ATLANTA — The No. 5 Florida State baseball team faced off with the No. 3 Georgia Tech for game two of the series after dropping Thursday’s night's game to the Yellow Jackets 4-3 in heartbreaking fashion. Georgia Tech pulled away in the latter innings and thoroughly dominated the Seminoles 8-3 on Friday.

After FSU captured four ACC series wins, the Seminoles have now dropped their first in league play but have a chance to salvage a victory in the finale on Saturday.

FSU wasted no time putting runs on the board as freshman John Stuetzer blasted a solo home run off Yellow Jackets pitcher Porter Buursema over right center field to give the ’Noles an early 1-0 lead.

Stuetzer also hit a solo home run in the ninth inning.

But FSU hit just 1 for 12 with runners on base. The Seminoles also struck out 13 times.

Georgia Tech is a good hitting team that is capable of putting up big numbers in a hurry, and the Yellow Jackets indeed went 7 for 16 with runners on base.

Junior left-hander Trey Beard got the start for Florida State. Beard had his change-up and slider working as the first two innings were a breeze, only giving up one hit and zero runs.

That was until the bottom of the third inning when Beard faced the bases loaded with two outs. Yellow Jackets outfielder Alex Hernandez singled to right to score two runs to give Georgia Tech the lead 2-1. After a walk, Beard had loaded the bases once again and Ryan Zuckerman had a two-run double to extend the lead to 4-1. Beard would get out of the inning, but the damage was done.

Beard threw 86 pitches on the night and struck out six before being pulled in the bottom of the fifth inning for junior Brodie Purcell. The right-hander dodged damage for a few innings until giving up four runs in the eighth.

Redshirt senior first baseman Eli Putnam did his best Myles Bailey impression in the top of the seventh inning when he cranked a solo home run to cut the lead to 4-2 but that’s all the Seminoles could get out of that inning. FSU would fall apart in the bottom of the eighth inning when Georgia Tech added four runs to give a little insurance and would essentially put the game on ice. The crowd was roaring and the energy was too much for the ’Noles to handle in crunch time.

Coach Link Jarrett declined to speak to the media after Friday’s game.

Up next

The Florida State baseball team returns to Russ Chandler Stadium to finish off the series with the Yellow Jackets on Saturday at 3 p.m.

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