Box Score Talahassee, Fla. ? Senior Justin Bass (DeLand, Fla.) hit his 6th home run of the season to get the Hatters within two runs late in the game but it wasn't enough as the #2 ranked Florida State Seminoles pulled away and defeated Stetson 11-2 Tuesday night in Tallahassee.
FSU was ranked #2 in the nation by Collegiate Baseball and #8 by Baseball America in this week's polls.
The Seminoles opened the scoring with two runs in the bottom of the second inning. Tommy Oravetz (Tallahassee, Fla.) hit a one-out single up the middle and advanced to third when the next batter Ohmed Danesh (Orlando, Fla.) doubled down the right field line. Oravetz scored the first run of the game on a ground out to Jacob deGrom (DeLeon Springs, Fla.) at 3rd base. Holt followed with a single up the middle that plated Danesh for a 2-0 lead.
Florida State added a single run in the third and fifth innings to increase its lead to 4-0 before Stetson started to fight back. Sophomore second baseman Josh Davis (Chambersburg, Pa.) led off the inning with a single and scored on a towering home run by Justin Bass (DeLand, Fla.) high into the net above the right field wall. For the Hatters it was the 27th team home run of the season equaling last year's total for the entire season.
After a scoreless sixth inning the Seminoles came back to score a pair in the bottom of the seventh off reliever Justin Dechert (Boynton Beach, Fla.) making the score 6-2. Dechert registered the first out of the inning before David Burns (Seminole, Fla.) entered the game and retired the final two batters.
The game remained close until the bottom of the eighth inning when the Seminole flood gates opened on the Hatters. Stetson sent Drew Jackson (Keystone Heights, Fla.) and Will Dorsey (Atlantic Beach, Fla.) to the mound and Florida State put up five runs; two were off Jackson and three off Dorsey.
Stetson went into the top of the ninth inning down 11-2. With one out Brian Pruitt (Miami, Fla.) reached base on a throwing error by the shortstop. A questionable scoring call as he may have beaten out the throw with his excellent speed. A moot point as two ground ground balls later the game was in the books.
Stetson had six hits in the game by six different players and ran a total of seven pitchers to the mound. Starter Andy Mauldin (Gainesville, Fla.) pitched 4 innings giving up 7 hits, 3 runs and striking out 2 batters. He took the loss lowering his record to 2-1 on the season. FSU starter Mike McGee pitched 7 complete innings giving up 2 runs and raising his record to 3-1.
With the loss Stetson dropped to 11-12 on the season while Florida State improved to 20-2. The teams will meet again tomorrow night at Dick Howser Stadium for a 6:00 p.m. contest. The game will be televised on FSN Florida with Gene Deckerhoff and Tom Block calling the action.
