Eli Putnam was the hero for Florida State baseball as his ninth-inning, pinch-hit two-run home run helped the Seminoles erase a five-run deficit and beat Miami, 7-6, in extra innings on Thursday, May 14.
Trailing 6-4, Putnam pinch hit for Will Bavaro with a runner on first base and one out in the ninth inning. He barely gave the No. 11 Seminole (37-15, 18-10 ACC) fans standing in the stadium a chance to finish listening to his walk-up music before he crushed a two-run home run 104 MPH off his bat and deep into the night to tie the game at six and send it to extra innings.
“That was pretty special. That’s the culmination of a lot of hard work. Some ups and downs this season, so that was pretty special,” Putnam said. “I’ll probably never forget that.”
FSU trailed 6-1 entering the eighth inning, but turned things around with a trio of home runs and clutch, late hitting. After his ninth-inning heroics, Putnam hit a single in his second at-bat that moved Ben Barrett from first base to third base in the 11th.
Two batters later, Brayden Dowd walked home the winning run to end an instant classic.
“I had full trust in the guys in front of me and behind me to get on base and drive us in if I got on. Seeing Ben on first base, I knew I had to put some solid contact on the ball. I was really proud of him there to get first to third, I know he hasn’t been doing a lot of base running recently,” Putnam said. “That was pretty cool to see.”
“The guys after him did a great job and let us score a run.”
Putnam was 2-for-20 in his last six games coming into the at-bat and had been replaced in the lineup by Barrett at first base. His home run was the third Miami reliever Lyndon Glidewell gave up in his relief appearance. Glidewell had given up just two home runs in his 25 prior appearances.
Wes Mendes had an up-and-down start, with a four-run fourth inning that featured a three-run home run from Miami’s Alonzo Alvarez. He struck out six and allowed eight hits, and he didn’t issue a walk with 96 pitches thrown. Mendes got out of trouble in the third inning with a double play. He caught a line drive hit right at him before throwing to third base to end the inning and the scoring threat.
FSU struggled against Miami’s Rob Evans, who tossed seven innings, struck out seven, issued two walks, and allowed one run on six hits in his start. The lone run Evans gave up came in the second inning, a solo home run from Hunter Carns.
Back-to-back singles for Miami led off the fourth inning and set up Alvarez for his three-run home run to deep right-center field. A double from Dylan Dubovik was followed by a sacrifice bunt to move him to third base. He would score on a fielder’s choice to give Miami a 4-1 lead.
Neither team generated any runs until the seventh inning, when Miami scored a pair. Cade O’Leary relieved Mendes and loaded the bases before being replaced by Kevin Mebil. He induced a bases-loaded double play, which allowed a run to score from third base, and moved a runner to third base. That allowed Alex Sosa to single home the runner on the next at-bat to put the Hurricanes ahead 6-1.
Mebil shut down the Hurricanes after replacing O’Leary, throwing three innings of one-hit, scoreless work. While FSU couldn’t generate sustained offense, once Gladewell entered the game, the Seminoles turned Howser into a power plant with three home runs and four total hits to flip the game on its head and make it 6-6.
The Seminoles hit back-to-back home runs in the eighth inning, with John Stuetzer going off the left field scoreboard, his lone hit, before Dowd, who went 2-for-5 alongside his walk, launched one over the right field fence five pitches later to make it 6-3. Gabe Fraser led off the ninth with a walk, and he reached third base with aggressive base running on a Barrett single, his third hit of the night.
“You know when somebody wants to win. He plays with tremendous intensity and emotion,” Jarrett said of Fraser. “That was smart, some of our base running today, not so much. He put himself in a position that if that guy caught it, he can get abck. But he knows with his ability, and the angle of that ball, he’s still going to be in position to move.”
Carter McCulley scored him on a deep sacrifice fly to dead center field, which missed leaving the ballpark by feet, and made it a 6-4 game. That set the scene for Putnam, who crushed the first pitch he saw to tie the game at six.
In the 10th, FSU had Chase Williams on second, pinch running for Brody DeLamielleure, and he tried to steal third base, but was thrown out. After a walk from Nathan Cmeyla, he was thrown out trying to reach second on a dropped ball by Miami’s Alvarez behind the plate during an at-bat by Fraser.
Chris Knier, who entered the game in the 10th, struck out the side in the top of the 11th inning, which set up Dowd for his base-loaded walk-off walk.
“Incredible game. Can’t say enough about the fight of the group,” FSU head coach Link Jarrett said. “Miami played a beautiful game, and they gave us everything we could handle.”
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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: FSU baseball’s late power surge leads to comeback, 7-6, win over Miami
Reporting by Liam Rooney, Tallahassee Democrat / Tallahassee Democrat
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