Section B Online

Friday May 01, 2009

	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
VT				1	0	0	0	1	0		0	0	0					2	1	1		1
FSU				0	0	3	1	0	3		1	2	X				1	0	1	2		0

Seminoles win their tenth in a row

FSU Sports Info

Florida State (31-12, 16-7 ACC) scored six runs on two outs Friday night in defeating Virginia Tech (27-18, 10-14 ACC) 10-2 on Mike Martin Field inside Dick Howser Stadium. The win pushed the Seminoles' win streak to a season-best 10 games, while it marked the eighth straight victory over the Hokies.

Stephen Cardullo led the Florida State offense on Friday with a career-high four hits finishing the game with three singles and a double. Jason Stidham also garnered multiple hits in game one against the Hokies going 2-for-3 with two RBI and three runs scored. The junior second baseman also walked twice as he reached base on four of his five plate appearances.

"I felt really good," said Cardullo. "I was comfortable in the box, saw good pitches and had quality at-bats."

Stidham and Mike Meschke each hit a round tripper Friday night as the Seminoles have now connected on 46 home runs in the last 26 games. Meschke hit a solo shot in the seventh, while Stidham registered a two-run homer in the eighth.

Mike McGee tied a season-high with three walks. He would finish the game 1-for-2 with three runs.

The Seminoles got a solid outing from freshman Brian Busch (4-2) as the southpaw made his first Friday night start of the season. Busch worked seven innings to earn his third straight victory. The West Boca Raton, Fla., native allowed just two runs on seven hits as he walked three and struck out five. Busch threw a career-high 116 pitches against the Hokies.

"Brian went out composed and really pitched an outstanding baseball game," said head coach Mike Martin. "We wanted to extend him; we wanted him to pitch 120 pitches, that's what we want all our pitchers to make it to. He's not a freshman any more. He's poised, he's a good competitor."

Jack Posey worked the final two innings in preserving the game one victory. The sophomore right hander gave up four hits but did not allow a run extending his consecutive scoreless innings streak to six. Posey has not allowed a run in seven of his nine appearances this year.

The Hokies wasted little time cracking the scoreboard in game one as Austin Wates connected on a two-out, solo shot in the first. The Hokie first baseman drilled a 1-2 offering from Busch off the scoreboard in left for his fourth home run of the season. Virginia Tech continued its offensive barrage with back-to-back singles but Busch held the Hokies to just one run as he got Michael Seaborn to fly out to Ohmed Danesh in right.

Florida State loaded the bases in the first with only one out and could not manage a run. Virginia Tech starter Rhett Ballard (6-4) gave up a hit-by-pitch to Tyler Holt, an infield single to Cardullo and a one-out walk to Stidham before registering back-to-back strikeouts to hold the Seminoles without a run. Ballard took care of all three outs in the inning striking out the side.

The Seminoles surged in front for the first time in game one with a three-run third as all three runs in the inning came with two outs. FSU scored its first run of the evening courtesy of a wild pitch as McGee crossed the plate after reaching on a walk. The big hit came off the bat of Danesh as he hooked a triple inside the right field foul line scoring Stidham and Tommy Oravetz for his first triple of the season.

"I went up there knowing I was facing a good pitcher," said Danesh. "He had some good pitches and when I got two strikes I knew I had to grind down, get on top of the ball and fight some pitches off. He threw a slider inside and it got in on me a little bit but I was able to get the ball to land in fair territory. That's the best thing about baseball; you don't have to hit a home run to change the momentum of the game. I was just fortunate enough to face a good pitcher and get a good hit off him."

FSU increased its lead to 4-1 taking advantage of a Hokie error in the fourth. Holt reached on a fielding error at short and moved to second on his 23rd stolen base of the season. He scored a batter later on a single through the right side by Cardullo. The hit was his third in as many at-bats.

A lead-off walk came back to haunt the Seminoles as the Hokies cut the deficit in half in the fifth. Klint Reed drew a walk from Busch and scored all the way from first on a double to the gap in left center by Wates. Wates was thrown out at third trying to stretch his hit into a triple on a great relay throw from McGee to Cardullo to Stuart Tapley at third.

Florida State added to its lead in the sixth with another big two-out hit. After Virginia Tech reliever Mathew Price registered two quick outs, the Seminoles loaded the bases on a double by Cardullo and consecutive walks to McGee and Stidham. Tapley stepped in and cleared the bases with a double down the line in left to make the score 7-2.

Meschke gave the Seminoles an 8-2 advantage hammering a solo shot to right center in the seventh. The junior first baseman took the first pitch he saw from Hokie reliever Clark Labitan over the fence for his second home run of the season.

Stidham was responsible for the final two runs on Friday night as he crushed a two-run shot out to right center in the eighth for his seventh home run of the season. McGee, who walked to lead off the inning, scored his third run of the game on the Stidham home run.

Florida State and Virginia Tech return to the diamond for game two of a three game series on Saturday, May 2 with first pitch scheduled for 6:00 p.m. Saturday's game will broadcast live on Sun Sports, while fans can also listen to the action locally on 100.7 FM and over the internet on www.seminoles.com. Live stats will also be available via gametracker.

Click here for a complete boxscore

Section B Online Player of the Game:
Brian Busch
(7.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K)