FSU Baseball Recap: Noles Stave Off CWS Elimination Against Fullerton

FSU baseball had their backs against the wall facing elimination from the College World Series. But the Noles beat Cal State Fullerton to stay alive.

FSU baseball was coming off a heartbreaking defeat to LSU in the opening game of the College World Series when they faced Cal State Fullerton on Monday. The Titans were coming off some heartbreak of their own after blowing a lead to Oregon State. In a back and forth affair, the Noles came out victorious. The 6-4 victory eliminated Fullerton and allows the Noles a chance to play another day.

Recap

Both teams were held in check in the first inning. FSU struck first in the top of the 2nd when Steven Wells Jr. came up with a big 2 out hit to score Drew Mendoza for the 1-0 lead.

FSU starter, Drew Parrish, got into a little bit of trouble in the 3rd when he walked the first two batters of the inning. The Noles failed to even attempt to field a sacrifice bunt and that loaded the bases with two outs. Fullerton would score on a sac fly but Parrish would limit the damage with a 5-4-3 double play.

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Cal Raleigh lead off the top of the 4th inning with a double down the left field line. A Mendoza walk and Henderson singled loaded the bases for Steven Wells. Wells hit a rocket line drive to center that worked as a sacrifice fly thanks to a great slide from Raleigh. The Noles would only get one run out of the bases loaded, no out situation.

The 6th inning started off with a bang when Freshman Drew Mendoza blasted a line drive over the right field wall for his ninth homer of the season. Fullerton answered in the bottom of the inning. A two out double that was almost a great catch from JC Flowers made it 3-2. Then Timmy Richards blasted a two run homer to left to give Fullerton the 4-3 lead and all the momentum.

FSU started the 7th with a single from Walls and a double from Dylan Busby. After that Fullerton elected to intentionally walk Jackson Lueck. It would prove costly as two good at bats from Nieporte and Raleigh resulted in bases loaded walks and a 5-4 lead for FSU. Matt Henderson would add one more with an RBI single to bring the lead to 6-4.

FSU got nice bullpen performances from Alec Byrd and Chase Haney. Those two bridged the gap for Carlton to record the final four outs.

Drew Parrish pitched well before the homer. Parrish’s line read 5.2 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 4 K’s. Leading hitters for FSU were Matt Henderson who went 2-3 with an RBI, Steven Wells 1-3 with 2 RBI, and Drew Mendoza who was 1-3 with a homer, an RBI, and two runs scored.

The Noles will face the loser of LSU vs Oregon State at 7:00 PM Wednesday night. Check in on Wednesday for our game preview.

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