FSU baseball: Noles win pitcher’s duel over Notre Dame in game one

FSU baseball (24-16, 16-12 ACC) got a huge 5-2 win over No. 2 Notre Dame Friday evening. The Noles didn’t start the game on a great note.

Starting pitcher Parker Messick got out of a bases-loaded no-out jam by only giving up one run in the bottom of the first inning, and it was smooth sailing after that.

Davis Hare helped the Noles breakthrough in the top of the fourth inning with a 2-out single that scored two runs.

That was the ball game as both teams saw their pitchers dominated the opposing batters. Parker Messick pitched six innings with eight strikeouts, three walks, and allowing three hits. Jack Anderson came on in relief and pitched the final three innings and only allowed one run in the bottom of the ninth inning.

The FSU offense didn’t find much success, with only four hits in the game. They did hit several balls hard to the warning track, and a couple of them may have been home runs if not for the wind blowing hard.

The one exception was Elijah Cabell, who extended his hot hitting and got a hold of a pitch in the top of the ninth inning for a three-run home run to give the Noles a 5-1 lead.

FSU batters only struck out eight times but drew three walks and had three batters hit by pitch. Four of those walks eventually scored for the Noles.

It was a good game with both defenses making solid plays behind their pitchers. I wrote in the preview the Noles couldn’t afford to beat themselves, and they didn’t allow that to happen.

The Noles needed to get the win in game one to give them some confidence. Notre Dame is a good team, and managing to win one of the next two games would huge for the Noles as they look to close out the regular-season strong.