WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – No. 4 Florida State (14-2) dropped both ends of a doubleheader Saturday at Wake Forest (7-9), losing the first game 4-3 on a walk-off home run and the second 8-1 at David F. Couch Ballpark. It was the first ACC series for each team.
“It was just a day that we didn’t do a lot of things that we had been doing,” head coach Mike Martin said. “We didn’t do them well and Wake Forest took advantage of every mistake we made. They made the plays they needed to win.”
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
 FSU | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 1 |
 Wake Forest | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 1 |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
| FSU | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| Wake Forest | 1 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | X | 8 | 12 | 0 |
Game 1 – Wake Forest 4, Florida State 3
The Seminoles dropped its first game of the season on a walk-off two-run home run from Wake Forest’s DJ Poteet in game one. FSU’s Rhett Aplin hit an RBI double in the top of the ninth inning to break a 2-2 tie.
Starting pitcher Drew Parrish pitched 6.1 innings, allowing two runs and striking out eight. Cobi Johnson (0-1) relieved him and pitched the final 1.2 innings. He struck out a pair of batters before giving up a single to Bobby Seymour and Poteet’s walk-off.
Wake starting pitcher Colin Peluse allowed two runs over eight innings, striking out six without issuing a walk. He threw just 96 pitches. Rayne Supple (1-0) allowed Aplin’s RBI double in the ninth but earned his first win of the season.
The loss snapped FSU’s season-opening win streak at 14 games, the fourth-longest to open a season in school history.
FSU’s first two runs scored on RBI groundouts by Mike Salvatore and Reese Albert. Wake Forest got on the board with Johnny Aiello’s solo home run in the fourth inning and an RBI groundout by Cole McNamee in the seventh that set the scene for the ninth-inning drama.
Aplin had two of FSU’s five hits. Jackson Lueck had FSU’s first walk of the game in the ninth inning and stole second base before scoring on Aplin’s double.
DJ Poteet hit a walk-off two-run home run that scored Zach Seal and gave Wake Forest a 4-3 win. It was just the second walk-off loss for FSU in the past five seasons.
- Drew Mendoza doubled in both games today, extending his hitting streak to a team-high eight games.
- Rafael Bournigal doubled, giving him four extra-base hits on the season (eight hits total).
- FSU had two sacrifice bunts. FSU had three through the first 14 games of the season.
- Kyle Cavanaugh was hit by a pitch for the first time this season and second time in his FSU career.
- Drew Parrish’s 114 pitches were the second-most of his career, trailing only the 136 he threw in a complete game win at Notre Dame last season.
- FSU struck out 10 batters, the 14th time in 15 games this year the Noles have recorded double-digit strikeouts. FSU entered the weekend leading the country with 13.5 strikeouts/game.
- Rhett Aplin hit his sixth double of the season to score Jackson Lueck in the ninth inning. His six doubles lead the team.
- The loss snapped FSU’s 14-game winning streak, the fourth longest to open a season in FSU history.
Wake Forest used the momentum from the walk-off win in game one to score six runs off FSU starter Austin Pollock (2-1) and sweep the doubleheader with an 8-1 win in the nightcap. Pollock lasted just 1.1 innings, giving up seven hits and six earned runs in his first road start as a Seminole.
Seven consecutive Wake Forest batters reached base in the second inning before CJ Van Eyk took over for Pollock and forced a double play to end the damage. Van Eyk pitched a scoreless third inning before freshman Tyler Ahearn relieved him. Ahearn pitched a career high three innings, giving up an RBI double to Shane Muntz that made the score 7-0 through four innings.
Sophomore Clayton Kwiatkowski struck out two batters in a scoreless seventh inning and Conor Grady allowed a run in the eighth inning.
Pollock, Van Eyk, Ahearn and Grady are all true freshmen and made their first appearance in a road game.
Morgan McSweeney (1-1) pitched 6.1 innings for the Demon Deacons, allowed three hits and struck out seven batters. He left after Rhett Aplin and Cal Raleigh extended their hitting streaks to six games with seventh-inning singles. Muntz relieved McSweeney and allowed a bases loaded walk to Jonathan Foster for FSU’s lone run.
Cole McNamee doubled to left field to score Chris Lanzilli for a 2-0 Wake Forest lead in the second inning. McNamee had a hit and an RBI in both games of the doubleheader.
Florida State faces in-state rival Florida in Gainesville Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. The game will stream live on SEC Network + and is available through WatchESPN.
For more information on Florida State baseball, check Seminoles.com for the latest news and scheduling information, or keep up with the team on social media through Twitter (@FSUBaseball), Facebook (/FSUBaseball), and Instagram (@NoleBaseball).
