TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – No. 18 Louisville beat No. 5 Florida State 6-1 Saturday afternoon in front of 5,150 fans on Mike Martin Field at Dick Howser Stadium. The Seminoles won the first two games of the series for its third straight series win in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Florida State (22-7, 7-5 ACC) has won the season series against Louisville each of the past three seasons (19-8, 5-7).
“The overall weekend was a success,” head coach Mike Martin said. “When we have the opportunity to win the third game and secure the sweep, and we don’t, we’re disappointed. We battled and kept battling but I’m proud of the way we played the entire weekend.”
FSU pitcher Austin Pollock (2-2) allowed five runs and four walks in three innings. CJ Van Eyk entered to open the fourth inning and allowed just one run on two hits in a career high six innings pitched to close out the game.
Louisville’s Nick Bennett (3-0) pitched seven innings, giving up a run on three hits and striking out six in his second start of the year as he works his way back from injury.
The Cardinals scored in each of the first four innings and led the entire game. Logan Wyatt had an RBI groundout in the first inning and Justin Lavey grounded into a double play in the second inning that scored Danny Oriente for a 2-0 Louisville lead.
UofL added three runs on three hits in the third inning, Pollock’s last. With two outs, Wyatt singled to score Jake Snider and Oriente doubled to right field to give Louisville a 5-0 lead.
A successful double steal in the fourth inning with CJ Van Eyk on the mound upped the Cardinals lead to 6-0.
FSU got its first hit in the fourth inning when Jackson Lueck led off with a single to left field. Rhett Aplin followed with a single and Cal Raleigh tallied his 24th RBI on a sacrifice fly, tying Drew Mendoza for the team lead.
Van Eyk retired 11 straight hitters between the fourth and eighth innings. After allowing a leadoff double on his first pitch of the game, Van Eyk threw just 71 total pitches, walked three hitters and struck out four.
FSU loaded the bases in the ninth inning against Louisville reliever Austin Conway via two walks and a hit by pitch, but Adam Elliott entered with two outs and struck out Jared Herron for his first save of the season.
Florida State hosts Jacksonville on Wednesday, April 4, at 6:00 p.m. The Seminoles shut out the Dolphins at JU in February behind 12 strikeouts from Andrew Karp.
Shawn Davison and Chip Baker will call the game for the ACC Network Extra.
Eric Luallen will be on the radio in Tallahassee on 106.1 FM and nationwide on the FSU Gameday App.
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).
