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.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
