TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Behind the right arm of Mike Compton, No. 2 Florida State bounced back from only its second loss of the season Sunday with a 7-0 blanking of Maryland at Dick Howser Stadium. Compton's complete game shutout was the first thrown by a Seminole pitcher since 2004.
"I didn't realize that before it was just mentioned to me, but I can't say enough about the great job that Compton did," Florida State head coach Mike Martin said. "This was an important game; it was a very big, important game for us to get off to a good start in the league."
Compton's gem was the first by a Seminole pitcher since Rhett James blanked Virginia 8-0 in Charlottesville on May 7, 2004.
"(It felt) pretty good," said Compton. "I definitely had it all going today. I felt like I had pinpoint control; everywhere I wanted it to go, it went. It was mainly fastball, slider, just mixing those up. I had good movement on the ball today. We had great defense behind me, it felt great."
The Branson, Mo., native allowed only two hits on the afternoon and faced just three over the minimum as he did not walk a batter while finishing with a career-high 10 strikeouts. Compton faced the minimum in seven of the nine innings he worked on Sunday.
"The story is Mike Compton," added Martin. "I can't say enough about the great job Coach Bell did in running the defensive side of the game. Compton executed beautifully today. It was a big win for us."
Compton had it going right from the start retiring the first 11 batters that he faced before LaMonte Wade singled up the middle with two outs in the fourth.
The redshirt sophomore responded by setting down the next 12 batters in the Maryland line-up before Blake Schmit singled up the middle with two outs in the eighth. He returned to pitch the ninth and retired the side in order closing the game by striking out pinch hitter Tim Lewis for his 10th strikeout.
"It was really fun to see the reaction of the other pitchers," said Martin. "They were really pumped for Compton to get the shutout and the complete game."
Florida State provided Compton with all the run support he would need in the fourth when the Seminoles erupted for six runs off Maryland starter Jared Price (1-2). FSU sent 11 batters to the plate in the inning as it marked the 14th time this year and the third time against Maryland this weekend that the Seminoles scored four or more runs in an inning.
"When you get those big leads like that it is definitely comforting for the pitcher," added Compton. "When you go out there you don't feel so pressured to give up a hit. It is just huge for our offense to come through with that big inning."
FSU loaded the bases off Price on walks to DJ Stewart and Jose Brizuela sandwiched by a double off the bat of Brett Knief. John Nogowski broke the scoreless tie chopping a two-run double over the head of Maryland third baseman Jose Cuas and down the line in left. John Sansone followed with an RBI single through the left side. Ben DeLuzio gave the Seminoles a four-run cushion as his groundball to short was muffed by Schmit but scored Nogowski from third. Josh Delph brought home Sansone on a sac-fly to center while Stewart drove in DeLuzio on a two-out RBI single up the middle.
The Seminoles pushed their lead to 7-0 in the fifth when Brizuela was hit by a pitch to open the inning and later scored on a sac-fly to left by Danny De La Calle.
Nogowski and Sansone paced the Florida State offense on Sunday finishing with two hits apiece. Nogowski drove in a team-high two runs, while Delph, Stewart, Sansone, DeLuzio and De La Calle all registered an RBI.
The win on Sunday pushed Florida State's all-time series lead over Maryland to 68-7. The Seminoles also have never lost an ACC series to the Terps - a streak of 23 straight series victories as this weekend marked the final time these two schools will meet as conference opponents.
"Maryland is a very impressive club; they are going to be very tough throughout the year," said Martin. "I was very impressed with them."
