Playing a game that lasts more than four and half hours the night before a doubleheader probably isn’t deal, but Florida State will take it. The Seminoles won a thriller on Friday night at Dick Howser Stadium on a walk-off 3-run double by centerfielder J.C. Flowers in the bottom of the 10th to top Virginia Tech, 9-8, in the ACC opener for both teams.
The Seminoles (12-0) led only briefly in the contest on a solo home run by Cooper Swanson in the first inning and looked dead in the water on several occasions, but somehow found a way to move head coach Mike Martin to within one win of 2,000 for his career. It was the second straight walk-off victory for FSU.
Florida State forced extra innings with three runs in the eighth inning to knot the game at six. After Nico Baldour delivered an RBI single, Drew Mendoza came through with a 2-run double that narrowly missed putting the Seminoles in front.
The Hokies (8-4) grabbed an 8-6 lead in extra innings, thanks to a 2-run single off the bat of Reagan Teegarden with the bases loaded. The Seminoles were down to their last out with a runner on first before Elijah Cabell was hit by a pitch and Tim Becker walked to set the stage for Flowers, who had previously been 0-for-5 on the evening.
Virginia Tech was able to open up a 3-1 lead with solo blast from Luke Horanski in the top of the second, followed by a 2-run home run off the bat of Kevin Madden. The teams traded solo home runs in the third and fourth innings beginning with a blast from FSU’s Jonathan Foster in the bottom of the third.
After Virginia Tech’s Jack Owens went yard in the top of the fourth, Cabell answered for the Seminoles in the bottom half of the inning.The Hokies would open up some breathing room with two runs in the seventh on RBI hits from Teegarden and Carson Taylor.
FSU’s Conor Grady looked in line to be the loser after allowing two runs in the 10th, but ultimately got his second win of the season in two innings of work. Luke Scherzer allowed two runs without recording an out to take the loss for the Hokies.
Virginia Tech outhit FSU on Friday night, 13-9, with Teegarden, Owens and Horanski each recording three. Taylor and Madden had the other four hits — two each — in the loss.
Swanson and Mendoza each had two hits for FSU. Cabell scored a pair of runs in the victory. Martin will have two chances to get win No. 2,000 on Saturday as the teams play a doubleheader, beginning at noon EST.
Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson
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