FSU baseball: Takeaways from walkoff win over USF in extra innings

No. 16 FSU baseball (7-1) avoided an upset bid by USF (3-6) with a comeback walkoff win in the 13th inning Wednesday night.

FSU trailed 6-4 in the bottom of the frame and Treyton Rank walked with one out before Jordan Carrion tripled down the right field line to trim the lead to 6-5.

The next batter was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and third with one out.

Titan Kamaka pitch hit and struck out for the second out before Nander De Sedas hit a bloop single that allowed both runners to score for the 7-6 win.

The Noles started the game with a bang as James Tibbs left the yard in the bottom of the first inning. The Noles scored another run to make it 3-0, but USF would fight back to score two runs in the fifth and another in the sixth to tie the game.

FSU regained the lead on a Nander De Sedas single up the middle in the bottom of the sixth for a 4-3 lead. USF tied the game in the top of the eighth and took a 6-4 lead in the top of the 13th inning before FSU’s late game heroics.

It’s a game that saw the FSU bats continue to struggle as they did in their final game against TCU over the weekend. FSU batters struck out a whopping 16 times against a staff that was averaging fewer than one strikeout per inning this season.

FSU had to go into their bullpen to use their best arms in Wyatt Crowell and Conner Whittaker for multiple innings each. Crowell pitched three innings and threw 31 pitches, with Whittaker pitching 4.2 innings and throwing 49 pitches.

I’m not sure how that affects their availability in the weekend series against Florida Gulf Coast beginning Friday. It would have been ideal to not have to use them. Treyton Rank, Jordan Carrion, and De Sedas each had two hits, with the latter driving in three runs.

It was ugly and FSU probably didn’t deserve to win that game, but you have to commend the guys for not laying down and continuing to fight until the last out. They need to clean some things up at the plate and begin putting the ball in play more often. FSU pitchers struck out 21 batters, walked five and allowed six earned runs. A win is a win and they’ll retake the field Friday evening at 5 p.m.