Bryson Moore came into Saturday’s rubber match at Florida State in Virginia with a lot of pressure on his shoulders.
Series top 10. “FSU’s ACC series streak wins to start conference play”.
Oh, and he was facing his old team.
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Not only did he rise to the occasion, he also got off to the best start of his young FSU career when he pitched seven scoreless innings against the 10th-ranked Cavaliers (24-9, 8-7 ACC), for whom he played his first two seasons in college, to lead No. 7 FSU (24-7, 9-3) to a 9-3 victory in the series decider in Charlottesville, Virginia.
With the victory, the Seminoles won their first four ACC series to remain atop the conference standings. To do so, they beat a Virginia team that had lost just twice in its first 17 home games on consecutive days after losing the series opener on Thursday.
Moore (5-1) avoided a leadoff walk in the first and then gave up consecutive singles to start the second before really struggling. Starting with a double play and a groundout to escape that jam, Moore retired the next 13 batters he faced, seven of them due to strikeouts.
If not for an error by Brayden Dowd in center on a two-out liner in the sixth, he very well could have ended his outing with 17 consecutive retirees.
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In total, Moore pitched a career-high seven innings, allowing just two hits and one walk and tying his career high with seven strikeouts. He was dominating his entire pitch mix, hitting the strike zone and consistently getting hit with his slow pitches.
Moore’s departure proved to be more than enough as a balanced offensive approach for FSU’s lineup. Eight of the nine batters had at least one hit and all nine reached base. The bottom of the order, in particular, were effective like Cal Fisher, John Stuetzer and Carter McCulley. They each had two hits, and Fisher and McCulley each contributed two RBIs.
Fisher opened the scoring with a two-run homer, his first of the season, in the second inning.
Hunter Carns (who also had two hits) and Eli Putnam added RBI hits in the fourth to extend that lead to 4-0.
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McCulley and Chase Williams (who was on leadoff) had consecutive RBI hits with two outs to make the score 6-0 in the fifth.
After a trio of two-run frames, FSU finally broke through with a three-run seventh inning. McCulley started the scoring with an RBI double under the third baseman’s glove before Williams (RBI) and Noah Sheffield (sacrifice fly) followed with productive outs to extend that lead to 9-0.
It was an effective day at the plate for the Noles, who batted leadoff five times, went 8 for 22 (.364) with runners on base and 5 for 16 (.313) with runners in scoring position. FSU was only called out once, in the ninth inning when the score was already effectively in hand.
Brodie Purcell replaced Moore on the mound in the eighth. He had given up home runs to Kyle Johnson and Antonio Perotta on their first pitches to end the combined shutout and another leadoff home run to Joe Tiroly in the ninth.
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Gabe Nard came out of the bullpen to get the final three outs and preserve the win and the series.
Next
With another ACC series in hand, the Seminoles return home for a chance to salvage a game from their midweek rivalry series against No. 21 Florida. The series concludes Tuesday at Dick Howser Stadium with a 7 p.m. kickoff that will be broadcast on ESPN2.