struck out on three pitches. This brought up DeLuzio who struck out to make it two outs. Walls was thrown another four pitch walk by Bogucki to bring up the catcher De La Calle who struck out swinging. The Dudek led off for the Heels after the seventh inning stretch and struck out looking. This brought up Adam Pate who drew a walk. Gahagan then came to the plate and struck out swinging. Ramirez then struck out on a ball in the dirt and was tagged for the final out of the inning.

Bogucki went back out for the Heels, facing the top of the Seminole order. Delph strolled to first after a five pitch walk before Sansone had a four pitch walk. Hansen Butler then replaced Bogucki and face Stewart. Stewart lofted one deep to right field to fly out but advance both runners. Nieporte then was hit on the upper arm to load the bases for Marconcini. Marconcini then walked to score Delph from third. Busby then struck out looking before DeLuzio singled to score two more. Walls then struck out to end the inning. Rayburn led off to face Silva in the bottom of the eighth and grounded out to short. Lassiter then flew out to center before Bolt flew out to right center field to end the inning with the score 8-2.

Hunter Williams took the mound for the Heels got the lead off man De La Calle to fly out. Then pinch hitter Darren Miller singled to right field before Sansone then flew out to Rayburn behind first base to bring up Stewart with two outs. Stewart grounded out to second to send Carolina up to bat in the bottom of the ninth with the score 8-2 FSU. Jim Voyles took the mound for the Seminoles in the bottom of the ninth. Dunbar then singled to center before Warmoth flew out to right. Pinch hitter Brooks Kennedy then grounded out to the pitcher to make it two outs for Pate. Pinch hitter Brian Miller then hit a single to right to score two runs. Tyler Ramirez then flew out to deep center field to end the game with the score 8-4.