Florida State tops rival Florida with walk-off grand slam to complete cycle for Alex Lodise

It’s not often you hit a walk-off grand slam. It’s even rarer that there’s somehow an even more impressive part of that stat. Florida State, take a bow.

Alex Lodise stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and the game tied at 4-4 against arch-rival Florida in the bottom of the ninth inning. Lodise was a home run short of the cycle in the game, having already hit a single, a double and a triple.

So why wait? Lodise blasted the very first pitch of his at-bat past the right-field fence.

Game. Blouses.

The winning blast came after Florida State had blown a lead in the top of the ninth inning after getting Florida down to its final strike of the game. The Gators managed to rally for a pair of runs, taking a 4-3 lead into the bottom half of the ninth inning.

That set up the potential heroics for Alex Lodise. Of course, Florida State had to go through some batters first to get there.

Things started to unravel for Florida when Alex Philpott lost his control. Philpott had been terrific just an inning prior, when he struck out the side.

He couldn’t find the plate in the ninth, though. Even with Florida State trying to bunt a pair of runners over, Philpott walked the bases loaded.

Right fielder Gage Harrelson singled home a run with a ball hit awkwardly to second base. That tied the game at 4-4. It also brought up Lodise for Florida State with the bases loaded.

Lodise had previously doubled in the first inning, singled in the third inning and tripled in the seventh inning. That set him up for the cycle.

And he delivered with the moonshot to right field. It’ll be a night he won’t forget for a long time. And for Florida State, it was an oh-so-sweet victory over a bitter rival. Doesn’t get much better than that.

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