Eli Putnam left no doubt about the outcome of Florida State baseball’s 7-6 win over Jacksonville on Tuesday, March 3.
With the bases loaded and no out, Putnam blasted a ball to deep center field that dropped over the center fielder’s head and in for a base hit, which allowed Hunter Carns to stride home for the walk-off win over the Dolphins at Dick Howser Stadium.
“That situation is honestly probably one of the easiest situations you can be in as a hitter. My teammates set up great for me,” Putnam said. “All I had to do, really, was put something in play, and we were going to win the game. So I was really relaxed going up there knowing I had some good at-bats. Obviously, the outcome was great.”
Alongside Putnam’s heroics, John Abraham threw 2.2 innings of relief, which earned him the win. He struck out six of the 10 batters he faced and allowed just two hits, one being a one-out triple in the eighth inning that resulted from a dropped diving catch attempt in center field by Chase Williams.
Despite the base runner on third, Abraham recorded back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning and set Putnam up for the walk-off in the No.20 Seminoles’ (9-2) throwback “mustard” uniforms.
“To settle in and do that. It’s fun to watch players develop, grow, and learn their craft, and you’re watching a guy that has really figured out how he needs to pitch for him to be at his best,” FSU head coach Link Jarrett said. “It’s really special to watch.”
The Seminoles trailed by five runs after Jacksonville scored five in the first half inning, led off by a first-pitch solo home run that led to the Dolphins chasing FSU starter Rhett Vaughn. He recorded one out, a strikeout, and allowed six hits and was charged with five earned runs.
Lefty Kevin Mebil was the first reliever out of the bullpen, and he threw 2.2 innings of hitless work with a pair of strikeouts. His relief helped the Seminoles tie the game, led off by three first-innings runs. Myles Bailey hit an RBI single before a pair of RBI doubles from Brody DeLamielleure and John Stuetzer.
A sacrifice fly in the second got FSU within a run, before DeLamiellure tied the game on the first swing of the bottom of the fifth inning, a solo home run to right field. It was his first game back after concussion protocol, but he would leave the game after Jarrett said he had a “flare-up” with the protocol.
DeLamielleure finished the game 2-for-2, with a pair of RBI, before Carter McCulley replaced him. Stuetzer finished the night 3-for-4, including a walk in the ninth inning, and he recorded a pair of RBI.
Carns, who led off the ninth inning with a double, finished the night 2-for-5, both hits were doubles, with two RBI, and he came up with a few key blocks behind the plate.
“That was a huge at-bat, and he had another one earlier in the game where he hit the ball and stretched it and pushed it a little bit. That was a big moment,” Jarrett said. “The combination of what Carns did in that at-bat, some of the other at-bats, and the way he blocked, really a special performance from him.”
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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: Eli Putnam’s walk-off lifts FSU baseball past Jacksonville, 7-6
Reporting by Liam Rooney, Tallahassee Democrat / Tallahassee Democrat
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