TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — All signs pointed to Drew Parrish. Florida State baseball coach Mike Martin’s gut, his teammates’ calls for him, Parrish’s response and dedication to preparation in a 150-minute rain delay. In that time, Martin decided he would give his starting pitcher the opportunity to finish the game.
The game did finish under Parrish’s watch, but not the way the Seminoles (43-19) thought it would.
Parrish dominated Mississippi State (32-26) for eight innings, holding the Bulldogs scoreless with three hits. Two walks and a three-run home run from the bat of Elijah MacNamee spoiled Parrish’s work in the 3-2 MSU win that sent the hosting Seminoles out of the Tallahassee Regional. Martin’s decision to stick with a pitcher 109 pitches in after a 2 1/2 hour delay may not be common procedure, but it is a decision he stands by.
“Drew Parrish is not planning to pitch anywhere this summer. He’s going to go home and rest,” Martin said. “We wanted him to have the ball because he wanted the ball, his teammates wanted him to have the ball and if I had to do it over again, I would make the same decision.
“He was the guy our entire organization wanted on the mound.”
Parrish’s return brought him against the top of the Bulldog lineup. He ultimately walked two to set up the game-winning home run, but as he went he retired Rowdey Jordan (.299) and Tanner Allen (.294), sending both of them to 0-for-4 days. MSU center fielder Jake Mangum was impressed with the ninth-inning Parrish he saw as he drew a walk.
“I’m going to be honest with you, he still had all of his stuff. He threw me all of his pitches in that last at-bat,” Mangum said. “He controlled three different pitches wherever he wanted to all game. That was a terrific start by him.
“The changeup (MacNamee) hit looked the same changeup he threw all day that we swung through. It looked like he was on attack the entire game.”
Westburg’s return
Freshman third baseman Jordan Westburg played for the first time in two weeks since injuring his hamstring in the final regular season series of the season against Florida. Westburg was used as a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning, going in for 0-for-2 catcher Marshall Gilbert. Westburg struck out swinging and Dustin Skelton entered the game at catcher for the following half-inning, one day after catching 244 pitches and going 2-for-4 at the plate.
Self goes longer
One day after MSU interim coach Gary Henderson said he didn’t feel like relief pitcher Riley Self had nine outs in him, Henderson turned to Self for nine outs that earned him the win (4-0). Three of those outs came after the rain delay.
“A lot of things you do pitching-wise are predicated on trying to win weekends. It’s not all black and white, just in the moment,” Henderson said. “When those decisions are being made, I’m thinking we’re going to win the game and we’re going to win a couple more games.
“If we don’t hold them there it’s going to be really hard to play tomorrow. Yesterday we made the decision thinking we had three or four games here; today, it was pretty clear what the options are. Hold them at two, maybe at three and keep playing or go home. I was interested in staying here and playing more baseball in Tallahassee.”
Small rebounded
On a day when MSU carried a taxed bullpen into an elimination game, the first inning gave bad omens.
MSU starting pitcher Ethan Small took 20 pitches to get through his first inning, but found his way to get through six innings. He held the Seminoles to five hits and two runs in those six innings, striking out eight.
“It’s one of those things, you find a rhythm and once you get that going you get more confident,” Small said. “Obviously you’d like to start out that way. The biggest thing is I gave our guys a chance to win the game, to do what (MacNamee) did.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brett Hudson on Twitter @Brett_Hudson
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