No. 1 Florida State sweeps Eagles

It's never fun to play the No. 1 team in the nation on the road in a hostile environment. It's especially not fun when that team is coming off its first loss of the season. Boston College found that out this weekend in Tallahassee, as No. 1 Florida State (27-1, 8-0 ACC) bounced back from a 5-3 loss to Jacksonville on Wednesday, their first of the season. Dominant pitching was the order of the weekend for the Seminoles, capped by Sunday's performance by junior Ryan Strauss (seven innings, two hits, zero runs) in FSU's 7-0 blanking of the Eagles (6-11-1, 4-5 ACC). Strauss, now 6-0 with a 1.57 ERA, held the Eagles for six innings before catcher Tony Sanchez led off the seventh with a single down the left-field line. Michael Belfiore would add a single later in the inning, but those were the only two hits that the Eagles were able to get through on the day. The day got off to a rough start for BC and starter Nick Asselin, now 0-2 on the season. A one-out single by shortstop Mark Hallberg got the game going for the 'Noles, and two batters later, right-fielder Jack Rye smacked a two-run homer into right field. Asselin was replaced after two innings by Terry Doyle, who was able to keep the FSU offense in check for a few innings before surrendering three in the seventh on a three-run shot by left-fielder Dennis Guinn to put Florida State up 7-0 and out of reach of the Eagles. Saturday's contest, a 10-3 decision in favor of the home team, showed the explosiveness of the FSU offense. After spotting BC a pair of runs in the first inning, the Seminoles put up a six-pack of runs in the second inning, all off of BC starter Nate Jeanes, now 0-2 on the season. After Rye flied out to begin the inning, Guinn was hit by a pitch, and moved to second on a single by third baseman Jason Stidham. Both runners moved up on a hit by DH Travis Anderson and then scored on a double by center fielder Mark Gildea. Anderson and Gildea scored on a double by Brandon Reichert. A groundout by Tony Thomas, Jr., stopped the bleeding, but Hallberg opened the wound up again with an RBI double to score Reichert, and a Buster Posey double then scored him. Finally, the inning ended the way it began when Rye struck out.When the damage was all accounted for, Florida State had exploded for six runs on six hits, and at one point, five straight hitters reached base. Needless to say, it was the end of Jeanes' day. That was all the offense that FSU would need, however, with ace Michael Hyde on the mound. Hyde, now 8-0 with a 1.74 ERA, didn't have his best stuff, but it was enough to limit the Eagles to eight hits and two runs over seven innings. On Friday night, BC couldn't handle the outstanding pitching of FSU's Bryan Henry, falling 5-1. Henry moved to 8-0 with the win, surrendering just one run on four hits while striking out 10 in eight innings. Afterward, Henry talked about the importance of getting the series off to a good start after the Seminoles lost to Jacksonville on Wednesday. "That's what you want to do for every weekend series is come out and set the tone as the Friday guy. We're going to lose games, but it is good to come out and bounce back from a loss," Henry said to reporters after the game. The Eagles were able to hang around for a while behind the scrappy pitching of senior Kevin Boggan. Boggan scattered 11 hits over seven innings, while giving up three runs against the ACC's top offensive team. Boggan fell to 2-2 on the season. Florida State struck first in the third, when Boggan, despite striking out the side, gave up three singles, the last by Posey to score Thomas Jr. It was the beginning of a big day for Thomas: three-for-four, two runs scored, and an RBI to lead the FSU offense. BC came back in the fourth to knot it up at one when senior leftfielder Jared McGuire doubled home senior shortstop Ryan Hutchinson, who led off the inning with a walk. From the fifth inning on, however, the FSU offense grinded out the BC staff, scoring one run in each of its final four trips to the plate. The first run, scored by Posey, was an unearned one caused by a Hutchinson error - from there, it was all downhill for the Eagles.