The Florida State Seminoles baseball team started off a 3-game series against the UNC-Asheville Bulldogs with a 9-2 victory on Friday night at Dick Howser Stadium. The third-ranked Seminoles improved to 9-0 on the season with the victory as Cole Sands earned his third win of the year.
The Good: Cal Raleigh was a one-man wrecking crew on Friday night. Usually a strong individual performance simply makes the “Studs of the Game” category, but Raleigh alone was responsible for six of the nine runs for the Seminoles. He grabbed three hits that included both an RBI triple and a t3-run double. He also came home twice to cap off his excellent night. Raleigh hasn’t started the season on the best note, but he still holds a ton of potential that can help turn him into a reliable power hitter.
The Bad: The bats went cold for the Bulldogs after the fifth inning. Up until then, they were able to knock five hits and bring in two runs. They looked like they could have responded with an offense of their own, but Cobi Johnon stepped on the mound and put a stop to those aspirations. He shut down UNC-Asheville and completely eliminated whatever momentum it had gained in the previous inning.
The Ugly: UNC-Asheville overall had a good defensive night. However, there were a couple of innings where the Bulldogs could not catch a break because of the poor position their pitching brought them. The fourth and the sixth especially highlighted these issues. Their pitchers combined for eight walks in those innings, which helped bring in seven Florida State runs that put it out of reach.
Studs of the Game: Cal Raleigh was mentioned above for his incredible 3-hit, 4-RBI outing. Cobi Johnson gets a nod for pitching two innings and striking out six without allowing a single hit. Drew Mendoza tied a career-high three hits while also racking up two RBIs.
Duds of the Game: Jordan Fulbright started on the mound for the Bulldogs and stayed in the game longer than he should have. He gave up five earned runs and only struck out one batter in a little over three innings.
Extra Innings: Major shoutout to J.C. Flowers for choosing T-Pain’s “Bartender” as his current walk-up song. It’s always a plus to rep the local Tallahassee products.
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