FSU baseball: Noles come back for walk-off win over California

FSU baseball (6-3, 0-0 ACC) came from behind to beat the California Golden Bears 4-3 Friday night in walk-off fashion of game one in the series. The Noles were lucky to win the game but showed some true grit and never say die attitude when it mattered most.

Parker Messick didn’t have his best stuff, getting behind in the count and giving up some hard-hit balls, including two solo home runs in the top of the second inning. However, the second home run didn’t count because the batter failed to touch home plate and called out. California scored another run in the top of the sixth for a 3-0 lead.

There were a couple of plays the defense should have made to avoid allowing that final run to score. Nevertheless, Messick pitched 7.1 innings and had nine strikeouts, one walk, and allowed six hits. The FSU bullpen shut down the Golden Bears in the final 2.2 innings, allowing one hit and striking out three.

The FSU offense was putrid against California starting pitcher Josh White. He pitched five innings and had 11 strikeouts with one walk while allowing one earned run. California pitchers struck out 16 FSU batters, with Alex Toral accounting for three.

However, Toral launched a 2-run home run over the rightfield wall in the bottom of the eighth to tie the game at 3-3.

That set the stage for the walk-off win in the bottom of the ninth. FSU led off the inning with two walks before Treyton Rank popped up a bunt to get the force out at third base.

Tyler Martin pinch-hit in his first at-bat of the year and walked, which brought Logan Lacey to the plate with the bases loaded and one out. Lacey struck out, swinging wildly at two pitches low and away after fouling the first pitch straight back. However, James Tibbs hit a 2-0 pitch up the middle to score the winning run. Tibbs had struck out three times earlier and finished 2-5.

The difference in the game was the home run-ruled an out because the California batter failed to touch home plate. The Noles will be back in action Saturday at 4 p.m. ET.