FSU Baseball Wins 17-Inning Marathon Over Miami in Series Opener

The FSU Baseball team opened their weekend series at Miami with a game that went the length of nearly 2 full games as the #12 ‘Noles prevailed over the #13 ‘Canes by a score of 8-7 in 17 innings.

Florida State jumped out to an early lead, scoring a run in the second inning off of a double by Dylan Busby that scored Quincy Nieporte, who led off the inning with a double. The ‘Noles extended the lead with a Nieporte solo home run in the fourth as well as a Danny De La Calle solo homer and Nieporte 1-run double in the fifth and FSU held a 4-0 lead through 5 innings in Coral Gables.

Boomer Biegalski, who has really come into his own as the Friday starter for the Seminoles, had quite possibly the best start of his FSU career in the most important series so far this season. He went 5 1/3 innings and allowed 1 unearned run on 2 hits with 3 walks and 5 strikeouts.

However, Dylan Silva entered the game in relief of Biegalski and struggled immensely, surrendering 3 runs (1 earned) in 1 inning of work on 1 hit and 2 walks and the Hurricanes used a 3-run inning to even up the score at 4 through seven innings.

In the eighth inning, both teams threatened to score. In the top of the eighth, Taylor Walls was thrown out at home for the third out when he tried to score from second on a single into left field. In the bottom half of the inning, Miami had a 2-out double that seemed to score the go-ahead run all the way around from first base but after Barr crossed the plate, the umpire ruled that the ball went under a fence in right field and out of play, effectively making it a ground rule double and forcing Barr to return to third base. In the next at-bat, Billy Strode forced a groundout to third that stranded 2 Miami players in scoring position.

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After uneventful ninth and tenth innings, FSU reclaimed the lead in the 11th on a bases loaded walk by Darren Miller, taking a 5-4 lead into the bottom of the inning but they could not maintain the lead as Cobi Johnson, making just his second bullpen appearance of the season, allowed a lead-off single and let the run come around to score after a sacrifice bunt that moved him to second and a pair of wild pitches in the same at-bat, bringing home the run and leveling the game again, this time at 5.

Very similar happenings occurred in the 13^th and 14^th innings as both times, FSU scored a single run to once again take the lead before allowing a single run each time to extend the game even further. This was followed by a pair of innings where neither team could manage any runs and through 16 innings, it was still 7-7.

The 17^th inning saw FSU bring across another single run, this time after a leadoff single by Ben DeLuzio that saw him come around on a stolen base, sac fly, and wild pitch. The bottom of the 17^th seemed just like the other innings after UM led off with a single and sac bunt to move the runner into scoring position with 1 out. However, the 17^th inning was different as the Miami baserunner got caught between bases while attempting to move up on a sac fly and was tagged out for the final out, ending the game on a double play.

Nieporte continued to emerge for FSU in the win, going 3 for 5 with a home run, 2 doubles, 2 runs, and 2 RBIs, reaching base 6 total times in the game with 3 hits, 2 walks, and 1 hit-by-pitch. Not to be outdone, Josh Delph went 5 for 7 with 4 singles, 1 double, 1 run, 1 walk, and 1 hit-by-pitch, surpassing Nieporte by reaching base 7 times.

Will Zirzow, who had pitched just 9 2/3 innings all season for FSU, threw 3 2/3s innings of shutout baseball and was credited with the win, his first decision of the season.