Florida State’s chances of a top-8 national seed ended with one swing of the bat with two strikes and two outs in a rainy top half of the ninth inning. A three-run homer from Pitt turned a 6-5 FSU lead into an 8-6 deficit that the Noles could not overcome, as Florida State went one-and-done in the ACC tournament after losing to Pitt 8-6 on Friday night.
It was the true FSU experience on Friday, as the Seminoles were sloppy in parts of the game, but never let go of the rope after falling behind 4-0 and 5-1. The Noles were not sharp from the get-go, committing two errors in the first inning and four errors in the game, while leaving 12 runners on base. However, a grand slam from Ben Barrett tied the game at five in the fifth, and a small-ball run in the eighth gave FSU its only lead of the night. However, as mentioned, the poor play early in the game and a lack of composure late, did the Seminoles in.
Florida State’s defense let down Wes Mendes in the first inning, allowing the Panthers to break out to an early lead. In the first at-bat of the game, a routine grounder kicked off Ben Barrett’s glove, putting a man on first. In the ensuing at-bat, a passed ball put the runner on second, and then a bunt single, followed by an error on the throw to first from Cal Fisher, scored the runner. After a strikeout and a walk, Trey Fenderson, the hottest hitter on the Pitt team, came to the plate with two on and one out. The second baseman smashed a three-run homer to right as the Panthers jumped out in front 4-0 in the first inning and drove Mendes’ pitch count to 28.
The Seminoles tried to respond in the bottom of the frame as John Stuetzer led off with a single, moved over to second on a wild pitch, and touched home off a Brody DeLamielleure single. However, the three outs in the inning were strikeouts as the worst qualities of this FSU team, bad defense and unproductive at-bats, reared their ugly heads early on.
FSU’s bad defense continued in the second as Gabe Fraser committed an error, but an inning-ending double play stranded the runner as Mendes posted a zero. In the bottom half, the Noles were unable to cut into the deficit. Even though Gabe Fraser reached second on a walk and a wild pitch, the next three batters were retired in order, two by punchouts.
After the top of the order went 1-2-3 in the home half of the third, Florida State squandered a golden opportunity to get back in the game in the fourth. Barrett doubled with one out in the inning before Carter McCulley and Chase Williams each drew two-out walks with the count full to load the bases. With the bases loaded and two down, Cal Fisher worked the count full, but grounded out to leave the runners on. Immediately, Pitt took advantage as a one-out solo homer in the top of the fifth put Florida State down, 5-1.
But just when it seemed that FSU was out of it, the game flipped in the bottom of the inning. For the second straight frame, the Seminoles loaded the bases as Brayden Dowd walked, DeLamielleure singled, and Hunter Carns reached on an error. With one swing of the bat, Barrett tied the game at five, ripping a grand slam to right center, his first homer since 2023, to pull his team back into the fight.
Chris Knier entered the game for Mendes in the sixth and instantly controlled the game as he fired FSU’s first 1-2-3 inning of the night. In the bottom of the frame, it seemed like Florida State was primed to take the lead with two on and one out, but a groundout and strikeout kept the contest knotted at five.
Once again, in the seventh, the Seminoles threatened, loading the bases for the third time in four innings as Carns reached on an error while Fraser and Chase Williams received free passes. Yet, with two outs, Fisher flied out to right field, stranding the bases loaded and running FSU’s left on base counter to 10.
Florida State finally pushed in front in the eighth as John Stuetzer was hit by a pitch, stole second, and was moved over to third on a productive out. He touched home on an error from the Pitt to give FSU a slender 6-5 lead.
After Knier posted 3.0 innings of shutout baseball, Link Jarrett turned the game over to Brodie Purcell to pick up the final three outs of the game. Purcell started sharp, striking out the first batter of the frame before allowing a one-out single. The righty picked up the second out of the frame, but a two-out walk on a borderline 3-2 pitch kept the game alive. Once again, Purcell got the Panthers down to their final pitch, but left a two-strike breaking ball up in the zone that was hammered to right by Kai Wagner, who turned the game on its head on a three-run homer, as the Noles fell behind, 8-6. It was obviously a crushing blow to a Florida State team that thought they had won the game the previous at-bat, but ultimately, they did not deserve to win. The Seminoles went down in order in the bottom of the ninth, crashing out of the ACC tournament after one game and losing any hope of a top-8 national seed.