SOUTH BEND, Ind. –The offense struggles again for No. 8 Florida State (26-12, 11-7). Notre Dame (24-10, 9-9) wins the Series finale 2-1 to sweep the series.
“This was definitely a series that you really have to tip your hat to Notre Dame,” Florida State head coach Mike Martin said. “They pitched well and played solid defense. There was one error made by them in three ball games. Give them all the credit, they did a great job.”
Florida State suffered its first weekend sweep in ACC play since dropping three games at Virginia in 2013. It also marked FSU’s first four-game losing streak since 2013 when the Seminoles fell to North Carolina in the last game of the regular season and then all three games in the ACC Tournament in Durham, N.C. FSU has now lost five of its last six games.
The Seminoles could not get the bats going on a weekend in which the Notre Dame pitching staff held Florida State to just four runs on 15 hits in 27 innings.
“I don’t know if we got 15 hits in three ball games,” added Martin. “They did a great job plain and simple all weekend long.”
Mike Compton (1-1) suffered the loss despite giving the Seminoles 5.0 solid innings in making his first start since throwing a complete game against Boston College on March 6. The redshirt junior was charged with two runs on four hits as he struck out six and did not walk a batter.
Alec Byrd and Billy Strode pitched well in relief combining for three scoreless and hitless innings. Byrd worked 2.0 innings as he walked one and struck out three, while Strode retired the side in the eighth on two strikeouts and a groundout.
Four Notre Dame pitchers combined to limit FSU to just one run on six hits as they issued just one walk while striking out five. Connor Hale (1-0) earned the win working 3.2 innings in relief allowing a run on three hits. Brad Bass, who made his first career start on Sunday, worked 1.1 innings as he faced six batters after throwing 30 pitches.
Scott Tully picked up the final two outs of the game striking out Taylor Walls and Hank Truluck to earn the save.
Notre Dame struck first on Sunday opening the bottom of the fourth with back-to-back doubles by Kyle Fiala and Cavan Biggio to give the Fighting Irish a 1-0 lead.
The Irish extended their lead in the fifth on an opposite field solo shot by Zak Kutsulis. The Notre Dame first baseman took the first pitch from Compton out of the park to left for his second home run of the season to push Notre Dame’s lead to 2-0.
Florida State pushed across its first and only run of the game in the sixth on an RBI single by DJ Stewart but could not manage more after loading the bases with no outs. The Seminoles loaded the bases off Hale as the first three batters to the plate reached on an infield single by Danny De La Calle, a walk to Josh Delph and a fielder’s choice sacrifice bunt by John Sansone. Stewart then laced a single to right to bring home De La Calle to cut the Notre Dame lead to 2-1.
The Fighting Irish called on Evy Ruibal out of bullpen, who got Notre Dame out of the jam in the sixth by getting Quincy Nieporte to ground into a 5-2-3 double play and then Chris Marconcini to pop out in foul territory to first to retire the side.
***FSU Athletics
