March 16, 2008
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Jason Stidham collected four hits and drove in three runs and No. 3 Florida State scored nine runs over the last two innings to defeat No. 11 Georgia Tech, 17-8, Sunday afternoon at Dick Howser Stadium. With the loss, Georgia Tech dropped to 13-4 on the season and 3-3 in the ACC while the Seminoles improved to 16-1 overall and 6-0 in league play.
Stidham went 4-for-5 with two runs and three RBI while Mike McGee added two hits and three RBI for the Seminoles.
Florida State starting pitcher Ryan Strauss (2-0) earned the win by holding Georgia Tech to four runs on five hits while recording eight strikeouts in six innings of work.
Florida State took its first lead of the game in the fifth inning, scoring on back-to-back run scoring singles by Stidham and Buster Posey. Tech reliever Andrew Robinson gave up three hits and walked two in the inning before catcher Cole Leonida recorded the third out of the inning by catching Stidham trying to steal home.
Robinson (2-1) suffered his first loss of the season after the Seminoles added to their lead with 11 runs over the next three innings and the Jackets were unable to recover from the deficit.
Back-to-back RBI singles from Thomas Nichols and Chris House staked the Yellow Jackets to a 3-0 lead before the Seminoles came to bat in the first inning. Jeff Rowland and Charlie Blackmon led off the game with back-to-back singles and Brad Feltes walked to load the bases before Nichols pushed a two-out single through the left side to score the first two runs of the game. Feltes moved to third when McGee, the Seminole left fielder, tried to throw out Blackmon at the plate, and he then scored when House pushed his RBI single through the right side of the infield.
Rowland and Blackmon led Tech with two hits apiece.
With two outs in the second inning, the Seminoles notched four-consecutive singles and scored twice to pull within one run of the Jackets. Tyler Holt drove in Florida State’s first run of the game with a single down the left field line, scoring McGee from second base. Stidham then ripped a single up the middle to plate Stuart Tapley for the second run of the inning.
The Seminoles tied the game at 3-3 in the fourth inning with more key, two-out hitting. After Yellow Jacket starter Zach Von Tersch forced groundouts by the first two batters of the inning, Stidham singled through the left side and moved to second on a single by Posey. Stidham then scored on a double by Tony Delmonico before Von Tersch forced a flyout from Dennis Guinn to end the threat.
Von Tersch gave up three runs on nine hits in four innings, but did not figure into the decision after leaving with the score tied at 3-3.
Georgia Tech added four runs in the top of the ninth with a two-run double from Blackmon, an RBI groundout by Derek Dietrich and a sacrifice fly from Luke Murton, but Florida State reliever Ben Francis struck out Nichols to end the game and give FSU head coach Mike Martin his 1,500th career victory.
The Yellow Jackets will return to Atlanta for a pair of midweek games at Kennesaw State and vs. Mercer at home before hosting Duke for a three-game ACC series next weekend at Russ Chandler Stadium. Live stats for all five games will be available at Ramblinwreck.com.
–GT–
