florida state seminoles

Stewart, Biegalski Lead FSU Past Tigers

Florida State did something early Wednesday afternoon in Durham that it couldn’t late last week in Tallahassee — beat Clemson.

The Seminoles (38-19) snapped a 5-game skid and started pool play on the right foot at the ACC Tournament with a 3-1 victory over the Tigers in a contest that lasted less than three hours.

All three Florida State runs came in the third inning. With two outs, D.J. Stewart tripled home a pair of runs with a shot off the left field wall. Quincy Nieporte followed it up with a RBI single through the right side.

On the mound, sophomore Boomer Biegalski was outstanding. He allowed four hits and a walk in 6 1/3 shutout innings while striking out seven to earn the win to improve to 6-4 on the year.

Clemson (31-26) chased Biegalski by loading the bases in the seventh, but FSU lefty reliever Dylan Silva got Florida State out of the jam by forcing Glenn Batson to hit into an inning-ending double play.

Billy Strode struck out four of the five batters he retired to pick up his 13th save of the season for the Seminoles. Strode faced a jam of his own in the eighth.

After a single by Reed Rohlman in the top of the inning loaded the bases for Clemson, Chris Okey drove in the only Tiger run on a groundout. With the tying run in scoring position, Strode struck out catcher Robert Jolly to end the threat.

Strode pitched around a pair of walks in the ninth to strike out the side.

Fourth-seeded Florida State begins 1-0 in the conference tournament and will face No. 8 seed North Carolina on Friday night. For Clemson to stay alive for the conference crown, the fifth-seeded Tigers will need to defeat top-seeded Louisville on Friday afternoon and have FSU lose to the Tar Heels.

About Mike Ferguson

Mike Ferguson is a Bloguin contributor, the editor of Noled Out and a lifetime Florida State sports enthusiast. Mike vividly remembers watching Warrick Dunn run down the sideline in Gainesville in 1993, the "Choke at Doak" in 1994 and Monte Cummings' driving layup to beat #1 Duke in 2002. Mike has worked as a sports reporter in both print and online. For isportsweb in 2013, Mike gave press coverage of Florida State football's run to the 2013 national championship. Mike has been featured on SI.com, FoxSports.com and Yahoo Sports while interviewing major sports stars such as 2013 National League MVP Andrew McCutchen. Mike graduated from Florida State University in 2009 with a major in Religion and a minor in Communications. Mike currently resides in Haines City, Florida with his wife Jennifer and daughters Trinity and Greenly. Mike is a full-time reporter at Polk County's newspaper, The Ledger, in Lakeland, Florida. Mike can be followed on Twitter @MikeWFerguson.

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