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TAMPA (March 3, 2015)— The USF baseball team dropped the first of two mid-week games at Florida State on Tuesday as the Seminoles posted a 24-1 victory. The teams take the diamond again Wednesday in Tallahassee.

Almost a year to the day since last playing Florida State, Buddy Putnam came through to score for the Bulls. In last year's opening game with the Seminoles, Putnam hit a solo homerun down the right field line, putting up the only run for the Bulls. This year, Putnam hit a two-out double, the third of the game for the Bulls, before being driven home a batter later on an RBI single by Zac Gilcrease.

Brandon Lawson took the loss for the Bulls (6-5-1), giving up 10 runs on 10 hits in four innings of work. Despite the loss, Lawson tied his single-game career-high with five strikeouts.

Florida State (9-3) got off to a hot start, scoring at least two runs in each of the first five innings. Four homeruns helped the Seminoles take a 14-0 lead before being held scoreless in the sixth, thanks to two strikeouts by Brandon Murray.

FSU would go on to score another 10 runs in the final two innings. The Seminoles tacked on two in the seventh and eight in the eighth.

Of the nine hits tallied by USF, four were doubles by Putnamn, Kevin Merrell, Luke Borders and Andres Leal. It was the third extra-base hit since Sunday for Borders and fifth of the season. For Merrell, it was his fourth double of the season and Leal's second.

Putnam's run was the highlight of the offense, but Borders has a productive outing, going 2-for-3 at the plate, while Gilcrease went 2-for-4 with an RBI.

The Bulls and Seminoles return to the field tomorrow, March 4, for the second and final game of the series. First pitch is slated for 4:00 p.m. on ESPN3.

For more information on the USF baseball team, follow @USFBaseball on Twitter.

- #GoBulls -