Virginia falls to No. 6 Florida State, 12-3

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.-The Virginia baseball team dropped the first game of a three-game series to No. 6 Florida State, 12-3, Saturday night (March 17) at Dick Howser Stadium. With the loss, the Cavaliers fell to 11-6-1 and 2-2 in ACC play, while the Seminoles improved to 15-2 and 4-0 in conference action.

Cavalier starter Scott Silverstein (Sr., Olney, Md.) (1-2) lasted four and a third innings, allowing five runs (one earned), five hits and he struck out four. Shane Halley (Sr., Burke, Va.) allowed one run in an inning of work, while Austin Young (So., Mechanicsville, Va.) gave up three runs in an inning and two-thirds. Nathaniel Abel (Fr., Haymarket, Va.) allowed three runs in an inning of work.

Seminole starter Brandon Leibrandt allowed eight hits and three runs in four frames with four strikeouts. Reliever Hunter Scantling (3-0) threw four scoreless innings to earn the win.

The Cavaliers started off on the right foot with a two-run, two-out rally in the first inning. Stephen Bruno (Jr., Audubon, N.J.) singled before moving to third on a double off the right-field fence by Mike Papi (Fr., Tunkhannock, Pa.). Both would score on a bloop single to right by Jared King (Sr., Radford, Va.).

Virginia would extend its lead to 3-0 in the fourth on a Chris Taylor (Jr., Virginia Beach, Va.) RBI single that scored Nate Irving (Fr., Yonkers, N.Y.), but Florida State capitalized on a Cavalier miscue to score three unearned runs in the bottom of the fourth.

In the bottom of the fifth, John Nogowski hit a single just over first base and down the line to score Stephen McGee and Justin Gonzalez and give the Seminoles their first lead of the game, 5-3. FSU added another run in the sixth, when Sherman Johnson scored on a passed ball.

Florida State’s James Ramsey hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the seventh and Jose Brizuela added a two-run single in the eighth to extend FSU’s lead.

The series continues Sunday (March 18) at 2 p.m., and Monday (March 19) at 7 p.m. Sunday’s game will be broadcast live on ESPN3.com, while Monday’s contest can be seen on ESPNU.