ASU 002 012 5 11 4
FSU 000 50(11) 16 14 1
W - K. Lynch (1-0) L - Craig (0-1)
No power outage as the Noles pound Appy State
by Drew Hankin
A loss of power in the press box and scoreboard didn't phase Florida State, as their bats provided more than enough power to light up Howser Stadium and the Mountaineer pitching in Friday's 16-5 rout over Appalachian State. The Seminoles pounded three homeruns and four doubles in the game, and scored eleven runs in the sixth inning to make up for some lackluster pitching by starter Matt Lynch. His brother, Kevin actually earned the win in relief when Matt was pulled in the top of the sixth after surrendering four earned runs on nine hits.
The Mountaineers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the third when shortstop Ben Marsh and secondbaseman Clint Johns both singled before rightfielder Graham Thompson singled in Marsh, and leftfielder Brian Chapman singled in Johns.
The Noles got it back an inning later when Daniel Wardell walked and Matt Sauls reached on a bunt before Stephen Drew hit his first homerun of the season to put the Noles ahead 3-2. Tony McQuade then drew a walk and scored when Eddy Martinez-Esteve blasted his first career homerun to make it a 5-2 ballgame.
ASU got one of those runs back in the top of the fifth when centerfielder Ty Racette doubled and scored on a Chapman single. The Mountaineers tied the game up in the next inning when firstbaseman Tim Johnson led off with a double and scored on a fielding error by Chris Hart, his first in the four games he's started at second base. Appalachian State's final run scored on a Racette single that tied the game at 5-5.
Drew led off the bottom of the sixth by flying out to left field. A new Florida State record, thirteen batters later, the Mountaineers finally got their second out of the inning. McQuade started off the festivities with a single to left and moved to second on a walk to Martinez-Esteve before Tony Richie doubled them both in. Jerrod Brown was then hit by a pitch before Hart doubled both runners in to give the Noles a 9-5 lead. Aaron Cheesman was then hit by a pitch before Derrick Smith singled to right to score Kevin Richmond who was running for Hart. A bad pick off throw allowed Cheesman to score and Smith to advance to second before Matt Sauls launched his first career homerun off the scoreboard that put the Noles ahead 13-5. Drew then walked and scored on a McQuade double to left-center and Martinez-Esteve's double down the rightfield line scored McQuade. The final run of the game scored when Richie singled in Martinez-Esteve. Bryan Zech then flew out to center, and Cheesman popped up to the catcher to end the big inning
.
The Mountaineers picked up a run in the top of the seventh off of Eddie Cannon, but it was erased when the game was called in the bottom of the inning.
Florida State improved to 9-1 on the season while ASU fell to 0-3. Game two is scheduled for 2:00 on Saturday with Mark Sauls (2-0) on the mound for FSU. With rain threatening on Saturday, FSU has announced that the latest a game will start is 6:00 pm. If they are unable to play at all, there will be a doubleheader on Sunday consisting of two seven-inning games.
Section B Online Player of the Game:
Eddy Martinez-Esteve (3-4, 3 R, 3 RBIs, 1 BB, 2B, HR)
The rain has gone thru Tallahassee and game 2 will start at 2:00pm
Go Seminoles
