Section B Online

Sunday March 07, 2010

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

Brooms out

by Corey Dowlar, Warchant.com

This weekend came as a pleasant surprise to head coach Mike Martin.

Florida State capped off a rampant weekend taking all three games from Georgia in a 17-5 win at Dick Howser Stadium on Sunday. The Seminoles benefitted from 14 walks and four hit batsmen en route to their series sweeping clincher.

In his most optimistic of expectations, Martin never foresaw these three games playing out the way they did.

“I must admit it is a very, very big surprise what I just saw,” said a surprised Eleven. “Three ball games in which we controlled. I was very pleased with everything that I saw.”

While the wins will look impressive on the Seminoles resume, Martin believes it’s vital that his clubs stays grounded heading into the next few ball games.

“We talked about it in the clubhouse,” Martin explained. “We can’t get up, we can’t get down, we can’t feel like we got this thing all figured out because baseball is a game that will turn on you so quickly it will make your head spin.”

Starting pitcher Geoff Parker had a decent outing throwing four complete innings, but was unlucky to receive a no decision as his pitch count rose sharply in the fourth inning. Parker surrendered four runs, three of which were earned, on four hits allowing three walks and striking out six.

Parker’s six strikeouts were the most since his outing last May against Virginia Tech when he struck out nine.

Brian Busch was again Mr. Dependable out of the bullpen. The lefthander tossed two complete innings without allowing a single hit or walk, and struck out two. Busch threw 29 pitches and faced the minimum.

“Brian Busch, when he came in had a couple of big innings,” said Martin.

After being held under 10 runs for the first time all season long on Saturday, the Seminoles stormed back with an emphatic 17 Sunday afternoon.

Martin, who has spent many a year in the Seminoles first base dugout, doesn’t remember an offense this prolific so early in the season.

“I think so many things have to be involved,” explained Martin. “We’ve got guys like Cardullo, McGee, Holt, and Tapley, we have four guys that are playing their third or fourth season. That has a lot to do with success. Then you have Sherman Johnson and Rafael Lopez playing their second year, and Ramsey also. You have people that have been involved in the program and they are buying into a lot of the lessons that Meat is teaching them. It’s just been fun to watch the improvement because they have certainly gotten better each day. That is what we have got to understand, we have to keep getting better. We can’t get complacent.”

Offensively, the Seminoles were led by Stephen Cardullo and Stuart Tapley. Each registered multi-hit games en route to driving in four runs a piece.

Tapley has now reached safely via a base hit in 15 straight contests.

Cardullo continued his hot-hitting ways going 2-for-5 and scoring three times. Cardullo also walked once bringing his batting average to a scorching .515.

“I had a pretty productive weekend,” Cardullo said. “I put a lot of quality at bats together. I got on base a lot and that is pretty much always my main objective to get on base and have good at bats.

“We definitely faced good quality pitching (against Georgia). But they beat themselves. They had a lot of errors and a lot of mental mistakes. Their pitcher was throwing well the first couple of innings, but we stayed on him and got rattled and we delivered the finishing blows and that is what this offense is about.”

Florida State will return to action tomorrow evening in Jacksonville as they take on the Jacksonville University Dolphins at 6:00 p.m. Mike McGee is slated to get the start for the Seminoles.

From there it is another midweek clash against the University of North Florida. Neither opponent will be taken lightly by the Seminoles according to Cardullo.

“We certainly won’t overlook Jacksonville or UNF,” he said. “They beat us last year and we still have a bad taste in our mouths from that. So we are going to bring it tomorrow and Wednesday.”

Click here for a complete boxscore
Section B Online Player of the Game: Stephen Cardullo 2-5, 3 R, 4 RBI, BB, SB