Florida State baseball one win away from ACC Tournament semifinals after blowing out Virginia

The hot-and-cold nature of this Florida State baseball team is reaching Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde levels of opposite.

Coming off a brutal 0-4 week that seemed to eliminate them from NCAA Regional hosting contention, the nine-seed Seminoles (33-22) delivered a 13-3 run-rule walloping of five-seed Virginia (38-16) at the ACC Tournament in Charlotte, N.C. on Wednesday.

FSU head coach Mike Martin Jr. said he recognized a positive energy from his team immediately.

"We went punch-punch to start the game," Martin said. "There wasn’t any hanging of heads. There weren’t any temper tantrums in the dugout. It was all business with laser focus. ... It’s why we spend so much time trying to pound it into our guys, ‘This is June baseball. This is what matters.’”

Playing poorly before rattling off impressive wins has been a theme for the Seminoles all season. They captured their first six weekend series before dropping five of their next six ACC games, which includes Notre Dame sweeping them at home. Then FSU defeated Florida and swept Louisville in the same week.

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In the last month, the Seminoles lost two out of three at middling Clemson, swept TCU, lost back-to-back games at Stetson and Boston College and won six out of their last seven games, including a series victory over Miami. Then came FSU’s four straight losses to end its regular season.

Whether their hot play against the Cavaliers will extend beyond that game remains to be seen for the Seminoles. FSU will next face four-seed Notre Dame (33-13) at 3 p.m. Thursday, which will be broadcast on Bally Sports RSN.

The Seminoles are expected to throw ace pitcher Parker Messick against the Irish. The winner of that game will advance to the ACC Semifinals on Saturday.

"It’s a new season," FSU first baseman Alex Toral said. "Everybody is 0-0. Everybody’s stats are refreshed. The whole team bought into that mentality, came out here playing hungry and everybody knowing that this is our team to make a run with the team that we have.”

Seminoles start hot with six-run third inning

FSU’s offense executed situational hitting much better Wednesday compared to last week.

The Seminoles finished 6 of 15 (.400) with runners in scoring position after going 4 of 27 (.148) in their last four games. They hit 4 of 6 (.667) in such instances in the third inning, tallying six runs in the process.

Catcher Colton Vincent, who entered the game with a team-low .175 batting average, hit 3 of 5. Designated hitter Tyler Martin (2 of 4), freshman outfielders Jaime Ferrer (2 of 4) and James Tibbs (2 of 4), second baseman Brett Roberts (2 of 4) and Toral (2 of 5) also notched mutli-hit games.

“He’s such a unique guy. People don’t appreciate him," said Mike Martin Jr. of Vincent. "The beating that he takes back there (at catcher), your legs are shocked and then you are trying to go in there and hit. It was the dang-dest thing. You saw it. Alex saw it. It was unbelievable how many line drives he hit right into play. Guys love to see him have success.”

The third inning started with Vincent and Martin recording back-to-back singles. Ferrer brought both of them home on a double to right center. After Roberts advanced Ferrer to third on a single, Tibbs gave FSU another two-RBI double.

Virginia replaced starting pitcher Brian Gursky (L, 7-2) with Jay Woolfolk after Tibbs’ double down the right-field line. Then Toral accumulated his team-high 14th homer of the season over Woolfolk, scoring Tibbs to complete the six-run effort.

“I just went back to what was working with me when I got hot two weeks ago," Toral said. "Just staying inside the baseball, staying on it really tight and hitting the ball where it’s pitched. As long as I continue to do that, I will string together some quality at-bats for this team.”

Gursky surrendered six runs on seven hits across 2.1 innings before the Cavaliers used six pitchers in relief. Roberts plated the first run Gursky allowed, advancing Ferrer home on a double with two outs in the first inning.

After their six-run third inning, the Seminoles produced six more runs. FSU increased its lead to 8-0 in the fourth after Jordan Carrion singled home Martin and Roberts scored on a throwing error from Virginia third baseman Jake Gelof.

In the seventh inning, Seminole outfielder Reese Albert registered his first home run of the season and scored Tibbs. FSU generated another two-run inning in the eighth on Toral’s two-RBI single, which brought home Tibbs and Roberts.

“That was awesome," said Toral of Albert's homer. "I was the on-deck hitter, so I got to watch it. Probably the second-best view in the house behind Reese.

"Funny enough, he switched bats today. And he was like, ‘Hey, I’m going to hit a homer with this bat in my first at-bat.’ Funny enough, it happened. I was like, ‘Reese, you are crazy. You are hitting (almost) .300. I don’t know why you are switching bats.’ But he switched, and it paid off.”

FSU pitching staff offered rest

The blowout and ending the game in eight innings helped FSU throw only two pitchers in starter Bryce Hubbart and reliever Wyatt Crowell.

With the potential of playing three more games in this tournament, the Seminoles could benefit from having a well-rested pitching staff. Hubbart and Crowell (W, 6-1) could also be available later in the tournament after they hurled just 68 and 49 pitches, respectively.

Hubbart yielded three runs – all in the fourth inning – and seven hits across four innings. Crowell pitched four scoreless innings in relief, surrendering just three hits while striking out six batters.

Both Hubbart and Crowell needed to bounce back after their most recent outings. Hubbart lasted only one inning and allowed three runs in an 11-0 loss at North Carolina last Saturday. The Tar Heels defeated the Seminoles 7-5 last Friday on a three-run walk-off homer against Crowell.

“They just beat us in every facet of the game," Virginia head coach Brian O'Conner said. "They were really good out on the mound. Crowell – he pitched the back half of the game – is the best lefthander we’ve seen all year. They were terrific on the mound.

"Certainly they went on the aggressive attack on us offensively. And they just really beat us in every phase of the game. They handled the ball better on the infield. They got clutch hits.

"We had 10 hits on three runs, and that speaks to the level of their pitching staff and pitching with runners in scoring position. Offensively, they really capitalized on that.”

Reach Carter Karels at ckarels@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter @CarterKarels.

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FSU baseball wins big vs. UVA in first game of ACC Tournament