TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – No. 10 Florida State (37-17, 17-11) dropped Thursday night’s series opener to Clemson (29-25, 14-13) falling 4-1 on Mike Martin Field at Dick Howser Stadium.
“Clemson played great,” Florida State head coach Mike Martin said. “They got the key hits when they needed them; made some outstanding plays defensively. We hit some balls hard, they made some outstanding plays. It was to me the typical Clemson team. They just played very well.”
The Seminoles managed only five hits on a night when Clemson starter Matthew Crownover (10-1) allowed just one runner past second base in 7.0 strong innings of work. Pat Krall worked the final two innings to earn his third save of the season.
The FSU baseball team only squeezed out 5 hits off of Clemson starter Matthew Crownover (10-1). He breezed through the Noles lineup only letting one runner past second base in seven dominant innings. Pat Krall finished off FSU pitching the final two innings for his third save this year.
“He kept us off-balanced all night,” said Martin on the performance of Crownover. “He went in and out with his fastball and did a very good job against us. He carved us up; you just have to tip your hat to him.”
Dylan Busby accounted for Florida State’s only of the night as the freshman third baseman took a 1-1 pitch from Crownover over the wall in left in the bottom of the second for his ninth home run of the season.
Crownover would give up just two hits the rest of the night, both singles in the fifth and sixth innings.
The Seminoles had their chances early leaving four runners stranded in the first two innings. DJ Stewart and Quincy Nieporte put together back-to-back two-out singles in the first but Crownover got out of the jam on the very next pitch as Darren Miller grounded out to second to retire the side.
After Busby led off the second with a solo home run, the Seminoles put two on when Danny De La Calle reached on a two-out throwing error at short followed by a Josh Delph walk. The Tiger southpaw once again delivered a key pitch to get out of the threat as John Sansone popped out to first in foul territory to end the inning.
Clemson scored single runs in the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh innings as all four runs came against Florida State starter Boomer Biegalski (5-4).
The Tigers tied the game at 1-1 in the fourth after Reed Rohlman singled on a jam shot over the pitcher’s mound and scored all the way from first on a double to the gap in left center by Chris Okey.
Three straight Clemson hits in the fifth led to the go ahead run as the Tigers never looked back on Thursday night. Andrew Cox, who registered a double off the wall in right center, scored on an RBI single through the right side by Steven Duggar.
Clemson took advantage of Seminole errors in the sixth and seventh innings to add a pair of unearned runs. Rohlman led off the sixth with a single to center and scored on a throwing error by De La Calle on sacrifice bunt attempt by Robert Jolly. The Tigers continued to threaten in the inning with runners at second and third and no outs, but Biegalski retired the next three batters on a strikeout, short fly out to right and a groundout to keep the deficit at 3-1. In the seventh, a fielding error at short by Taylor Walls led to Clemson’s fourth run of the night and a 4-1 Tiger lead.
Biegalski gave the Seminoles 6.0 plus innings on Thursday night allowing four runs, two earned, on eight hits as he walked three and struck out six.
“I thought Boomer pitched very well,” added Martin. “He gave us a chance. You have to tip your hat to Boomer he did a good job.”
Alec Byrd, Dylan Silva and Jim Voyles all worked in relief in game one. Silva struck out two in 1.2 innings, while Voyles faced the minimum in the ninth striking out one.
***FSU Athletics
