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Posey Homers Twice In FSU's Win Over Wake

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By TIM LINAFELT/Tribune correspondent

Published: May 21, 2008

JACKSONVILLE – Through six innings Wednesday night, third-ranked Florida State had trouble overcoming a pesky Wake Forest team in the opening round of the Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball Tournament.

However, with a player like Buster Posey at the plate, the Seminoles can quickly take control of any game, as they proved against the Demon Deacons.

Posey, named ACC Player of the Year on Monday, teamed up with first baseman Dennis Guinn for a pair of towering home runs in the seventh, part of a three-run inning that propelled FSU (47-9) to an 8-3 win at The Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville.

"We were fortunate in a number of ways, but it was certainly a well-played game by both teams," FSU coach Mike Martin said. "A typical ACC game – just solid baseball."

With FSU nursing a one-run advantage, Posey hit his 19th homer of the season and second of the night, a monstrous 440-foot shot over the centerfield wall. Two batters later, Guinn hit a bomb of his own that cleared a fence thirty feet beyond the left field wall, breaking the game open.

The Seminoles took a one-run lead in the bottom of the third on Stuart Tapley's solo homer. After evening the score in the sixth, Wake Forest's Allan Dykstra hit two-run homer off FSU starter Matt Fairel, giving the Demon Deacons a 3-1 lead.

Guinn said that the No. 2-seed Seminoles weren't concerned after falling behind the seventh-seeded Demon Deacons.

"Our whole team, we're ready," Guinn said. "When we got down 3-1, there was no hesitation, no different train of thought. We just knew coming up that we had to respond, and we responded the right way."

Fairel pitched seven innings, striking out eight and allowed just four hits to pick up his 10th win of the season. FSU relievers John Gast and Jimmy Marshall each worked one inning to clinch the win.

FSU advanced to face Virginia on Friday at 5 p.m. Former Bloomingdale High standout Ryan Strauss, who is 8-0 with a 4.10 ERA in his senior season, will start for the Noles.

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