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Brown sparks 'Noles twice

FSU 10, DUKE 7: Jerrod Brown singles with the bases loaded in the 7th and 8th innings.

By BRIAN LANDMAN, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published May 23, 2002

ST. PETERSBURG -- Florida State junior first baseman Jerrod Brown hadn't exactly been knocking the cover off the ball the past couple of weeks.

But apparently he hadn't been at-bat with the bases loaded much in that time. In those situations, he virtually has been unstoppable, as he showed again Wednesday afternoon in the Atlantic Coast Conference baseball tournament.

Good thing too, if you're a Seminole fan.

His bases-loaded singles -- with two outs in the seventh and eighth innings -- drove in four and helped the top-seeded Seminoles rally for a 10-7 win against ninth-seeded Duke at Florida Power Park.

The Seminoles (52-12), who have won 18 straight, meet fourth-seeded and sixth-ranked Clemson (45-12) at 5 tonight. Last weekend, the Seminoles swept the Tigers at Clemson to claim the league's regular-season title.

"We're obviously very fortunate to win the ballgame," FSU coach Mike Martin said. "Offensively, you all saw it, there were a lot of big hits. I can't say enough about Jerrod."

At least, when he's at-bat and the bases are loaded.

Brown's 12-for-14 in such situations. That's an .857 average.

"I really don't try to do too much," said the former Hillsborough Community College standout who was 4-for-24 in his past six games. "I just try to hit the ball in the hole and make something happen for the team."

He did this day. But who would have thought the Seminoles would need him to deliver twice like that against Duke (24-33)? The Blue Devils dropped three games at Tallahassee this month by a combined score of 49-12.

"My guys are pretty good at math," Duke coach Bill Hillier said.

Duke's starting pitcher, oft-injured and lightly used sophomore right-hander Colin Begley, had given up four of those runs in 11/3 innings. But the Blue Devils took some pressure off Begley by scoring five off FSU junior right-hander Robby Read in two-thirds of an inning and forced Martin to go to sophomore left-hander Trent Peterson.

With a startling five-run cushion, Begley, in just his first start of the season and second of his career, hardly resembled a pitcher who had a 9.69 ERA in 13 innings. His changeup kept the overeager Seminoles off balance.

"Colin did a great job," said Hillier, who was ejected in the bottom of the seventh for arguing a call. "He had back problems last year and has not pitched much for us in the past. ... In a situation like that when you have the No. 1 team in the country in their home state, he did an unbelievable job. He gave us a chance to win the ballgame."

In the meantime, Peterson (4-2) shut down the Blue Devils, allowing three hits and a walk in 71/3 innings: "You know it's going to come. ... eventually. We've come from behind quite a few times this year, so when you're out there on the hill, you stay confident."

With his team down 5-2 in the bottom of the seventh, Brown supported that attitude. He laced a 1-and-1 fastball into rightfield to score senior Mike Futrell and sophomore Tony McQuade.

"I'd been staying away from lefties all day and then busting inside and I just didn't get it as far in as I wanted and he got the barrel on it," Begley said.

Sophomore Tony Richie followed with a single off reliever Brian Patrick (2-4) to score senior Blair McCaleb to tie it. In the eighth, again with the bases loaded, Brown singled to right to fuel a five-run outburst.

He had been 0-for-3 before those two at-bats.

None came with the bases loaded.

"You can't get down when you hit the ball hard and somebody catches it and then you have two not-so-great (at-bats)," he said. "You've just got to keep working and drive the ball somewhere."

Duke scored twice in the ninth off freshman Justin Miller, but junior closer Daniel Hodges earned his ninth save by getting sophomore Bryan Smith to foul out.

"I'm very pleased with the way our guys did not panic," Martin said. "When we got our opportunity, we took advantage of it. That's the mark of a good club, taking advantage of opportunity."

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