Section B Online

Sunday March 23, 2008

	AT BAT				BALL					STRIKE					OUT						H/E
		2	4			3					2					2					H
				1	2	3	4	5	6		7	8	9	10			RUNS		HITS			E
FSU				0	1	1	2	3	6		1	0	4				1	8	2	0		1
VT				3	2	3	2	0	0		0	0	2				1	2	1	5		2

FSU Completes Sweep Of Virginia Tech With 18-12 Win

by FSU Sports Info

Despite trailing by as many as six runs twice on Sunday afternoon, Florida State completed a three-game sweep of Virginia Tech with an 18-12 victory at English Field. The Seminoles remained perfect in the ACC as the Garnet and Gold set a season-high with 18 runs on 20 hits. Three Seminoles recorded four hits a piece including Buster Posey (4-for-6), Dennis Guinn (4-for-5) and Tony Delmonico (4-for-5).

With a 9-0 record in league play, Florida State is off to its best start in the conference since starting 13-0 back in 1999. This marks the third time in school history that FSU has started the season undefeated through the first nine games. In 1996, the Seminoles ran out to a 17-0 start.

Guinn had a monstrous day at the plate as he tied a career-high with four hits and five RBIs. The Haines City, Fla., native hit back-to-back home runs in his first two at-bats while driving in a run in each of his first four plate appearances. It marked the second time this season that a Seminole batter has hit home runs in consecutive at-bats as Buster Posey performed the feat against Georgia back on March 12. Guinn also added a pair of doubles in the win.

Buster and Jack Posey combined for five hits, four runs and five RBIs with a career-high three RBIs coming off the bat of young brother Jack. Buster registered four hits in a ballgame for the third time in his career. Delmonico set a season-high with four runs scored while Jason Stidham recorded four walks and scored three times.

Geoff Parker (2-0) picked up his second win in just his third appearance of the season. The freshman right hander threw a career-high five innings as he blanked the Hokies in the first four innings he saw action. Parker finished the game with six strikeouts as he struck out six of the first seven batters that he faced. He allowed three hits and gave up two runs, one of which was earned.

The Seminoles extended their win streak to seven straight over Virginia Tech while running their all-time record in Blacksburg to 8-1. The loss on Sunday pushed the Hokies current losing streak to 12 straight games.

Virginia Tech ran out to an early lead in the series finale scoring five runs in the first two innings off Seminole starter Ryan Strauss. The Hokies scored all three runs in the first on two outs as Klint Reed and Jose Cueto provided back-to-back RBI hits. Reed smashed his first triple of the season to dead center field to score a pair and crossed the plate a batter later on a bloop single to right by Cueto.

The Hokies added two more in the second on an RBI single by Ty Hohman and then on a questionable hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded. Home plate umpire Bryant Woodall initially called a foul ball on an inside pitch to Anthony Sosnoskie but after further investigation of the batter’s hand the umpire called it a hit-by-pitch crediting Sosnoskie with an RBI as Austin Wates crossed the plate for the fifth run of the game.

The Seminoles sandwiched a run in the top of the second on a solo shot by Dennis Guinn to lead off the inning. The senior first baseman connected on his second home run of the series and his team leading eighth of the season.

In the third, Florida State cut into the deficit on Jack Posey’s first collegiate home run. Posey, the starter at third in all three games against the Hokies, connected on a shot to left center to make the score 5-2.

Virginia Tech answered right back with three more runs in the third to take an 8-2 lead. Michael Seaborn led off the inning with a solo shot to left. Luke Smierciak looked as though he would bring the ball back into the field of play but the freshman left fielder lost his glove over the fence for Seaborn’s second home run of the year. The Hokies added another run on a sacrifice fly by Hohman while Wates scored for the third time on Sunday on a wild pitch by Strauss.

Strauss would be done after three innings as the senior right hander allowed a career-high eight runs on eight hits in his shortest outing of the season. Strauss walked four and struck out two Hokie batters.

Florida State cut the Virginia Tech lead in half in the fourth with two more runs off Hokie starter Andrew Wells. Guinn once again led off an inning with a home run as he hit a towering shot to left for his second home run in as many at-bats.

The Seminoles then loaded the bases on a walk to Delmonico, a double to left center by Jack Rye and a walk to Mike McGee ending the afternoon for Wells. Jesse Hahn (1-3) came on and allowed just one run to score as Jack Posey picked up his second RBI of the game on a groundout to second.

The Hokies pushed their lead back to six on a two-out two RBI single to right by Hacker. Ben Francis came out of the Seminole bullpen to start the fourth and gave up back-to-back one-out singles before Hacker’s single made the score 10-4 in favor of Virginia Tech.

For the second straight inning, the Florida State offense cut the lead in half with three more runs to make the score 10-7. Stidham led off the inning as he reached on a fielding error by the Hokie second baseman. He would move to third on a bloop single to right by Buster Posey and scored on a sacrifice fly to left by Guinn for his third RBI of the afternoon. After a Delmonico double put runners at second and third, Rye scored Posey from third on a groundout to second. The Seminoles registered their first two-out run in game three as pinch hitter hit Tommy Oravetz hit a triple down the line in left to score Delmonico. All three runs scored against Hahn were unearned in the fifth.

Virginia Tech looked to add to its lead in the fifth as the first two batters reached on a single and a walk by Francis. The Seminoles went to the pen for the second time on Sunday and brought on Parker. The freshman right hander quickly got two outs on a strikeout, throw out. Parker struck out Sosnoskie swinging, while Buster Posey threw out Hohman trying to steal third. Parker then got Reed to strikeout to end the inning.

The Seminoles followed last night’s lead with another productive sixth inning putting six runs on the board to take their first lead of the ballgame. Following a groundout to short by Jack Posey, five straight Florida State hitters reached and scored. Holt and Stidham recorded back-to-back walks and came around to score on Buster Posey’s double down the left field line. Guinn tied the game at ten as he drove in Posey on a double to left. Hahn’s day would come to a close as the Hokies brought on Rhett Ballard to pitch to Delmonico. On the second pitch from Ballard, Delmonico went deep to left for his second round tripper of the series and fifth of the season. The home run gave the Seminoles their first lead on Sunday. FSU pushed one more across in the inning as Tommy Oravetz collected his second hit with a double to center and scored on a single by Ohmed Danesh.

Florida State increased its lead to 14-10 as Holt walked and scored in the seventh. The freshman center fielder came home on a failed pickoff attempt at first base. Ballard’s throw went off the body of Stidham at first and trickled away from O’Brien leaving plenty of time for Holt to race across the plate.

The Garnet and Gold widen their lead in the ninth with four more runs on RBI hits from Guinn, Delmonico and Stephen Cardullo. The hit was the first of the season for Cardullo. Jack Posey collected his third RBI of the game with a sacrifice fly.

Florida State will return home for a pair of mid-week games on Tuesday and Wednesday against Stetson. First pitch for both games is scheduled for 6:00 pm on Mike Martin Field inside Dick Howser Stadium. Game one will be shown live over the web on ACC Select, while fans can listen to the action on 1270 the Team with Eric Luallen providing all the play-by-play action.

Click here for a complete boxscore

Section B Online Player of the Game:
Dennis Guinn
(4-5, 4 R, 5 RBI, 2 2B, 2 HR)