March 24, 2013
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – No. 5 Florida State rallied with six unanswered runs over the final three innings and beat No. 11 Georgia Tech, 8-6, Sunday afternoon at Dick Howser Stadium. The Yellow Jackets opened a 5-1 lead after two innings, but were unable hold on in the series rubber game.
Tech has dropped consecutive games for the first time this season, slipping to 18-5 overall, 6-3 in the ACC, with its first series loss. FSU improved to 22-2, 7-2.
Sam Dove, Kyle Wren, Brandon Thomas and AJ Murray each had two hits for Tech, which had 11 as a team and collected double-digit hits for the 18th time this season, and seventh consecutive.
Cole Pitts was in control entering the sixth with his team in front 6-2, but a one-out single, followed by a walk ended his day. Alex Cruz hit the first batter he faced then rolled what could have been an inning-ending double play. But Tech couldn’t turn it, and an errant throw to first allowed a pair of Noles to score.
FSU kept its foot on the gas in the seventh as Seth Miller ripped a game-tying two-run double off the wall in right, and took the lead for good in the eighth thanks to D.J. Stewart’s two-run single up the middle.
Miller finished the game 2-for-2 with three RBI and two runs. The fifth of FSU’s reliever, Robby Coles, earned his first win (1-0).
The Jackets jumped out to an early 5-0 lead and chased FSU starter Peter Miller in the second inning. Dove doubled in the first, and consecutive infield singles from Thomas and Daniel Palka, plus an error, allowed Tech to seize a 1-0 lead. Zane Evans followed with a sacrifice fly to double the advantage.
Wren doubled home Hyde in the second, and two more Jackets came home when Dove sailed double off the wall in center to end Miller’s day. Reliever Bryant Holtmann retired nine consecutive Jackets to stem the tide as his team chipped away.
Miller’s sacrifice fly put FSU on the board in the second and an RBI single up the middle from John Sansone made it 5-2 in the fourth. In the fifth, Thomas doubled for Tech, Palka walked and Murray’s RBI single through the left side made it a four-run game again.
Pitts went 5.1 innings and allowed five hits and four runs (three earned). Cruz pitched two innings of relief and Jonathan King absorbed the loss for Tech (1-1).
The Yellow Jackets return to action Tuesday, hosting The Citadel at Russ Chandler Stadium at 4 p.m.
