TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – No. 11 Florida State (31-12) extended its win streak to five in a row following a 6-1 victory over Stetson (21-21) Tuesday night on Mike Martin Field inside Dick Howser Stadium.
Ben DeLuzio drove in half of FSU’s runs tying career-highs with three hits and three RBI in the win. DJ Stewart and Quincy Nieporte each had two hits apiece as the Seminoles outhit the Hatters 10-7 in the first of two regular season games between the two schools.
“Ben is certainly capable of having nights likes this,” Florida State head coach Mike Martin said. “I think he is getting more comfortable (at the plate) with each game. Certainly he is a guy that we need to produce; we need everybody in the lineup to produce. To get the big RBI double in the eighth was kind of the lid being closed. It was certainly a big lift and a big hit.”
DeLuzio put together a perfect night at the plate going 3-for-3 with a pair of walks. He broke open a three-run Florida State lead in the bottom of the eighth with a two-out, bases loaded double down the line in left to close out the scoring Tuesday night.
“Most of the season has been a struggle but I think I finally found rhythm to my swing now,” said DeLuzio. “The past week, week and a half, I’ve been seeing the ball great. I just hope I can keep it going.”
The Seminoles once again received another quality start from senior southpaw Bryant Holtmann who worked 6.0 plus innings allowing just one run on six hits as he walked one and struck out three.
“Fastball, cutter again, I threw a couple good change-ups,” said Holtmann on what was working for him Tuesday night. “It was just huge to be able to get ahead of hitters, to be able to attack and work quick innings.”
Dylan Silva (6-1) picked up the win after working 2.0 shutout innings. The junior lefty entered in the seventh with two on and no outs only to get Florida State out of the jam by recording a strikeout and an inning ending double play.
Jim Voyles worked around a one-out walk and an infield single in the ninth retiring the next two batters on a groundout and line out to close out the win.
“The big thing you look at tonight is the outstanding job that Bryant Holtmann and Dylan Silva did and of course Jim Voyles pitched a very good ninth inning,” added Martin. “It was a good win and now we enter the stretch. There are an awful lot of tough teams left on our schedule.”
Florida State returns to league play this weekend with a three-game series against Miami down in Coral Gables. Friday and Saturday’s games are scheduled for a 7 p.m. first pitch with Sunday slated to start at 1 p.m.
*FSU Sports Information
