May 23, 2008

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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) - Three Virginia pitchers combined to hold down Florida State's powerful offense, as the Cavaliers toppled the second-seeded Seminoles 5-3 on Friday night in the 2008 Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball Championship at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville. The victory marked the second time the Cavaliers upended a higher-seeded team in this year's league tournament, having defeated third-seeded North Carolina in a thrilling 8-7 extra inning win on opening day.

FSU (47-10), which tallied four home runs Wednesday in an 8-3 victory over Wake Forest, had only one extra-base hit against Virginia (38-19) - an RBI double in the second inning by Tony Delmonico that gave the Seminoles a 1-0 lead.

However, Virginia scored three runs in the bottom of the third on three singles, a sacrifice fly and a hit batter, and never trailed after that. The Cavaliers, seeded sixth in the tournament, added a run in the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Dan Grovatt and another in the seventh on Greg Miclat's RBI single.

Virginia starter Jacob Thompson (6-4) and relievers Matt Packer and Michael Schwimer combined to strike out eight batters and walk three. Schimer struck out two batters in working the ninth inning for his league-leading 13th save, and got Buster Posey, the ACC leader in average, runs scored and RBI, to line out to shortstop to end the game.

Ryan Strauss (8-1) suffered his first loss of the season for the Seminoles.

The game was suspended for 53 minutes in the bottom of the fifth inning due to lightning in the area.

FSU next plays third-seeded North Carolina at 5 p.m. on Saturday and Virginia will face No. 7 Wake Forest at 8 p.m. in the final two Division B round-robin games.

The other Division A contests on Saturday will match fifth-seeded Georgia Tech versus eighth-seeded Clemson at 10 a.m. and top-seeded Miami battling fourth-seeded NC State in the nightcap.

Game 7 Notes: Virginia 5, Florida State 3

• Virginia starter Jacob Thompson tossed a 1-2-3 inning to open the game against the Seminoles, striking out Florida State's Tyler Holt, Jason Stidham and ACC Player of the Year Buster Posey. In his first start against Florida State on April 4 of this year, Thompson allowed three hits, including a triple by Posey, and a pair of walks in the opening inning as the Seminoles jumped out to a 4-0 lead against the Cavaliers.

• Florida State shortstop Tony Delmonico drove in the Seminoles' first run of the game with a double to the wall in left center in the top of the second inning. The double was Delmonico's 17th of the season, and his 26th extra-base hit of the year.

• The Cavaliers' Thompson struck out at least one batter in each of his first four innings on the mound, and completed his outing with a personal ACC Championship-best six strikeouts. Thompson had made two starts in tournament play prior to this evening.

• Virginia scored three runs on three hits in the bottom of the third inning, matching its highest run output of the season against the Seminoles. The Cavaliers were swept by the Seminoles during the regular season, falling 10-3 on April 4, before dropping a pair of 3-2 (10 inning) games on April 6 in Tallahassee, Fla.

• Florida State catcher Buster Posey singled in the third inning and finished the evening 1-for-5 at the plate. Posey, who has hit safely in each of the Seminoles' four games against Virginia this season, batted .500 (9-for-18) against the Cavaliers this season.

• The Seminoles' Delmonico tied a season-high with four hits against the Cavaliers. Tonight marked Delmonico's third career four-hit performance.

• Virginia right fielder David Coleman set a new career-record with three hits against the Seminoles. Coleman, who now has 40 hits this season, also tied his career-record with five at-bats.

• Florida State reliever Bo O'Dell issued three walks over the course of 3.2 innings of relief against the Cavaliers. It was just the second career appearance for O'Dell in which he has walked more than two batters.

• Florida State's Jimmy Marshall made his 33rd appearance of the season to close out the bottom of the 8th inning. Marshall is now tied for 10th place at Florida State in appearances in a single season (Chris Chavez, 1999).

• Virginia is now 8-4 in ACC Championship games played in Jacksonville, Fla. (2004-08). The Cavaliers are 2-1 against the Seminoles during that time span.

• The Cavaliers are now 4-1 against No. 2 seeds in ACC Championship play since the start of the 2001 tournament.

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