Midweek Recap: FSU takes both midweek games to start their five game week 2-0.
The #14 Florida State Seminoles took care of business this week at home. They now hold a 24-4 record going into their weekend series at Boston College.
JACKSONVILLE
GAME RESULTS:
FSU: 5 | JU: 3
SCORING:
FSU's first game of their five game week started as a pitching duel, as the score would remain 0-0 until the 3rd inning.
In the bottom of the 3rd inning, after a McGwire Holbrook double, his third of the year, and a Cal Fisher walk, Cam Smith would bring the first run of the game across. Smith grounded out to pitcher Blake Barquin, but since there was previously only one out in the inning, Holbrook was able to cross home plate.
JU quickly responded in the top of the 4th. Clay Hodges knocked a two out single into the outfield after Will Gale was able to reach third base by some sloppy defensive play from the Noles.
Tuesday night's game would remain a 1-1 stalemate until the bottom of the 6th inning. After a Cam Smith single into right field, he would steal second to put a RISP. Queue "Suavemente". James Tibbs III strutted to the plate with his new walk-up song and proceeded to hit his team leading twelfth HR of the season to put FSU on top 3-1.
In the top of the 7th inning FSU ran into even more sloppy pitching. JU's first two batters reached bases by a HBP and a walk respectively, putting a runner into scoring position. Delgado then laid a sacrifice bunt down to advance both runners to second and third. Cade Hentz then hit a sac fly to bring Edmonds home, making it a 3-2 ball game going into the home-half of the 7th inning. FSU responded with two RBI doubles by Fisher and Tibbs III to extend the lead to 3 runs, 5-2.
In the top of the 8th, Jacksonville would load the bases with no outs. Clay Hodges would ground out into a double play, however, JU's third run of the game would cross home plate cutting the Noles' lead to 2.
FSU would put the game to bed in the top of the 9th after a fly out from Jacksonville's Will Gale would end the game.
James Tibbs III propelled the Noles to their 23rd win almost by himself. 3-4 with a HR and 3 RBIs on the day. According to 247 sports' Brett Nevitt, this was Tibbs III 14th multi-hit game of the season.
PITCHING:
Brady Louck made his second career start in this game and had a solid performance. He pitched a career high 3.2 innings in which he had 6 Ks, 1 BB, 1 H, and 0 ER. Louck threw a total of 35 strikes in his 51 total pitches. He's showing great stuff out on the mound he just needs to stay consistent with his control as he did throw a wild pitch in this game which allowed a runner to advance.
The bullpen consisted of five total arms and they did exactly what FSU needed them to do. They did allow 2 earned runs, but never gave the lead to JU for the duration of the game. Andrew Armstrong would get his third win of the season out of the bullpen after his 2 K, 1 BB, 0 hit day facing nine batters. Dorsey would get some action again today and earned his third save.
Shoutout to Jacksonville's starting pitcher Blake Barquin. He had his stuff going pretty well for most of the game today and was able to keep FSU's explosive offense in check for the most part. The bats on his side didn't give him much help, but overall I think he had a solid game. Barquin finished with 4 Ks, 1 BB, 3 Rs, 3 ERs against 24 batters through six innings.
BETHUNE-COOKMAN
GAME RESULTS
FSU: 5 | BCU: 2
SCORING:
The Wildcats would put the first runs of the game on the board in the top of the 2nd. Febles hit an RBI double, but advanced to third after a throw home to try and stop the lead runner. The next at bat, Gidcumb would lay down a sacrifice bunt which brought Febles home putting BCU ahead 2-0. In the bottom of the 2nd, Ferrer lead off with a triple followed by a walk from Marco Dinges. Daniel Cantu would ground into a double play, but Dinges would come across home plate for the Noles' first run of the game.
In the bottom of the 3rd inning. DeAmez Ross would hit a leadoff single for FSU and eventually reach third base after he stole second and the BCU pitcher threw a wild pitch. Freshman Max Williams would then tie this game with an RBI base hit at two a piece.
No score through the entire 4th inning, but Max Williams would blast a leadoff HR, his third on the season, in the bottom of the 5th to give FSU their first lead of the game, 3-2. After Cam Smith walked in the next at bat, none other than James Tibbs III crushed his 13th HR of the season, his second in two games, and extend the FSU lead to 5-2.
The game would go on to end 5-2 after the Noles' bullpen pitched a tight game the rest of the way. James Tibs III had his 15th multi-hit game of the season as he went 2-3, HR and 2 RBIs (leads the team with 45). Max Williams finished his impressive day going 2-4, a HR and 2 RBIs.
FSU finished the day with a .241 batting average as a team as well as a.143 average with RISP. BCU hit .186 and went 0-9 with RISP.
PITCHING:
Freshman John Abraham struggled tonight in his first career start. He would only pitch 1.2 innings and finished his day with 1 K, 2 BBs, and 2 ERs. He just couldn't locate his pitches early and they just kind of snowballed on him.
So, the bullpen had to step up in a major way. Easy to say that they did. Through 7.1 innings the four bullpen arms combined for 12 Ks, gave up only 3 BBs, and didn't allow a single run, earned or unearned, for the rest of the game.
Yoel Tejeda Jr. was a pleasant surprise in his first appearance since March 23rd. He struck out four batters, walked one, and allowed only one hit in three innings, picking up his first win of the season. It was great to see him put together a complete performance tonight after struggling earlier in the season.
Connor Hults entered the game in the 8th and went six-up, six-down, striking out four batters on the way to earning the save.
Joel Core got the start today for Bethune-Cookman and held his own against the FSU lineup for awhile. Eventually the explosive bats got to him as he finished his day with 2 Ks, 1 BB, and 2 ER through 2.1 innings. His replacement, Patrick Groark, didn't have much success either as he picked up the loss today. Groark struck out only one batter, walked two, and allowed the other 3 ERs for the Noles.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
With the win against Bethune-Cookman, FSU won its 24th game of the season. This is pretty impressive for this program that only won 23 all of last season. You have to take note and give head coach Link Jarrett a lot of credit for how he's built this roster and their game to game execution.
Something that I noticed that was pretty exciting is how FSU is beginning to run the bases. With the return of DeAmez Ross, the Noles made stealing bases an emphasis point during these midweeks games as they stole four bases against Jacksonville and stole another three against Bethune-Cookman. Jordan Williams got a lot of action as a pinch runner and made the most of those opportunities.
Realistically, the offense isn't going to put up video game numbers every single game, so some of these lower scoring games are expected. The really impressive thing that I'm starting to see is the complementary baseball this team is playing. In both of these games, the starting pitchers for FSU gave up some runs, but the bats had their back and tied the games in relatively quick fashion. When their bats cooled off, the bullpen (yes the BULLPEN) has been stepping up holding opposing offenses in check.
There is definitely still room to improve as there always is. Midseason pick for Coach of the Year, Link Jarrett, said he wasn't particularly pleased with the at bats the offense had, believed there were some things they could've executed better.
All in all another great week at Howser. FSU improves their home record to 18-1 and are still perfect in the midweek.
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