The Golden Grizzlies baseball team traveled down to the snow free Tallahassee this past weekend to take on Florida State in a warm weekend tournament. Though clearly outmatched by the fifteenth ranked Seminoles, Oakland was able to showcase some of its talent throughout the weekend. 

The Grizzlies took advantage of Florida State’s first game jitters in the Friday afternoon game by scoring two runs in the first inning off of three Seminole errors. Starting pitcher Jason Hager threw four shutout innings to keep the Oakland lead safe. 

A fifth inning RBI double by the ACC player of the year DJ Stewart gave the Seminoles their first run. FSU scored two more in the seventh inning to take the lead and never give it back. Florida State went on to win with a final score of 7-3.

Saturday’s game began with promise but hope faded quickly. The Golden Grizzlies struck first again with an RBI double by sophomore Zach Sterry.  The Seminoles came back right away, however, taking advantage of Oakland’s struggling defense. FSU recorded seven runs in the bottom of the first and the game ended with a final score of 15-2. 

The Grizzlies returned to the field on Sunday looking to steal an upset.  The Seminoles had a 3-0 lead going into the seventh when Oakland’s Tyler Pagano singled to left to score Mike Brosseau for the team’s only run. The Grizzlies fought for two hits in the bottom of the ninth by Pagano and Brosseau but came up short, losing 5-1. 

 “We have some work to do in all areas, but I feel we played quite well in two of the three games,” head coach John Musachio said after the series.  “We handled the adversity very well. We showed poise and emotional resilience. Obviously, we would have loved to come home with a couple of wins but the positives we took from the weekend will be building blocks for this year’s team.”

The Grizzlies will head to Los Angeles on Friday, Feb. 20 to open up a three game series against the University of Southern California Trojans.