The Florida State Seminoles looked as though they would outlast the Clemson Tigers on Friday in the ACC baseball tournament after suffering a 5-4 loss to Georgia Tech in their first game of the tournament. But Clemson had different plans for the No. 1-seed Seminoles.
A two-run walk-off home run to right field by sophomore first baseman Jon McGibbon gave the Tigers the 9-7 comeback win against what many believed to be the best team in the country when the regular season ended.
Clemson led against Florida State early, starting in the second inning when senior Jason Stoltz scored an unearned run on a Florida State throwing error after reaching base on a walk and stealing second.
Florida State came back at Clemson with a four-run third inning, sparked by an RBI double to left field from Devon Travis to score Jose Brizuela. Travis was then plated by an RBI single to center field by James Ramsey, which gave the Seminoles a 2-1 lead.
Shortstop Justin Gonzales hit the other RBI in the third inning, while first baseman Jayce Boyd scored on a balk.
Clemson answered with runs in the fourth and fifth innings, but it still didn't seem like quite enough to withstand Florida State, which scored again in the fifth, then another pair of runs in the eighth inning. But the Tigers scored a pair of runs of their own in the eighth, then McGibbon's blast in ninth was the death of the Noles.
Read more about the Seminoles at Tomahawk Nation and SB Nation Tampa Bay.