Florida State’s last two ACC wins have come courtesy of an extra inning solo home run off the bat of a previously hitless Steven Wells. On Thursday night, the senior outfielder took NC State reliever Joe O’Donnell deep to lead off the 11th inning for a walk-off blast to give the Seminoles a 4-3 win in the series opener at Dick Howser Stadium.
Wells homered in the 13th inning to lead the Seminoles past Clemson nearly two weeks ago as head coach Mike Martin surpassed Augie Garrido for the most wins in college baseball history. The winning pitcher that night was C.J. Van Eyk, who also got the victory on Thursday night by striking out the side after allowing a lead-off triple in the top of the 11th. FSU has clinched a winning record in ACC play and will go for the series victory on Friday.
The Good: Florida State pitchers Drew Parrish, Clayton Kwiatkowski and C.J. Van Eyk combined to strike out 15 batters on Thursday night while walking just one. The FSU staff held NC State to a .195 batting average as a team.
The Bad: Drew Parrish gave another quality start, but again, failed to pick up the win. This time, he can’t blame his offense or his bullpen. The big blow off Parrish was a 3-run home run by NC State’s Brett Kinneman in the sixth inning to make it a 3-2 game.
The Ugly: Florida State’s run to tie the game in the sixth inning was of the unearned variety on a bad misplay by right fielder Brock Deatherage. On a single by FSU’s Drew Mendoza that rolled through the infield, Deatherage allowed the ball to roll under his glove and get all the way to the wall, which brought Rhett Aplin around from first base to score and tie the game.
Studs of the Game: Parrish was solid for FSU, but give the bullpen some credit. Lefty reliever Clayton Kwiatkowski retired each of the seven Wolfpack hitters he faced in 2 1/3 innings. In addition to Wells’ heroics at the plate, Rhett Aplin was 2-for-5 with a run and an RBI. Mike Salvatore was 3-for-3 with a run scored for the Seminoles. For NC State, Brett Kinneman drove in all three runs. Patrick Bailey was 2-for-5 with a run scored.
Duds of the Game: Joe O’Donnell earns this dubious distinction for NC State after allowing a walk-off homer to the only batter he faced. At the plate for the Wolfpack, Josh McLain and Evan Edwards were a combined 0-for-9 with three strikeouts apiece. For FSU, Jackson Lueck was 0-for-5 with an RBI groundout while Reese Albert was 0-for-4.
Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson
Larry Novey/FSU athletics
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