CSNbbs

Quote:VT  100 100 000  2  9  2
FSU 411 004 20X 12 13  1

W - Hyde (5-2)  L - Kennedy (2-2)  S - Strauss (2)

Florida State easily dispatches VT
by Drew Hankin

The Florida State Seminoles made it two in a row over Virginia Tech with a 12-2 blowout over the Hokies in the second game of the series on Saturday at Dick Howser Stadium. Freshman right fielder Ruairi O'Connor had a single and two doubles, and picked up five RBIs in the win. Center fielder Shane Robinson also had three hits in the game, easily extending his hitting streak to thirty-two games, just two shy of J.D. Drew's record.

Facing Ryan Kennedy, Tech's lefty ace, the Seminoles went with a different lineup than usual, with Danny Wardell starting at first, Charles Cleveland at third, and O'Connor in right. The moves paid great dividends, as O'Connor and Cleveland combined to go 5-9 with one run and seven RBIs.

Michael Hyde (5-2) earned the win for the Seminoles with six solid innings of work. Hyde gave up only two runs on eight hits while striking out six batters without issuing a walk. Ryan Strauss earned his second save of the season, with three innings of one-hit scoreless ball.

After the Hokies jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, the Seminoles stormed back with a vengeance, as Robinson led off the bottom of the inning with a hard single to right-center, and went to second on a balk. Left fielder Gibbs Chapman then moved Robinson to third and reached first safely with a bunt single, before catcher Aaron Cheesman walked to load the bases with no outs. FSU's first runs came home when designated hitter Brant Peacher reached on an error that allowed both Robinson and Chapman to score. After a sacrifice bunt by Wardell moved both runners up, shortstop Ryne Jernigan plated Cheesman with a groundout to short, and a base hit to left scored Peacher to make it a 4-1 game.

The Noles made it 5-1 in the next frame when second baseman Tony  Thomas singled through the right side, went to second on a ground out, and scored on a single to center by Peacher.

An inning later, FSU added another run when Jernigan led off with a bunt single, went to second on a hit to center by Cleveland, third on a dropped infield fly, and scored on an infield single by Robinson, and subsequent throwing error by the VT shortstop.

Virginia Tech picked up their last run of the game in the top of the fourth on an RBI-single by catcher Matt Foley that cut the Seminoles lead to 6-2.

After a scoreless fifth inning, the Seminole offense got cranked up again with four more runs in the sixth. Cheesman led off with a walk and moved to third on a double to left by Peacher, before Jernigan walked to load the bases with one out. O'Connor then hit his first double of the game to score two runs. After a pitching change, Cleveland followed up with a two-run single that put the Noles ahead 10-2.

Florida State added it's final two runs of the game in the seventh inning, when Chapman and catcher Danny Diaz both walked, advanced to second and third on a wild pitch, and scored another two-run double by O'Connor that made the score 12-2.

FSU improved to 23-4 and 2-0 in the ACC while the Hokies fell to 6-7 and 1-5 in conference play. The Noles will go for the sweep on Sunday at 1:00 with Mark Sauls (2-0, 0.52 ERA) on the mound.

Before the game, retired radio broadcaster Jim Crosby was honored on the field for his career of service to Florida State baseball. He was presented with an FSU baseball jersey as video and audio clips were played in his honor.

Section B Online Player of the Game:
Ruairi O'Connor (3-5, 1 R, 5 RBI, 2 2B)