TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The combination of Drew Carlton on the mound and Quincy Nieporte at the plate led eighth-ranked Florida State to its second shutout of the season, 10-0, over Bowling Green on Saturdayevening. The victory moves the Seminoles to 31-13 overall and 25-6 on Mike Martin Field at Dick Howser Stadium, while the Falcons dropped to 16-30.
Carlton picked up his team-leading sixth win of the season as he tied his career-high in strikeouts (nine). The sophomore right-hander scattered five hits and one walk over six innings before giving way to Tyler Holton, who struck out five of the next nine Falcon hitters he faced in two innings of work.
“I had good command of the fastball from both sides of the plate,” said Carlton. “Being able to throw inside was really helpful tonight as well. They were having to look away when I was throwing inside, but having to look up and down to change their eye levels was very beneficial.”
Nieporte led the way for FSU offense that pounded out 13 hits, finishing 2-for-4 with three RBI, all coming on his fifth home run of the season in the fourth inning. Joining him with multiple hits was the trio of Dylan Busby (2-4), Donovan Petrey (2-4) and Hank Truluck (2-4), who capped off his night with a two-RBI single in the second.
“Drew Carlton coming through with a second straight impressive performance was very helpful for us tonight,” added head coach Mike Martin. “In the first inning their starting pitcher (Zac Carey) did a great job against us, but in the second we had an inning that put us in good position. Hats off to our offense because we had some good at-bats, but when there’s a zero on the scoreboard they’ll be a lot of happy pitchers.”
FSU grabbed the lead in the bottom of the second after Nieporte reached on a leadoff single into left field. Petrey followed with a seeing-eye single up the middle, putting Nieporte into scoring position. Two batters later Busby dropped a bunt to first, scoring Nieporte for the 1-0 advantage.
Truluck delivered a two-run single to centerfield that brought home Petrey and Busby as the Noles quickly led 3-0. Taylor Walls followed with a fielder’s choice to centerfield, plating Steven Wells Jr. for the 4-0 advantage. John Sansone’s single into left field again put runners on the corners for the Noles, who tacked on their fifth run of the game with a Cal Raleigh single to right that scored Walls.
Ben DeLuzio manufactured the only Seminole run of the third inning after reaching base on a single into left. With Busby at the plate, the speedy outfielder swiped his 10th base of the season and moved to third on a throwing error. Two pitches later, DeLuzio streaked home for the 6-0 lead on a passed ball by Greiner.
The Seminoles’ second multi-run inning came in the fourth inning when Truluck led off the frame with a single into centerfield. After a two-walk by Raleigh put two runners on base, Nieporte hit his fifth home run of the season just inside the left field foul pole to give FSU a 9-0 edge.
Bryan Bussey contributed in his first at-bat for FSU in the sixth inning, scoring Walls from first for the 10-0 lead, marking the 17th time this season that the Seminoles have topped double figures.
The series with the Falcons concludes on Sunday afternoon Cole Sands (3-4, 4.39 ERA) squares off against lefty Andrew Lacinak (2-6, 4.11).
***FSU Athletics
