The situation felt far too similar. Heck, the score was almost identical.
But the Florida State baseball team changed the ending.
For the second straight night Saturday, FSU held a late lead on the road over Oregon State in the Corvallis Super Regional. After the final out proved elusive in Friday's 5-4 10-inning loss, the Seminoles got the job done in Game 2 of the three-game series.
Peyton Prescott struck out three straight batters after allowing a leadoff walk to close out a 3-1 win for the Seminoles over the Beavers in front of a hostile crowd at Goss Stadium. With the win, the Seminoles force a decisive winner-take-all Game 3 of the Corvallis Super Regional Sunday night at 9 p.m.
Prescott recorded his third save of the season with two shutout innings in relief of FSU ace Jamie Arnold.
In the early going Saturday, it didn't look like FSU was going to get the extended outing it badly needed out of its ace pitcher. The Beavers tagged the FSU lefty for a run on two hits in the first inning and four hits in the first two innings. It took him 50 pitches to get through the first two innings.
However, his outing dramatically shifted from that point forward. He settled in exceptionally well, allowing just two hits over his final 4.2 innings. He also got much more efficient, working through the third through sixth innings on less pitches (48) than it took him to get through the first two innings. He finished his outing allowing one run on six hits over 6.2 innings with nine strikeouts, a walk and a hit-by-pitch.
Oregon State got some traffic on the basepaths against Arnold but was just 2 for 13 (.154) with runners on base against him, stranding six runners in the first six innings and another in the seventh when Maison Martinez came out of the bullpen with two outs and struck out Aiva Arquette on three pitches.
Once again, FSU struggled to come up with the big inning at the plate. The Seminoles tied the game in the third on an RBI single from Max Williams and took the lead in the bottom of the seventh on an RBI single from Gage Harrelson. Both those hits came with two outs -- five of FSU's six runs in the first two games of the super regional were scored with two outs -- and both runs were scored two of the three innings where FSU put the leadoff runner on base.
Still, Harrelson's hit gave the Seminoles a late lead for the second straight night and FSU once again added an insurance run in the eighth on a bases-loaded walk from Jaxson West. However, a hard groundout left the bases loaded and kept the Seminoles from adding some real comfort to their lead entering the ninth.
Through two games in the super regional, FSU still has not scored more than one run in any single inning, plating seven runs in seven different innings. A big part of that is because once again, the FSU offense struck out at a high rate on Saturday. FSU struck out 14 times in Game 2 of the super regional, bringing its K tally to 29 through the first two games of the series compared to nine walks.
But still, FSU delivered the big hits and moments on Saturday that Oregon State could not. OSU was 2 for 19 (.105) with runners on base and 1 for 5 (.200) with runners in scoring position in Game 2, stranding eight runners.
Prescott entered in the eighth inning after Martinez issued a leadoff walk and got out of the inning in two batters with a strikeout and a double play, touching 100 miles per hour for the first time this season in the eighth. He then struck out the side in the ninth after a leadoff walk to finish the job for the Seminoles and redeem Friday's failure on that front.
FSU is expected to turn to sophomore LHP Wes Mendes (7-2, 4.66 ERA) for the start in Game 3. OSU has a few options to turn to, but the likeliest is probably sophomore RHP Eric Segura (8-2, 4.47 ERA).
But the Florida State baseball team changed the ending.
For the second straight night Saturday, FSU held a late lead on the road over Oregon State in the Corvallis Super Regional. After the final out proved elusive in Friday's 5-4 10-inning loss, the Seminoles got the job done in Game 2 of the three-game series.
Peyton Prescott struck out three straight batters after allowing a leadoff walk to close out a 3-1 win for the Seminoles over the Beavers in front of a hostile crowd at Goss Stadium. With the win, the Seminoles force a decisive winner-take-all Game 3 of the Corvallis Super Regional Sunday night at 9 p.m.
Prescott recorded his third save of the season with two shutout innings in relief of FSU ace Jamie Arnold.
In the early going Saturday, it didn't look like FSU was going to get the extended outing it badly needed out of its ace pitcher. The Beavers tagged the FSU lefty for a run on two hits in the first inning and four hits in the first two innings. It took him 50 pitches to get through the first two innings.
However, his outing dramatically shifted from that point forward. He settled in exceptionally well, allowing just two hits over his final 4.2 innings. He also got much more efficient, working through the third through sixth innings on less pitches (48) than it took him to get through the first two innings. He finished his outing allowing one run on six hits over 6.2 innings with nine strikeouts, a walk and a hit-by-pitch.
Oregon State got some traffic on the basepaths against Arnold but was just 2 for 13 (.154) with runners on base against him, stranding six runners in the first six innings and another in the seventh when Maison Martinez came out of the bullpen with two outs and struck out Aiva Arquette on three pitches.
Once again, FSU struggled to come up with the big inning at the plate. The Seminoles tied the game in the third on an RBI single from Max Williams and took the lead in the bottom of the seventh on an RBI single from Gage Harrelson. Both those hits came with two outs -- five of FSU's six runs in the first two games of the super regional were scored with two outs -- and both runs were scored two of the three innings where FSU put the leadoff runner on base.
Still, Harrelson's hit gave the Seminoles a late lead for the second straight night and FSU once again added an insurance run in the eighth on a bases-loaded walk from Jaxson West. However, a hard groundout left the bases loaded and kept the Seminoles from adding some real comfort to their lead entering the ninth.
Through two games in the super regional, FSU still has not scored more than one run in any single inning, plating seven runs in seven different innings. A big part of that is because once again, the FSU offense struck out at a high rate on Saturday. FSU struck out 14 times in Game 2 of the super regional, bringing its K tally to 29 through the first two games of the series compared to nine walks.
But still, FSU delivered the big hits and moments on Saturday that Oregon State could not. OSU was 2 for 19 (.105) with runners on base and 1 for 5 (.200) with runners in scoring position in Game 2, stranding eight runners.
Prescott entered in the eighth inning after Martinez issued a leadoff walk and got out of the inning in two batters with a strikeout and a double play, touching 100 miles per hour for the first time this season in the eighth. He then struck out the side in the ninth after a leadoff walk to finish the job for the Seminoles and redeem Friday's failure on that front.
FSU is expected to turn to sophomore LHP Wes Mendes (7-2, 4.66 ERA) for the start in Game 3. OSU has a few options to turn to, but the likeliest is probably sophomore RHP Eric Segura (8-2, 4.47 ERA).
