Quote:FSU 610 012 000 10 13 1
GT 020 000 000 2 8 4
W - Fairel (1-0) L - Duncan (6-4)
FSU all over Georgia Tech again
by Drew Hankin
Freshman reliever Matt Fairel earned his first win as a Seminole with a scoreless 4.1 inning performance as the #3 Florida State Seminoles trounced the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 10-2 on Friday night to ensure a series-win. This marks the first time since 2003 that the Tribe has won a regular season series against the Jackets, either home or away.
Fairel (1-0) came into the game during the third inning to relieve starter Michael Hyde who just didn't have very good control. Hyde gave up two runs on three hits, but also walked three batters during his 2.2 inning start. Fairel all but shut down the Tech offense, and gave up four hits with no walks and five strikeouts. It was the longest outing of his career by far. Brian Chambers threw the final two innings of the game without surrendering a run.
Of course some would say it's easy to pitch when your offense gets you out to a six-run lead in the first inning, aided by three errors on the opposing infield. Tony Thomas Jr led off with a walk and scored on a double by Mark Hallberg. The junior shortstop took third on a throwing error by the Tech third baseman. Buster Posey then singled Hallberg in with a base hit to left center. After a single by Jack Rye, Travis Anderson reached safely when a sacrifice bunt was mishandled by the GT second baseman to load the bases with no outs. Jason Stidham continue his torrid pace from Friday night with a two-run double. Mark Gildea then singled in Anderson, and Ruairi O'Connor got on with Tech's third error of the inning that also allowed Stidha to score the sixth and final run of the inning. In all, it took the Yellow Jackets 14 minutes to record the first out of the ball game.
FSU's lone run in the second inning came in when Rye walked and eventually scored when he and Stidham combined for a double steal.
Leading 6-2 in the top of the fifth inning, Gildea led off with a walk and scored on Brandon Reichert's fourteenth double of the season.
Florida State's final two runs of the game came in during the sixth when Rye hit a two-run homer over the wall in right, his eigth round-trip of the season.
The Seminoles improved to 45-9 and 23-6 in the ACC. GT has now lost three games in a row, and fell to 31-22 and 15-13 on the season. The Tribe will go for the sweep on Saturday at 4:00 with Danny Rosen (2-1, 3.83) on the mound against Eddie Burns (3-2, 2.89 ERA) for Tech.
Section B Online Player of the Game:
Matt Fairel (4.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K)