May 24,
2003
CBI Live
Seminoles stay alive
Four teams with one loss to battle for
ACC crown
By Sean Ryan
CollegeBaseballInsider.com Co-Founder
SALEM, Va. – After beating Virginia in the first game of the day,
Florida State waited in limbo for much of the afternoon.
If North Carolina beat North Carolina State,
the Seminoles would have taken the rest of the day off following their 10 a.m.
win over the Cavaliers. If State beat UNC, FSU would play State in the nightcap.
While waiting to see what transpired – N.C. State won – it
appears the Seminoles found their hitting shoes.
Top-ranked Florida State scored 10 times in the
fifth inning in rolling to a 17-6 win over the previously unbeaten Wolfpack,
closing the win nearly 12 hours after topping Virginia.
“It’s very unusual for this to develop like it
did,” FSU coach Mike Martin said. “Obviously it’s all because of the weather
problem we had on Wednesday.”
FSU (50-9-1) now awaits the winner of Sunday’s
UNC-Georgia Tech game. The winner of tomorrow’s second game moves on to the
final game against the Wolfpack (42-15). All four teams have lost once in the
double-elimination tourney.
The Seminoles, who reached 50
wins for the 21st time in Martin’s 24 seasons, got a big night from
Jerrod Brown, who went 3 for 4 with four runs and four RBI. Tony Richie went 3
for 4 with three runs and an RBI, and Bryan Zech added three hits as part of
FSU’s 18-hit attack.
Brown had a two-run double, and Chris Hart
added an RBI single as the Seminoles scored three times off Brandon Shipwash
(1-1) to take a 3-2 lead in the top of the fourth.
In the fifth, the Seminoles made
the Wolfpack cry “Uncle.”
FSU hammered Jason Duncan for
seven hits and 10 runs in an inning that lasted nearly 30 minutes. Hart and
Stephen Drew had RBI doubles, and Blake Balkcom launched a three-run homer to
left center to highlight the inning. Duncan threw 61 pitches in the fourth and
fifth, getting five outs.
“It is tough on the team that has
just won the biggest game of the tournament up to this point,” Martin said of
the Wolfpack playing right after beating UNC.
Rhett James (1-3) picked up his
first win, going 2.1 innings of relief.
Marc Maynor drove in three runs
to lead N.C. State.
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