Tuesday night at Dick Howser Stadium wasn't Florida State baseball's finest offensive showing, but when it mattered most, the Seminoles delivered. No. 14 FSU (34-14, 15-9 ACC) clinched a 5-2 victory over Jacksonville in their final midweek matchup of the season, powered by clutch hitting that turned a slow start into a winning finish.

The bats of John Stuetzer, Nathan Cmeyla, and Brayden Dowd led the charge, driving in all five runs and accounting for half of the team's 10 hits. Stuetzer broke the ice in the fifth inning, launching his seventh home run of the season deep to left field to put FSU on the board. Cmeyla followed with a sacrifice fly and a single in the fifth and seventh innings, tallying two RBIs. Dowd sealed the deal in the eighth with a two-run blast to center, finishing 3-for-5 with a homer and a double.

It wasn't all smooth sailing, though. The Seminoles found themselves in an early 2-0 hole after Jacksonville struck in the third inning with a wild pitch and an RBI single from Derek Bermudez. Starter Cooper Whited threw 2.2 innings, striking out four and allowing two hits before giving way to Cade O'Leary. O'Leary's first pitch went wild, and Bermudez capitalized six pitches later, but the bullpen—Brodie Purcell, Cole Stokes, and Kevin Mebil—shut the door from there, holding the Dolphins hitless for the rest of the game.

FSU had multiple chances to blow the game open but left 12 runners on base, including bases-loaded threats in the fourth and fifth innings that fizzled out. Despite the missed opportunities, Dowd's eighth-inning heroics pushed the team's batting average with runners on base to 4-for-17, a stat that reflected the up-and-down night at the plate. Still, in a sport where timing is everything, the Seminoles proved that a few well-placed swings can make all the difference.