FSU 310 010 100 6 9 0
UM 003 010 000 4 7 0
W - M. Lynch (9-2) L - Bongiovanni (5-3) S - Hodges (10)
Seminoles win again
by Drew Hankin
#2 Florida State defeated #11 Miami 6-4 on Saturday night in front of 7,347 fans. FSU has now beaten the Canes five times in a row at Mark Light, and six times in a row overall. The Noles have also won seven out of the last eight games against Miami.
Matt Lynch, Kevin Lynch, and Daniel Hodges combined for a spectacular pitching performance by the Noles. Matt (9-2) earned the win, going six innings and gave up four runs on seven hits while walking two and striking out six batters. Kevin Lynch threw two innings of perfect ball, including three strikeouts, and Hodges earned his tenth save of the season with a perfect ninth to end the game.
The Noles jumped out to a quick lead in the top of the first again, when Stephen Drew bounced a ball over the fence for a ground-rule double, and scored when Eddy Martinez-Esteve jumped all over the first pitch that Hurricane starter Vince Bongiovanni served up to him, and blasted his ninth homerun of the season in front of his hometown friends and family. Tony McQuade then singled, moved to second when Jerrod Brown was hit by a pitch, stole third, and scored, and scored on a single by Blake Balkcom to give FSU a 3-0 lead.
FSU made it 4-0 in the second inning when Bryan Zech singled to center field, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Matt Sauls, to third on a fly ball by Drew, and scored on a single to right by Tony Richie.
The Canes pulled to within one run in the bottom of the third, when secondbaseman Adam Ricks hit a three-run homer over the scoreboard to make it a 4-3 ballgame.
Two innings later, FSU extended that lead again when Richie doubled down the left field line, moved to second on a ground ball, and scored on another ground out by Brown. Miami got that run back in the bottom of the inning when centerfielder Danny Figueroa homered to centerfield to cut the lead to 5-4.
The Noles picked up an insurance run in the top of the seventh frame when Drew walked, moved to second on a balk, took third on a fly ball hit by Tony McQuade, and scored on a single to right by Brown to make it 6-4 in favor of Florida State.
With the win, Florida State improved to 36-6 on the season while Miami fell to 28-9. The Noles will go for their second straight sweep at Mark Light on Sunday at 1:00 with Daniel Davidson (6-0 1.40) on the mound against Brandon Camardese (5-0 4.60) for the Canes.
Section B Online Players of the Game:
The Lynch Family
Matt Lynch (6.0 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 2 BB, 6 K)
Kevin Lynch (2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K)
Going for the Sweep