No. 10 FSU clinches series win in first game of doubleheader vs. Georgia Tech

Strong starting pitching from Carson Dorsey and an eight-run outburst in the third inning by the offense led the No. 10 Florida State Seminoles to a critical 11-3 win over Georgia Tech on Friday afternoon in the first game of a doubleheader.

The victory secures another home series win for the Seminoles, who are now 39-13 and 17-11 in the ACC. They are also still very much in in contention for a Top 8 national seed with the two victories already against the Yellow Jackets.

Dorsey, coming off one of his worst outings of the season last weekend at Pittsburgh, was effective against the potent Georgia Tech offense on Friday afternoon. He allowed a run each in the first, fifth and sixth innings but never let the Jackets put together a big inning.

Meanwhile, his offense turned in one of the biggest of the season. Jaime Ferrer hit a three-run homer and every single batter in the lineup reached base in the third inning as the Seminoles produced an eight-spot against a beleaguered Georgia Tech pitching staff.

McGwire Holbrook had an RBI single in the inning and so did James Tibbs, but the biggest blow other than Ferrer’s bomb was a based-loaded double down the right-field line by Max Williams that scored all three runners.

Florida State wound up scoring 11 in the game and pounding out 16 hits. Each batter had at least one hit in the game, with Cam Smith and Alex Lodise collecting three apiece, and Tibbs and Marco Dinges racking up two each.

Conner Whittaker, who recently returned from injury, pitched two impressive innings of relief, allowing no runs while striking out three, and Noah Short then struck out the side in the ninth to finish off the Yellow Jackets.

Georgia Tech, which had 13 hits in the opener on Thursday night, collected 11 more in the first game on Friday. But the Jackets left 11 on base after stranding 12 the night before.

Through two games, the Yellow Jackets are just 6-of-34 with runners in scoring position.

Game 2 of doubleheader

The Seminoles fell behind 5-0 in the nightcap as starter Andrew Armstrong struggled to get just seven outs before being pulled with the bases loaded in the top of the third inning.

The senior lefty allowed five hits and walked four, but Joe Charles came in and righted the ship quickly, inducing an inning-ending double play to get out of a bases-loaded mess.

Then, in the bottom of the fourth, the FSU bats woke up. Max Williams lined a solo homer to right-center field. Then the next three Seminoles walked, prompting a pitching change by Georgia Tech. Jaime Ferrer ripped an RBI single to right, Daniel Cantu followed with a two-run single to right and then Cal Fisher tied the game with a sac fly to left field.

The Seminoles then took the lead in the fifth on a 417-foot solo home run by James Tibbs.

After Charles pitched 2.2 scoreless innings of relief, Connor Hults came on in the seventh and gave up an unearned run after slow bouncer deflected off of Smith at third base and into left field. Ferrer then made a heads-up play to throw the runner out at second to end the inning.

Florida State immediately came back and retook the lead. Smith singled to lead off the inning. He advanced to second on a Tibbs groundout, advanced to third on a balk and then scored on grounder to second by Marco Dinges. Smith scored just ahead of the tag.

After a Ferrer walk, Cantu was hit by a pitch, putting runners on first and second with two outs in the bottom of the seventh. And that’s when a weather delay hit, and the tarp was put on the field.

The final game of the series is now scheduled to resume Saturday at 2 p.m., with the Seminoles leading 7-6 in the bottom of the seventh.

Stay tuned to Warchant.com for more details.

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