In a matchup of two ranked teams, the No. 5 Florida State got the better of the No. 24 FGCU baseball team, 12-9, in an offensive slugfest, Tuesday night at Dick Howser Stadium.<\/p>\n
The Eagles drop to 18-7 on the year while the Seminoles improve to 25-4. Seminoles improve the all-time series against each other to 5-1 with the win.<\/p>\n
The Seminoles opened the scoring in the third with five runs. With one out in the third, Casey Smit doubled down the left field line and John Sansone followed with a two-run blast over the left field wall to give FSU a 2-0 advantage. Josh Delph then singled and moved to third on a double to right center by Marcus Davis. Sophomore right handed starter\u00a0Zack Tillery (Naples, Fla.\/Barron Collier HS)<\/strong>\u00a0was then pulled to bring in senior\u00a0R.J. Brown (Brandon, Fla.\/Bloomingdale HS)<\/strong>. DJ Stewart would then continue the rally with a double off the right center wall to plate both Delph and Davis. Stewart then came into score on a single up the middle by Jose Bizuela to give FSU a 5-0 lead through three innings.<\/p>\n The Green and Blue answered back in the top half of the fourth with a run. Junior\u00a0Sean Dwyer (Taveras, Fla.\/Taveras HS)<\/strong>\u00a0started the inning, reaching first on a hit-by-pitch. With Dwyer on first, junior\u00a0Brandon Bednar (Stuart, Fla.\/South fork HS)<\/strong>\u00a0doubled down the left field line, past a diving third basemen to put runners on second and third. Redshirt seniorBrooks Beisner (Punta Gorda, Fla.\/Charlotte HS\/Auburn)\u00a0<\/strong>would then ground out to the shortstop, who was playing back, to bring in Dwyer from third.<\/p>\n The bats would come alive for FGCU in the fifth with five runs. Redshirt sophomore\u00a0Alex Diaz (Miami, Fla.\/Ferguson HS)<\/strong>\u00a0started the inning with a single up the middle. Freshman\u00a0Tyler Selesky (Estero, Fla.\/Estero HS)<\/strong>\u00a0then singled up the middle to put runners on first and second with one out in the inning. Senior\u00a0Mike Reeves (Peterborough, Ontario\/St. Peter\u2019s Secondary)\u00a0<\/strong>would follow with a walk to load the bases. With the bases loaded, FSU reliever Jameis Winston would throw a wild pitch to score Diaz from third and move Selesky and Reeves into scoring position. Dwyer then walked to re-load the bases for the Eagles. With the bases loaded and one out, Bednar would hit a grounder to the shortstop and the shortstop would step on second base for the out but would throw errantly to first trying to complete the double-play. Selesky and Reeves would come into score on the error by the shortstop while Bednar moved to second. Beisner would follow with an infield hit to the pitcher to move Bednar to third. Winston then threw his second wild pitch of the inning to plate Bednar from third to tie the game at 5-5 and move Beisner to second. With Beisner on second base, freshman\u00a0Nick Rivera (Cape Coral, Fla.\/Bishop Verot HS)\u00a0<\/strong>delivered a two-out double down the right field line to give the Eagles a 6-5 advantage.<\/p>\n The Seminoles took the lead back in bottom half of the sixth with five runs. Smit started the inning with a single through the left side. Sansone would follow with a walk and both runners would move into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt by Delph. Davis loaded the bases on a hit by pitch and Stewart drew a walk to bring in the tying run of the game while keeping the bases loaded. The bases wouldn\u2019t remain loaded for long as Stephen McGee hit a grand slam into the left field bullpen to give FSU a 10-6 lead.<\/p>\n The Green and Blue would get a run back in the seventh to make it a 10-7 ballgame. Reeves led off the inning with a single to center. Dwyer would follow with a ground out to the first basemen and Reeves would advance to third on a throwing error by the first basemen who tried to complete the double play. Bednar then drove Reeves in on a ground out to the second basement to cut the deficit to three runs.<\/p>\n FSU would get the run right back in the bottom frame of the seventh. Smit reached on a walk and would come around to score on a throwing error on the third basemen, trying to get the out at first. The unearned run gave the Seminoles a 11-7 lead through seven complete.<\/p>\n The Eagles wouldn\u2019t go down quietly, scoring two runs in the top of the eighth. Three-straight hits by Nick Rivera, sophomore\u00a0Michael Suchy (Bradenton, Fla.\/Southeast HS)<\/strong>\u00a0and freshman\u00a0Colton Bottomley (Davie, Fla.\/Marjory Stoneman Douglas HS)<\/strong>\u00a0loaded the bases with no outs for the Green and Blue. With the bases loaded Diaz hit a ground out to the shortstop to bring in Nick Rivera from third. Selesky would follow with a ground out to second base which allowed Suchy to score from third and cut the lead to 11-9, in favor of the Seminoles.<\/p>\n The Seminoles added an insurance run in their half of the eighth with a single up the middle by Brizuela. Brizuela would then steal second and later score on a RBI single to center by Giovanny Alfonzo to give Florida State a 12-9 lead going into the ninth.<\/p>\n FGCU attempted to rally in the ninth with a lead-off single by Dwyer and a hit-by-pitch to Beisner to put runners on first and second with one out but were stranded there with back-to-back out to Nick Rivera and Suchy to end the game.<\/p>\n Tillery was credited with the no-decision, giving up four runs on four hits and fanned four batters through 2.1 innings of work. Brown would work through 1.2 innings and give up one run on three hits before handing the ball off to fellow seniorDanny Patrick (Jupiter, Fla.\/Jupiter HS\/Pepperdine\/Palm Beach State)<\/strong>. Patrick gave up one hit in 1.1 scoreless innings of work before the Eagles went to junior closer\u00a0Harrison Cooney (Vero Beach, Fla.\/Vero Beach HS)<\/strong>\u00a0with one out in the bottom of the sixth. Cooney would receive the loss, giving up five runs in just over an inning pitched. Sophomore\u00a0Jack English (Delray Beach, Fla.\/Cardinal Newman HS)<\/strong>\u00a0would come in for Cooney in the seventh and get the final out of the inning. Redshirt freshman\u00a0Gabe Rivera (Oviedo, Fla.\/Hagerty HS)<\/strong>\u00a0would pitch the bottom of the eighth for FGCU and allowed one run on one hit.<\/p>\n Cooney was credited with the loss (1-3) while FSU\u2019s Gage Smith picks up his fourth win of the season (4-0). Robby Coles recorded his seventh save in the 12-9 win for the Seminoles.<\/p>\n Offensively, the Eagles were led by Nick Rivera and Suchy, who both collected two hits and a run scored on the night. Rivera also tallied a RBI in the loss. Every other starter in the game collected a hit for FGCU. Bednar recorded a team-high two RBI while Reeves scored a team-high two runs.<\/p>\n The Eagles will be back in action tomorrow when they face No. 5 Florida State in the finale of the two-game series at Dick Howser Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.<\/p>\n