University of North Carolina Athletics
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Florida State
Tar Heels Fall To #3 Florida State, 8-4
March 28, 2003 | Baseball
March 28, 2003
TALLAHASSEE, FLA. - Florida State (27-4, 5-2 ACC) defeated North Carolina (18-8, 2-2 ACC), 8-4 in front of 3,532 people on Friday evening at Dick Howser Stadium. The Tar Heels came into the game with the league's top offense, but the Seminoles used a combination of strong pitching and hitting to end Carolina's four game winning streak.
Florida State starting pitcher Trent Peterson gave up just two runs in 5.2 innings while striking out nine Carolina batters to pick up his fifth victory of the season.
The Seminoles grabbed an early lead by putting three runs on the board in the bottom of the second. With two outs, Eddy Martinez-Esteve singled up the middle, scoring Danny Wardell who had reached earlier in the inning on a walk. Tony Richie followed with line drive single to left field which brought Stephen Drew around with Florida State's second run. Chris Hart's infield single scored Martinez-Esteve and gave the Seminoles an early 3-0 lead.
Florida State struck again in the bottom of the fourth inning. Martinez-Esteve singled for the third consecutive at-bat and came around to score on Richie's fifth home run of the season, making it a 5-0 ballgame.
FSU put two more runs on the board in the bottom of the fifth. After Matt Sauls was hit by a pitch and Carolina secondbaseman Greg Mangum made errors on consecutive plays, Derrick Smith drove in Drew with an RBI single.
Carolina finally got on the board with two runs in the top of the sixth inning. A bases-loaded walk by Sammy Hewitt plated Chad Prosser who had reached earlier in the inning on a fielder's choice. Jeremy Cleveland crossed home with the Tar Heels' second run on a wild pitch by Florida State reliever Rhett James.
Trailing 8-2 in the top of the eighth, the Tar Heels scored twice in the inning. Sean Farrell reached on an error, and with two outs, Hewitt doubled. Chris Iannetta followed with a single up the middle, scoring Blake, who had reached on a fielder's choice, and Hewitt to bring Carolina within four runs.
The Tar Heels and Seminoles continue their series with game two on Saturday at 6 p.m. Follow all the action live from Tallahassee with TarHeelBlue.com's Gametracker.
