The No. 21 Florida State baseball team (6-2) took the field at Dick Howser Stadium on the last day of February amidst the Savannah Bananas playing in the backdrop at Doak Campbell Stadium later in the evening. Despite Banana fever, the Seminoles still had a three-game series against The Citadel (4-3), starting with a doubleheader on Saturday.
FSU came away victorious in game one 6-2 and needed 10 innings to win 2-1 in the second game.
“Fortunate to escape today,” FSU coach Link Jarrett said. “I thought The Citadel, their arms did a nice job. They have a distinct personality with the short game and the run game.”
Game 1
In the first game, the Seminoles were struggling with The Citadel as they headed into the bottom of the sixth inning trailing 2-1.
Junior Wes Mendes got the start for FSU and pitched five solid innings with three strikeouts and one earned run. Mendes didn’t get much help from his offense until the bottom of the sixth inning when the bases were loaded for freshman infielder Kelvyn Paulino Jr., who hit a sacrifice fly to score junior outfielder Brayden Dowd to tie the game. Sophomore infielder Gabe Fraser followed up with a single to score two more runs to extend the lead to 4-2 before The Citadel made a pitching change with two outs.
Junior infielder Cal Fisher delivered a single to extend the inning, which was followed up by an Eli Putnam single that scored another run. Freshman outfielder John Stuetzer stepped to the plate with runners on first and second with two outs and drew a walk to load the bases yet again.
Florida State batted around when Dowd stepped to the plate again, but this time he sent a ball near the wall and it wasn’t enough as The Citadel outfielder leapt and caught the ball to end the inning.
The Seminoles' offense had exploded heading into the seventh with a comfortable 5-2 lead, now all they needed was the bullpen to do its job. Mendes didn’t come out to the mound for the seventh as he was done for the day in favor of junior reliever John Abraham. Mendes threw 86 pitches, struck out four, walked one and only gave up one earned run.
FSU added one run in the bottom of the eighth inning, highlighted by Stuetzer, who singled through the left side of the infield to score Cal Fisher from second base. Abraham finished The Citadel off to get his first save of the year.
Game 2
After handling The Citadel in the first game, junior Florida Atlantic transfer Trey Beard got the start for the Seminoles in game two. After the first inning, Citadel pitcher Bryce Coulter had an errant throw to first base after senior catcher Nathan Cmeyla hit a slow dribbler, scoring Florida State’s first run to give them a 1-0 lead.
In the second inning, Beard repeated what Coulter did and had his own wild throw that soared over first basemen Myles Bailey’s head to score a run, tying the game at one in the third.
Beard was throwing a solid game with six strikeouts and one walk on 67 pitches, but he was pulled after five innings. Sophomore Cade O’Leary came in to relieve in the top of the sixth with the score still tied at one.
Heading into the top of the eighth inning, the Seminoles were still tied at one with The Citadel and it was anybody's game. FSU redshirt junior pitcher Kevin Mebil took over on the mound for O’Leary and made quick work of The Citadel by retiring the first three batters he faced.
Coulter remained in the game for The Citadel as the bottom of the eighth inning began and, at 91 pitches, four hits, one run, one walk and two strikeouts, fatigue had to have come into play. That wasn’t the case, as Coulter struck out two to head into the top of the ninth still tied at one.
“I give their starting pitcher game two credit,” Jarrett said. “That guy was basically on the verge of a complete game. Mixed everything, moved his fastball around, change up to both righties and lefties, good feel for the slider, steady mix there. They called a nice game and we were very fortunate to get out of there.”
Mebil wasn’t slowing down either as he got out of the ninth inning relatively quickly.
When the Citadel took the field in the bottom of the ninth, they decided to bring in a new pitcher for Coulter, who had pitched a gem. Citadel junior left-hander Kaden Kiser spelled relief for Coulter to try and extend the game into extra innings. The inning started off with Bailey getting drilled in the head but he would stay in the game.
After the hit by pitch, Kiser was quickly pulled in favor of senior Steven Trone. Senior Carter McCulley stepped into the batter's box with no outs and Bailey on first base. McCulley was hit by a pitch like Bailey but his was off of the wrist instead of the head.
With runners on first and second with zero outs, one would think the Seminoles could muster one run to win it. That wasn’t the case as Fraser struck out, while Paulino and Fisher popped out. The Citadel and FSU were going to extra innings still tied at one.
Mebil continued his steady presence on the mound by getting out of the inning with just one runner stranded on base.
A single by Cmeyla started the bottom of the 10th and was pulled for pinch runner Chase Williams. As per usual when Williams is on base, he stole second immediately. After a Stuetzer strike out, Dowd was walked and Noah Sheffield stepped to the plate to deliver a slow dribbler to the pitcher, who bobbled the ball and had no play on any base.
With the bases loaded and one out, Bailey was up once again to try to win the game for Florida State. Bailey hit a ball up the middle but the second baseman fielded the ball and threw home as Williams was headed to the plate. The catcher appeared to bobble the ball before Williams could tag home plate and, after review, the call was safe and the Seminoles would escape with a one run victory in extra innings.
“I know the guys want to do damage, they want to produce, they want to drive in runs and get hits,” Jarrett said. “ But there's a diminishing rate of return if you’re reckless and swinging at a lot of stuff that's not in the heart of the zone early in the count and that's what it looks like now.”
Up next
FSU finishes out the series with The Citadel on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Dick Howser Stadium.
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