Feb. 6, 2004
TEMPE, Ariz. (www.TheSunDevils.com) -- Junior catcher Tuffy Gosewisch had a two-out, two-run double in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the No. 10 Arizona State Sun Devils a thrilling 2-1 victory over No. 18 Florida State on opening night in front of 3,087 Friday night at Packard Stadium.
The Devils left 12 men on base and came within one out of ending its NCAA record 501 consecutive games scoring streak. Gosewisch led ASU at the plate, going 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles. ASU is now 26-2 all-time in season openers dating back to 1977 and are 9-1 under current head coach Pat Murphy. The last time ASU was shut out was on April 7, 1995 at USC and the last time at Packard Stadium was on May 14, 1989. Florida State drops to 1-2 on the season after opening the season with a pair of wins last weekend against VMI.
"I thought we played tremendous defense and really had two great pitching performances from Mousser and Zinicola," said Murphy. "We were uncharacteristically really tentative at the plate, but that will come. I am really proud of the way the guys battled all the way to the end."
Senior transfer Jeff Mousser (Tempe) made a memorable debut in a Sun Devil uniform, giving up three hits and striking out three in seven innings. Mousser prepped at Tempe's Marcos de Niza High School and spent the last three years at BYU. Freshman Zechry Zinicola (San Bernadino, Calif.) earned the victory his collegiate debut with two shutout innings.
Florida State starter Hunter Jones also gave a sterling performance, giving up four hits in five scoreless innings. Reliever Kevin Lynch suffered the loss, giving up one hit and two unearned runs.
The ninth-inning rally started with a one-out error on a throwing error by FSU second baseman Bryan Zech to allow senior designated hitter Nick Walsh to reach. Junior All-American Dustin Pedroia doubled to the right field gap to move Walsh to third and preseason All-American Jeff Larish was intentionally walked to load the bases. After reliever Rhett James struck out Travis Buck, Gosewisch delivered the game-winning double with a line drive that barely eluded the glove of right fielder Eddy Martinez-Esteve.
The Seminoles struck first with a single tally in the top of the third. Mousser gave up a two-out single to catcher Aaron Cheesman and a walk to leadoff hitter Shane Robinson. Preseason All-American Stephen Drew plated a run with a single through the right side. Arizona State 2, Florida State 1 (Feb 06, 2004 at Tempe, Ariz.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Florida State....... 001 000 000 - 1 4 2 (2-1) Arizona State....... 000 000 002 - 2 7 0 (1-0) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Pitchers: Florida State - Jones; Schultz(6); Lynch(8); James(9). Arizona State - Mousser; Zinicola(8). Win-Zinicola(1-0) Loss-Lynch(1-1) T-2:50 A-3087 --Sun Devil Baseball--