TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – No. 9 Florida State (22-7, 9-3) clinched the weekend series against Virginia Tech (15-14, 6-6) with a 6-5, walk-off victory on Sunday afternoon on Mike Martin Field at Dick Howser Stadium as the Seminoles scored two runs on two outs in the bottom of the ninth.
Florida State once again used another late inning rally. The Seminoles scored five of their six runs on Sunday in the seventh and ninth innings.
“I’m seeing a lot of desire on this club,” Florida State head coach Mike Martin said. “They feel a part of a family. This club is playing opportunistic baseball; they are playing hard and truly pulling for each other. There are clear signs that this family will battle you for 27 outs and that’s all a coach can ask for.”
Trailing by four heading into the seventh, the Seminoles cut the deficit to one plating three runs off Virginia Tech starter Jon Woodcock. FSU knocked the Hokie starter out of the game following a one-out single to left by John Sansone.
Luke Scherzer (1-2) entered and gave up back-to-back RBI singles to DJ Stewart and Quincy Nieporte before pinch hitter Hayden Kelly drew a two-out, bases load walk to bring the Noles within one at 5-4.
Chris Marconcini started the ninth inning rally drawing a one out walk from Scherzer and then was replaced by pinch runner Nick Graganella. After a Dylan Busby single put runners at first and second, Kelly moved Graganella to third on a fly out to center for the second out of the inning. Gage West was then hit by a pitch to load the bases for Josh Delph.
The senior outfielder provided the game-winning heroics hitting a 2-2 slider slowly to second forcing Hokie second baseman Alex Perez to charge the ball. With Delph running hard, Perez rushed his throw and sailed the ball high over the out reached glove of first baseman Brendon Hayden.
“Marconcini was the key to that inning in the great at-bat that he had to draw a walk and get on first base,” said Martin. “Our young men played the game hard, got some breaks and turned it into a very important win for us.
“Josh does run well. It was not a routine play. It was just one of those things that happened in our favor.”
“He made a good pitch, had a good little slider that he kept going to,” said Delph. “I didn’t put a good swing on it but put it in the right place, ran it out and good things happened. I was going 100 percent and see what happens. I thought there was a chance and that it was going to be a tough play.”
Graganella crossed the plate with the tying run and Busby would score from second on the play to give the Seminoles their first walk-off victory of the year and first since John Nogowski’s ninth inning single against Minnesota on May 3, 2014.
“We live off those last four innings of a game and really feed off of each other,” added Delph. “The game is never over until it’s completely done.”
Delph, who entered the game in the eighth inning, finished the afternoon 2-for-2 with an RBI. Sansone and Nieporte joined Delph with two hits in the win. Marconcini drew three walks for the fourth time this year, while Busby had two. FSU finished with eight walks on the afternoon.
Virginia Tech scored all five runs on Sunday off FSU starter Cobi Johnson. Perez got the Hokies off to a good start launching a two-out solo shot to right in the first. Virginia Tech then took advantage of a throwing error in the third which led to a pair of unearned runs off Johnson. Sean Keselica laced a two-out, two-run single to right to give VT a 3-0 lead.
A Busby sac fly in the forth inning cut the VT lead down to 3-1, however Virginia Tech came right back with two more runs in the top of the 5th to go ahead 5-1. Perez and Hayden open the inning with a single and walk, respectively, off Johnson. Perez would score on a sac-fly by Keselica, while Andrew Mogg brought home Hayden on a two-out double down the line in left.
Alec Byrd replaced Johnson and got the final out in the fifth with a strikeout. Byrd did a nice job in relief on Sunday keeping the Hokie offense in-check for 3.1 scoreless innings. The sophomore southpaw allowed just two hits and no walks while striking out five.
“He pitched very well for us,” said Martin on the performance by Byrd. “It was a big lift for us. Byrd gave us a big, big opportunity by holding them down and giving us a chance to get back into it. That was a huge win for us.”
Billy Strode (1-0) worked around a hit-by-pitch, issued by Byrd, and an infield single in the ninth by striking out the side to earn his first win of the season.
Johnson gave the Seminoles 4.2 innings on Sunday as the freshman right hander walked three and struck out five in earning a no decision.
“Cobi pitched pretty dog gone good,” added Martin. “Couple of mistakes they turned into runs, but Cobi pitched well. And Billy did a nice job for us in the ninth.”
***FSU Athletics
