CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – For the 30th consecutive time, FSU has earned the series victory over a conference opponent as No. 8 Florida State (33-4, 12-1 ACC) posted wins in both games of the doubleheader with Boston College (20-17, 4-7 ACC) on April 16. The Noles took game one, 10-2 in six innings, and closed out the day with a 2-0 shutout victory.
“We’re young and while I’m glad that we got the wins today, we need to make sure we stay focused and in it until the final out of the day,” said FSU head coach Lonni Alameda. “I thought we came out strong in game one and did a good job of staying on the attack, but in game two I thought we relaxed a bit. That sometimes happens at this point of the season and we were able to make plays when we needed to, but we’ll need to learn from this as we move toward the postseason.”
FSU got on the board first in game one, scoring four runs in the second inning, all with two outs. Zoe Casas and Carsyn Gordon reached on singles and both came in to score on a two-RBI triple by Cali Harrod. Morgan Klaevemann followed with an RBI bunt single to make it 3-0.
After Klaevemann’s 31st stolen base of the season, Ellie Cooper drilled a liner back up the middle, nearly hitting Klaevemann as she needed to dive out of the way of the batted ball. The speedy sophomore got back up and still scored on the RBI single for a 4-0 lead.
Boston College got a run back in the bottom of the second on a solo home run from Annie Murphy off FSU starter Jessica Burroughs.
The Noles added two more runs in the fourth inning, also with two outs, as Cooper hit her third home run of the season to left, scoring Harrod who had reached earlier in the inning on a base hit to center.
Burroughs continued with a strong start in the circle, retiring 13 of the first 14 batters before allowing a double to Chloe Sharabba down the left field line in the fifth inning. BC cut the lead to 6-2 later in the inning on an RBI single to right field by Carly Severini.
Florida State scored four runs in the top of the sixth to establish an eight-run advantage. Klaevemann started with a single up the middle, stole second and Cooper followed with a walk. Jessica Warren hit her team-leading 40th RBI on a double to right to make it 7-2 FSU.
Macey Cheatham drew a walk to load the bases and a fielder’s choice on a grounder from Casas scored Alex Powers, increasing the FSU lead to 8-2. Gordon hit her second single of the game back up the middle, driving in two runs and giving the Seminoles a 10-2 lead.
It marked the second time in the game and 30th time this season that the Seminoles have scored four or more runs in an inning.
Abby Evans closed out the game in the circle for FSU, pitching a perfect sixth inning, along with a strikeout to secure the run-rule victory. Burroughs (19-2) earned the win after 5.0 innings of work, giving up two runs on three hits with zero walks and nine strikeouts.
FSU got out to hot start in game two, scoring two runs on three pitches after a leadoff bunt single from Klaevemann, a sac but from Cooper and a two-run home run by Powers. It was her ninth home run of the season.
The game turned into a defensive stalemate after that as neither team was able to score for the rest of the game. Boston College was able to get some runners on base in the early innings, but the Seminoles executed double plays in the second and third inning and Broderick threw out Loren DiEmmanuele trying to steal second base in the fourth inning.
The Noles only managed two runners from the second through the sixth inning on a double by Cooper in the third inning and a walk by Gordon in the fourth. Both would be left stranded as BC starting pitcher Allyson Frei settled in throughout the game.
The Eagles threatened in the bottom of the seventh, loading the bases with a pair of two-out singles and an FSU fielding error. The game ended on a groundout to second base to close out the 2-0 victory for FSU.
Meghan King moved to 14-2 with the complete-game victory, scattering six hits with zero walks and three strikeouts in her fourth shutout of the season.
Frei (11-10) allowed only three hits and two runs with five walks and three strikeouts in the loss.
The series with Boston College will wrap up on Sunday, April 17 with a single game at 11:00 a.m. at Shea Field. A live radio broadcast from @FSUsbRADIO, as well as live stats, will be available on Seminoles.com.
Follow Florida State softball on Twitter (@FSU_Softball) and Instagram (fsusoftball), and like our Facebook page (Facebook.com/FSUsoftball) to keep up to date with everything about Seminole softball.
