Seminoles unleash a five-homer barrage, silencing Wake Forest bats and delivering a dominant 10-0 victory to open ACC play.
Earlier this week, Florida State took a loss on the road at Florida that ended their nine-game winning streak. In that debacle, the Seminoles were not good at the plate, nor on the mound. Friday night marked the beginning of ACC play as FSU traveled to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to battle No. 12 Wake Forest, and they were looking to get back in a groove and pull off a gem on the baseball diamond.
They succeeded.
The Seminoles (14-3) torched Wake Forest starter Blake Morningstar (2-2) for eight runs on 12 hits, including five home runs to run-rule the Demon Deacons 10-0. It was the sixth time this season that FSU had run-ruled its opponents.
After jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning, Florida State scored the bulk of their runs in the middle innings, including three runs in the fourth inning.
The barrage of baseballs landing as souvenirs in the outfield seats sent Morningstar to the showers after just four innings. Seminoles starter Wes Mendes (4-1) got the easy win, allowing just two hits and striking out 11 Deacons batters.
Much praise was heaped on Morningstar and the Wake Forest (15-3) pitching staff prior to this game, with references to their major-league velocity. The only velocity on display in Friday's opening shot in the three-game series this weekend was the speed with which those five FSU home runs exited David F. Couch Ballpark.
While Deacons hitters Javar Williams and Andrew Costello managed to get on base with a hit apiece, the rest of Wake's lineup went 0-16 on the night.
Seven Seminoles batters got hits in Friday's contest, led by Eli Putnam, who swatted two home runs and plated two RBI. Brayden Dowd, Nathan Cmeyla and Myles Bailey also hit home runs. This kind of performance is exactly what the Seminoles needed to get back on track, with dominant hitting and precision pitching.
Game 2 is scheduled for Saturday at 4 p.m. ET. Florida State will send Trey Beard (1-0, 2.92 ERA) to the mound and will face his undefeated counterpart Chris Levonas (4-0, 1.83 ERA).
Coming into this season, Beard was ranked No. 64 in Major League Baseball's Top 100 Prospects.
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