A Grand Affair: Dinges blasts FSU's school-record 9th grand slam in rout of UNF
After a rough-and-tumble series last weekend at Wake Forest and with a big showdown at Duke looming this weekend, the No. 6 FSU baseball team needed a breather Tuesday night against visiting UNF.
And the Seminoles definitely got it.
Powered by a third-inning grand slam from Marco Dinges and quality pitching from five different arms, FSU rolled to a 10-2 victory over the Ospreys.
With the win, the Seminoles improved to 32-8 overall and 23-2 at home. UNF fell to 18-20.
Florida State actually fell behind early, 1-0, when right fielder Cherokee Nichols blasted a solo home run in the top of the second inning. But the Seminoles promptly responded with five runs in the third, with the big blow being Dinges’ grand slam.
It was Dinges’ third grand slam of the season and it gave FSU a school-record nine on the season.
The Seminoles then blew the game open with three runs on four hits in the fourth, and James Tibbs blasted his 17th home run of the season in the sixth to give FSU a 9-1 lead.
Freshman right-hander Matt Sauser started the game on the mound for the ‘Noles and allowed one run on two hits in two innings. Freshman righty John Abraham then pitched three scoreless innings to pick up the victory; he struck out four, walked none and allowed just one hit.
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Relievers Hudson Rowan, Yoel Tejeda Jr. and Ryan Denison then took it home from there.
FSU got two hits apiece from Tibbs (2-for-3, 2 RBIs), Dinges (2-for-4, 5 RBIs) and Max Williams (2-for-2, 1 run scored).
Next up for FSU is a big showdown this weekend at No. 5 Duke.
Stay connected with Warchant.com for post-game coverage.
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