FSU Baseball Team Declaws Panthers in Weekend Sweep of Pitt

Entering this weekend’s series against the Pittsburgh Panthers, the #13 ranked FSU Baseball team was in a slump offensively, having scored just 4 runs over their previous weekend series against Notre Dame and 4 runs in their thrilling, 12-inning win over UF on Tuesday night. However, the Seminole bats exploded in their series against Pitt, completing the sweep with a 10-6 win on Saturday evening.

For the third straight game, Pitt got on the board first, breaking open a 1-0 lead in the third inning after Ron Sherman led off the inning with a double off the fence in right field. However, the ‘Noles responded quickly, scoring 3 runs in the bottom of the fourth including an RBI each for Quincy Nieporte and Chris Marconcini.

The Seminole bats really burst into action in the fifth inning, which saw the Seminoles really pad their lead with 7 runs, expanding it to 10-1. Major aspects of the 7-run fifth included a 2-run double by John Sansone, who expanded upon his impressive 2-homer performance in part 1 of the doubleheader, an RBI for Nieporte, his second of the game, and yet another home run for Chris Marconcini, who had an unbelievable week with 5 home runs and 13 RBIs.

More from Chop Chat

The Panthers would not go down without a fight as they pounced on Cobi Johnson, making his first career relief appearance, and Alec Byrd in the seventh inning, scoring 4 runs on 4 hits. Dylan Silva entered with 1 out and the bases loaded and stopped the bleeding, forcing a pop out and a groundout to strand the bases loaded.

After an uneventful eighth inning, Pitt had a chance in the ninth due in large part to back-to-back errors committed by Darren Miller and Jackson Owens, the backup infielders who were put in the game when the lead was 10-1. Alex Deise, who was brought into pitch the ninth, prevented the Panthers from leveling the score, closing the door with a pair of fly outs, one of which resulted in a double play, ending the game.

Alec Carlton pitched another gem, going 6 innings and allowing 1 run on 4 hits with 3 walks issued and 4 strikeouts, improving to 3-2 on the season and lowering his ERA to 3.31. Dylan Silva had another solid relief appearance, getting 2 clutch outs in the seventh and striking out the side in the eighth.

Offensively, the offensive woes for the Seminoles seem to have evaporated. In Saturday evening’s win, Florida State went 6-15 (.400) with runners on base and 4-8 (.500) with runners in scoring position. Marconcini, who entered this week with 1 home run and 9 RBIs, will finish the week with 6 home runs and 22 RBIs.