CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – No. 11 Florida State (19-6, 7-2) crushed No. 7 Virginia (14-7, 3-6) on Sunday afternoon. The Seminoles took the rubber game of the series with a 13-1 victory inside the UVA Baseball Stadium on Davenport Field.
Dylan Busby and DJ Stewart sparked the Florida State offense as both players went deep for home runs for the second straight game.
Stewart homered twice on Sunday for his third multi-home run game of his career. The junior left fielder connected on a grand slam in the seventh and a two-run home run in the ninth. Busby got things started in a nice way unloading on a three-run shot to left center in the first.
Historic victory for the Noles. This is there first series victory in Charlottesville since 2004 when FSU dropped the first game of the series only to win the next two. It also marked the first time FSU has twice registered double digit runs in Charlottesville since 2002.
“It was just one of those weekends that things went our way,” Florida State head coach Mike Martin said. “But we know how good Virginia is; this was a good series win this weekend.”
Quincy Nieporte and Stewart finished with three hits apiece, while Stewart tallied six RBI to tie a career-high. Busby finished with three RBI and Nieporte drove in a pair.
FSU starter Cobi Johnson (3-1) recorded his best outing of his young career as the freshman right hander tossed a career-high 7.0 innings allowing a run on five hits as he walked two and struck out five.
“That was his best outing of the year,” said Martin on Johnson’s performance. “Coach Bell did a great job of mixing pitches. Cobi was impressive with all three pitches today. That’s something we have been waiting to see and I have to admit he couldn’t have picked a better day to it. His mound presence was beyond his years this afternoon.”
“I felt decent; fastball, change-up mix, just tried to change speeds and location to keep them off-balanced,” added Johnson.
Taylor Folsom threw the final two innings to close out the win and the series victory. The freshman lefty gave up two hits and a walk while striking out two.
Florida State ran out to the early lead on Sunday plating four runs in the top of the first off UVa starter Brandon Waddell (1-1). The Seminoles took advantage of three walks in the inning as Nieporte brought home the first FSU run with a sharp single to left. Busby cleared the bases with one swing of the bat two hitters later as the freshman third baseman took the first pitch from Waddell out of the park to left center for a three-run shot and a 4-0 advantage.
“That was so big in the first inning,” said Martin on Busby’s home run in the first. “Just a huge hit so early in the ballgame.”
Virginia answered with a run in the bottom of the inning on a two-out RBI single to right by Matt Thaiss. Daniel Pinero, who scored on the play, opened the bottom of the first with a single through the left side.
The Seminoles added to their lead in fourth on a two-out double by Nieporte. After two quick outs by Waddell, Stewart drew a walk before scoring all the way from first on Nieporte’s ringing double to the gap in right center. Florida State looked to add more in the inning when Chris Marconcini singled through the right side but UVa right fielder Adam Haseley made a nice throw to the plate to get Nieporte to retire the side.
Florida State broke the game open scoring five runs in the seventh to take a commanding 10-1 lead. After Taylor Walls drew a bases loaded walk to drive in Busby for the first run of the inning, Stewart followed two batters later with his second career grand slam. The junior from Yulee, Fla., took a 2-2 offering from Alec Bettinger out of the park to left for his second home run of the series and eighth of the season.
“He couldn’t have picked a better time to do what he did in a 6-1 ball game,” said Martin on Stewart’s grand slam in the seventh.
“I definitely feel more comfortable now than I did earlier in the season,” said Stewart. “I feel like I was trying to do too much in the beginning of the year. I just have to come out every single day and try and improve every day. Today we were able to improve and got a huge win.”
The Seminoles pushed across three more runs in the ninth courtesy of a two-run home run by Stewart and an RBI groundout by Steven Wells, Jr.
Florida State drew 15 walks on Sunday including four by Hank Truluck. Walls finished with three walks, while Stewart and Busby recorded two each.
***FSU Athletics
