There would be no silver lining for Florida State in its weekend series at Georgia Tech.
If anything, there was whatever the opposite of a silver lining is.
After dropping the first two games of the series and losing its first ACC series of the season in competitive fashion, the fifth-ranked Seminoles (24-11) were unable to salvage a win, falling 17-3 in seven innings in Saturday’s series finale at No. 3 Georgia Tech (30-5)
It was far and away their least competitive game of the weekend and finishes off an 0-4 week for FSU, which had previously not lost more than two games in any week.
FSU trailed by one and two runs, respectively, in the eighth inning of the first two games, largely holding the Yellow Jackets’ strong offense down with 12 total runs allowed.
Georgia Tech awakened with a vengeance in the series finale, scoring in four of its six innings. After scraping across just two runs through four innings, a five-run fifth gave the Jackets their first lead as well as a 10-run sixth inning which firmly put the game into run-rule territory.
The Yellow Jackets, who entered with 76 home runs on the season, had just one homer through the first two games before homering four times in the final game. They also racked up a series-high 16 hits to finish with 38 on the weekend.
FSU’s offense was once again not totally silent. The Seminoles opened one-run leads in the first, second and fifth innings on a pair of homers from Brayden Dowd and Carter McCulley as well as a sacrifice fly from Dowd after Chase Williams’ leadoff triple.
But as was the case a lot this weekend, the Seminoles struggled to put up a crooked number. Of FSU’s six homers over the weekend — a positive going forward — five of them were solo shots and the other was a two-run homer.
Dowd had his third straight impactful game of the weekend, amassing two hits and two RBI. Kelvyn Paulino Jr. had a double and two walks, reaching in all three plate appearances.
But once again, situational hitting was a struggle. The Seminoles were 1-for-8 with runners on base (.125) and hitless in four at-bats with runners in scoring position.
They finish the GT series a combined 6-of-33 with runners on base (.182) and 1-for-15 with runners in scoring position (.067).
It certainly didn’t help matters for FSU that Bryson Moore lasted just three innings and 67 pitches on a surprisingly smoldering Atlanta afternoon. He navigated traffic to allow just one run in each of the first two innings but threw 42 in the first alone as a large sweat patch built on the back of his jersey.
FSU’s depleted bullpen through the first two games was no match for Georgia Tech’s overpowered offense. After Moore allowed two runs on three hits through three innings with five strikeouts, six FSU relievers combined to allow 15 runs (11 earned) on 13 hits over three innings of work.