No. 10 Florida State baseball took Game 1 of its ACC series against Duke on Friday night, defeating the Blue Devils 3-1 behind a stellar performance from junior LHP Wes Mendes, who tied his career high with 12 strikeouts over 6.2 shutout innings. The sold-out white out crowd of 6,700 at Dick Howser Stadium saw the Seminoles improve to 20-5 overall and 6-1 in ACC play.
On Saturday, FSU clinched the series with a 12-11 win — though the Seminoles lost Myles Bailey to an injury severe enough to see him taken out on a stretcher in an air cast.
Coming into the series, the Seminoles had dropped their previous midweek game, shut out by Florida, 5-0, in Jacksonville — a result that clinched a series loss to the Gators for the second straight year. The Achilles’ heel of this FSU team surfaced at the worst time, with horrible at-bats and even worse defense throughout the game. Issues at the plate rose up once again during Friday’s win, but Mendes’ performance and tight defense earned the Seminoles a victory. Saturday saw the bats get active with more runs scored, but struggles on the mound for FSU kept Duke in the game before the Seminoles took the lead for good in the bottom of the eighth.
The Blue Devils are in year one of the Corey Muscara era after former head coach Chris Pollard took the Virginia job last offseason. There was roster turnover across the board, with Pollard taking some of his best players with him and Muscara bringing in his own people.
Sunday, March 29th, 1:00 PM vs. Duke
Blue Devils hitters to know: