Florida State baseball returned to Dick Howser Stadium after seven games on the road and the Seminoles offense bailed out the pitching staff in a 11-10 win over Jacksonville.
The No. 4 Seminoles (24-4) battled back from a five-run first inning from the Dolphins to pick up a third straight win. Max Williams hit a pair of home runs and James Hankerson Jr. hit his second home run in as many games to bolster FSU’s offensive output and cancel out the struggles on the mound.
FSU used seven pitchers, six in relief, with the longest outing of the night coming from Brady Louck, who pitched three innings.
The staff surrendered 11 walks, eight hits and threw three wild pitches alongside 12 strikeouts. It was a rocky night for the bullpen, a trend that has popped up with a few tough outings in the last few weeks.
Hudson Rowan started for the Seminoles, and he only lasted five batters.
“Louck good. And you see the climbing fastball was in play tonight. Proud of his outing,” FSU baseball head coach Link Jarrett said. “The execution overall, we’ve seen those guys execute pitches far better. We wanted Huddy (Rowan) to have a start. You can warm up as long as you want to, you can do what you need to do, it’s different than relief, clearly, but he was not on it.”
The Dolphins recorded an RBI single before loading the bases. Rowan threw a wild pitch that allowed a run to score from third base before an Aidan Masters three-run home run gave Jacksonville a five-run first.
Rowan surrendered three walks, four earned runs on one hit before being pulled in the first inning for Maison Martinez. He threw 1.2 innings and struck out four, and allowed one earned run. It was a productive outing that was quickly erased by more struggles from the bullpen.
Payton Manca threw 31 pitches in the third inning, walking three batters, however, he only surrendered one run in his struggles. He returned in the fourth inning and allowed an earned run and a walk before being pulled for Joe Charles.
Charles mirrored Manca’s start to the inning as he allowed an RBI single and a walk before he recorded the final out of the top half of the fourth inning with a strikeout.
The Seminoles got stability from Louck, who threw three innings. He allowed one run on two hits and struck out a pair.
Williams hit his first of two home runs in the bottom of the first, jumping on the first pitch and sending it toward the newly put-up circus tent.
It cut the Seminoles’ deficit to three before a four-run second inning gave FSU a 6-5 lead.
Hankerson led off with his solo home run, his second of the year. The redshirt freshman got ahold of a changeup and sent it deep into the Tallahassee night.
“It felt amazing. Tonight, that’s probably got to be one of my favorite home runs ever,” Hankerson said. “He threw me a changeup, I typically don’t hit those very well. Been working on that since I came here, and I got way better at that.”
It was quickly followed by a pair of RBI singles from Alex Lodise and Myles Bailey. The final run of the inning came on a wild pitch that allowed Bailey to score.
Jacksonville briefly regained the lead in the fourth, but three two-out runs from the Seminoles, including Williams’s second home run of the night, a solo shot, snatched the lead back.
His 14 home runs lead the ACC.
A two RBI single from Lodise gave the Seminoles a crucial three-run cushion and 11-8 lead.
In the ninth, Jacob Marlowe allowed a two out, two run double to make it an 11-10 game after throwing 1.2 scoreless innings and a pair of strikeouts.
He was replaced by Ben Barrett, who struck out the final batter to secure a nervy win.
“We were fortunate, that’s a winning team. We saw a variety of arms, and I was pleased with the poise of the team overall. I never felt like anybody was really panicked. They kind of went about their business,” Jarrett said. “We were fortunate to come out with a win, and it was not easy. That thing never felt like it was our game… it didn’t feel like that thing was secure until the last out… we escaped.”
The Seminoles host Wake Forest for a three-game ACC series next, with game one set for a primetime 8 p.m. start on ACC Network.
How to watch FSU baseball vs. Wake Forest
FSU vs. Wake Forest
When: Friday, April 4, 8 p.m. / Saturday, April 5, 4 p.m. / Sunday, April 6, 1 p.m.
Where: Dick Howser Stadium, Tallahassee
Watch: ACC Network – Friday only / ACC Network Extra – Saturday, Sunday
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: No. 4 FSU baseball’s offense bails out pitching woes in midweek win over Jacksonville
Reporting by Liam Rooney, Tallahassee Democrat / Tallahassee Democrat
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