FSU bats fall flat late in series-opening loss at Stanford

FSU baseball infielder Eli Putnam hits a home run vs. Northern Kentucky. | FSU Sports Information

When the Florida State offense jumped ahead early and Wes Mendes started his outing at Stanford with four no-hit innings, it seemed the Seminoles were well on their way to another series-opening win.

But the bats fell flat and one bad inning doomed Mendes’ outing and FSU ended up taking a 4-3 loss in the first game of its West Coast trip against the Cardinal late Friday evening, snapping the Seminoles’ five-game winning streak.

Mendes was truly rolling in the early going. He needed just 33 pitches to get through four no-hit innings. But after he started the bottom of the fifth with his fourth strikeout, things quickly went sideways.

The next four Stanford batters reached via walk, single, walk and ground-rule double to cut what was 3-0 FSU lead to 3-2. After a lineout to right, Mendes allowed a two-run single to Eric Jeon which gave the Cardinal a 4-3 lead.

After such a strong start, Mendes (7-3) finished allowing four runs on four hits over six-plus innings, walking three and striking out three.

FSU stranded Brody DeLamielleure at third after a one-out double in the second inning before opening the score with a three-run third. A leadoff single by Eli Putnam was followed by a double from Carter McCulley to put two in scoring position.

Chase Williams brought them both home with a two-run double to right, and Hunter Carns followed with an RBI single to right to score Williams and make it a 3-0 game.

After the Seminoles amassed five hits in the first three innings, they managed just two more over the final six innings. They put two runners on with one out in both the sixth and seventh innings but came up empty both times, striking out three times in four opportunities where a hit would have tied the game or given FSU the lead.

FSU finished 3-for-14 with runners on (.214), 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position (.182) and 1-for-10 with two outs (.100). DeLamielleure doubled twice and Carns had two hits to lead the offensive attack, which stranded eight runners.

Once again, FSU’s bullpen did its job to give the offense a chance to rally back into the game. Stanford loaded the bases in the seventh on a walk followed by a pair of bunts which couldn’t be turned into outs before Chris Knier slammed the door by retiring the next three batters to get out of the jam.