Hunter Carns hit his first home run of the season, and the pitching duo of Trey Beard and John Abraham led Florida State baseball to a series-tying, 5-2, win over Virginia on Friday, April 3.
The No. 7 Seminoles (23-7, 8-3 ACC) struck out 15 times, a 15th game with double-digit strikeouts, and left 10 runners on base, but the offense was sparked by Carns. He went 3-for-5 with a pair of RBI and two runs scored against No. 10 Virginia (24-8, 8-6 ACC) at Disharoon Park in Charlottesville.
The runs gave support for Trey Beard, who struck out seven batters in five innings of work. He allowed seven hits and two earned runs, while walking four and hitting two batters on 97 total pitches. Beard was replaced by John Abraham, who earned a fourth save this season with a six-strikeout performance over four scoreless innings.
FSU struck first in the third inning with the bases loaded after a pair of bunts and an error. Eli Putnam worked a full count and eventually a walk. However, the Seminoles couldn’t break the game open with a Chase Williams strikeout, ending the inning in the next at-bat with FSU ahead 1-0.
A leadoff double from Noah Sheffield kick-started a two-run fifth inning. He moved to third base on a Carns double before scoring on a sacrifice fly by Kelvyn Paulino Jr. The Seminoles loaded the bases again, and with two outs, Cal Fisher reached first base and scored a run on a dropped third strike call.
Despite swinging at a breaking ball in the dirt, the ball rolled to the backstop and allowed runners to advance. FSU would leave the bases loaded again, however, as a popout from Carter McCulley ended another threat from the Seminoles to break the game open.
Virginia got a run back with an RBI single in the home half of the fifth, but the Seminoles added two more on a Carns two-run blast in the sixth, his first of the season, that made it a 5-1 game. A solo home run for Virginia’s Joe Tiroly made it 5-2, but it was the final run of the game for the Cavaliers.
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Liam Rooney covers Florida State athletics for the Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at LRooney@gannett.com or on Twitter @__liamrooney.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Hunter Carns leads FSU baseball to series-tying win over Virginia
Reporting by Liam Rooney, Tallahassee Democrat / Tallahassee Democrat
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