The Florida State Seminoles and Central Connecticut State faced off in the first game of the Norwich Regional. The Seminoles entered with a 42-17 overall record while Central Connecticut State had a 33-21 record. Florida State sent Brian Busch to the hill who entered with a 4-1 record while having an ERA of 4.55. CCSU countered with Dave Krasnowiecki who 7-2 with a 3.41 ERA.
The game was scoreless until the bottom of the first inning when the Seminoles offense would get going immediately. Tyler Holt would hit a double down the left field line to get on second. After a Sherman Johnson flyout to left, Holt would steal third on a 1-0 pitch to Mike McGee who would eventually walk to put runners on the corners. James Ramsey would hit a little groundball up the first base line that Dave Krasnowiecki let get by him allowing Holt to score to put the Noles up 1-0. Cardullo would follow with a groundball up the middle to shortstop Sean Allaire who would step on second and get Cardullo at first for the final outs of the inning.
The Central Connecitut Blue Devils would remain hitless until the top of the fifth inning when Mitch Wells would get a leadoff single. He would be moved up to second when Kyle Zarotney would lay down a bunt. Zarotney would reach when Sherman Johnson bobbled the ground ball. Anthony Scialdone would follow with a sacrifice to put two runners into scoring position. Danny Hickey would follow with a Sacrifice Fly to right field to tie the game at 1. Sean Allaire would then hit a ringing line drive to left center field to drive the runner from second but would get thrown out at second base on the play. CCSU took the lead on the play to make it 2-1.
The Seminoles would not get the lead right back in the bottom of the fifth. Devon Travis would get a lead off walk. He would move up to second on a balk call and Rafael Lopez would follow with a walk to put runners on first and second. Tyler Holt would come up and lay down a perfect bunt to third base to move the runners up. Sherman Johnson would hit a missile to first base that Tommy Meade would jump up and catch to keep the runners on second on third. Mike McGee would follow with an infield single up the middle to drive both runners home and give the Noles back the lead at 3-2. James Ramsey would end the inning by grounding out to first base.
The game would remain 3-2 until the bottom of the sixth when Stephen Cardullo would get a leadoff walk. He would move up to second on a wild pitch. Stuart Tapley would move him over to third with a sacrifice bunt. Jayce Boyd would single through the left side to drive in Cardullo and give the Noles the 4-2 lead. FSU would run themselves out of the inning when Jayce Boyd was caught stealing going to second and Devon Travis would ground out to first.
CCSU would get a runner back in the top of the seventh when Kyle Zarotney would get a one out single. After a Anthony Scialdone strikeout, Danny Hickey would hit a double into the left-center field gap to cut the lead in half for the Seminoles as they lead 4-3. Sean Allaire would walk to put runners on first and second. FSU would make a pitching change as they bring in Daniel Bennett who would get Sean Miller-Jones to groundout to end the inning.
Rafael Lopez would lead off the bottom of the seventh with a homer over the right field fence to put the Noles up 5-3. Tyler Holt would then hit a groundball over the third baseman’s head to put him on second base. He would steal third on a 1-1 count and would score as the throw from Danny Hickey went into the outfield to put the Noles up 6-3. Sherman Johnson would single into right field to get on first. CCSU would lift Dave Krasnowiecki in favor of Roy Natoli. Krasnowiecki pitched into the seventh inning without recording an out as he gave up eight hits and six runs while striking out. With McGee at the plate, Johnson would steal second. He would move over to third on a groundout to the pitcher by McGee. Johnson would score when Roy Natoli would balk him in to make it 7-3. The Blue Devils would get out of the inning without anymore damage.
The game would remain 7-3 until the bottom of the eighth when Jaycee Boyd would hit a double off the left field wall and Devon Travis would single to center to put runners on the corners. CCSU would lift Roy Natoli after one inning (ENTER RUNS) in favor of Donny White. The Noles would get a run on a Sherman Johnson bases loaded walk and three more on a James Ramsey single to right field that got behind Kyle Zarotney to put them up 11-3.
CCSU would get a two out double by Anthony Scialdone but Danny Hickey would ground out to short to end the game. Florida State moves to 43-17 and will play the winner of the UConn/Oregon game later today at 6:30pm on Saturday. Central Connecticut State will play the loser of the UConn/Oregon game at 2 pm tomorrow.
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