05-24-2007, 11:39 AM
Quote:Hyde delivers a solid outing
Michael Hyde had his longest start since April 14, and got plenty of help from the offense in FSU's ACC tournament opener.
BY JEFF SHAIN
http://www.miamiherald.com/603/story/116971.html
Florida State's offense always figured to be there. The question was whether senior Michael Hyde could keep from giving up runs in similarly frequent bunches.
Hyde put those concerns to rest with his best effort in more than a month, buying enough time for the Seminoles' bats to heat up in an 11-2 romp over Wake Forest on Wednesday night in an Atlantic Coast Conference tournament game that ended at 12:50 a.m.
Hyde scattered four hits in six innings, his longest outing since an April 14 start against Virginia Tech. The Seminoles (47-9) backed him with 14 hits, six coming in a five-run fourth that broke the game open.
''Michael gave us a big lift,'' FSU coach Mike Martin said. ``It was very important that he give us five innings, and he gave us six. This is Michael Hyde's time of the year, and he showed great poise.''
It marked the fourth consecutive game that FSU has had at least 13 hits. The Seminoles have scored 55 runs during that stretch, which includes last weekend's three-game sweep of Georgia Tech.
Mark Hallberg had three singles to lead the onslaught, which saw all nine FSU starters get at least a hit. Buster Posey had four RBI with a single and bases-loaded triple.
FSU will get a day off before facing Miami on Friday night in Game 2 of the tournament's round-robin format. The Hurricanes fell 5-4 in 13 innings to Clemson, watching the final run score on a suicide squeeze.
FSU saved ace *Bryan Henry (14-0) to start against Miami, taking a
calculated gamble in starting Hyde. (*But that has changed... Henry will start against Clemson on Saturday.)
Five of Hyde's six previous appearances found this Tallahassee native unable to complete even four innings, leading to a temporary demotion from the rotation.
Given a start last week against Georgia Tech, he lasted just 2 2/3 innings in a game the Seminoles ended up winning 17-2.
Nor did it look good after one inning Wednesday, when Wake Forest (31-26) took advantage of three walks to get a run without benefit of a hit.
But Hyde settled down after that, retiring seven batters in a row before a leadoff walk to Willy Fox in the fourth led to Wake Forest's other run. Andy Goff scored Fox with a two-out single for a 2-0 lead.
That lasted less than a half inning, though, as the Seminoles sent 10 batters to the plate in their half of the fourth.
Jack Rye opened with a single, went to third on Jason Stidham's one-out double and scored on a Mark Gildea single. Ruairi O'Connor followed with a single, which center fielder Ben Terry bobbled to let Stidham score the tying run.
Brandon Reichart walked, and O'Connor scored when Tony Thomas bounced into a force out. Hallberg and Posey followed with RBI singles to complete the five-run outburst.
The Seminoles adding single runs in the fifth and sixth, and then put the game out of reach with a four-run eighth, capped by Posey's bases-loaded triple.