Midweek Preview: The Noles take a trip to Tampa and take on the Bulls for their first road trip of the season

 

    The #5 FSU Seminoles travel down to Tampa to face the USF Bulls in the first road game of the season. The Bulls finished last season with a record of 26-29 and just missed the AAC conference tournament.

    The Noles are coming off a dominant opening weekend outing after sweeping JMU, outscoring the Dukes 27-2. The Bulls are coming from a slight upset series victory against the Iowa Hawkeyes, taking the series two games to one.

    The Bulls made a sneakily good hire this offseason and brought in a great head coach, Mitch Hannahs. Hannahs was previously the head coach for the Indiana State Sycamores. Over his ten-year tenure at ISU, Hannahs won four Missouri Valley Conference championships and made it to four of the last five NCAA tournaments (they hosted their first Super Regional in 2023). 

    Offensive Expectations

USF

    The Bulls play a much different brand of baseball than FSU saw over the weekend against JMU. The Bulls play a lot of small ball, getting batters on base and laying down some great bunts to bring them home. In their game on Sunday, the Bulls laid down three bunt singles.

    To go along with their bunting ability, USF is also aggressive on the bases. The Bulls stole six bases on eight attempts, which is good enough for second in the American. These base runners will test the Noles and their awareness around the infield. 

    As a team, the Bulls batted .198 (last in AAC) with a .665 OPS and a .365 SLG. It was not the prettiest offensive showing against Iowa, but USF did enough for them to take their first series of the year.  

    USF's standout player from the weekend was Ryan Pruitt. Pruitt, now a Junior, transferred in from Yavapai College where he finished the season batting a 0.383 AVG with 18 2B, 3 3B, 5 HR, and 31 RBI. In his Bulls debut, Pruitt finished the weekend with a 0.556 AVG, 1.969 OPS, 1.33 SLG%, 2 HR, and 5 RBI. All of these currently lead USF's batting in every category. 

    The Bulls have a familiar face on their roster. Lance Trippel, USF's starting catcher, was in an FSU jersey just a season ago. Over 30 games played for the Noles, Trippel hit for a 0.235 AVG and three RBIs.  

FSU

    The Noles' offense started slow, but really found its grove on Saturday. In FSU's first game of the year, they recorded just six total hits. However, over the next two games the Noles recorded 10 hits each, finishing with a total of 26 on the weekend. The early batting woes are not a huge issue yet as opening weekend usually sees some of the worst at-bats of the season. 

    It wasn't the most productive start for returners Fisher, Williams, and West. All three batted under the .250 mark and combined for just four hits. Again, this isn't something to be concerned about yet as these three are adjusting to their new expanded roles. Look for them to bounce back in their first-midweek matchup of the season. 

    Drew Faurot and Alex Lodise had themselves an explosive first series. Faruot leads the team with a .500 AVG and smashed two HRs over the new fence in Howser. Faurot is also the only player on FSU to finish with a SLG% higher than 1.000 (1.083).

    After a slow start, Lodise flipped a switch and put together a very nice weekend himself. On Friday, Lodise went 0-5 from the plate but followed that by going 6-9 with a HR and four RBIs over the next two games. Watch for these two players to continue their hot start.

    Newcomers Bailey, Carns, Sheffield Cmeyla, McCulley, Harrelson, and Williams all made an impact over the weekend as well. It will be interesting to see how these players mesh into Coach Jarrett's culture throughout the season. For Bailey, Sheffield, and Carns the game against the Bulls tonight will be their first collegiate road game. 

    An interesting thing to see from the opening weekend is that FSU stole the second-most bases in the ACC. Last season, the Noles opened conference play pretty aggressively on the base path but slowed down a bit when conference play started. Watch for FSU to keep up this aggressiveness with the help of Harrelson and Chase Williams. 

    

Pitching and Defense

USF

    The Bull on the mound is pretty interesting. Bryce Archie, a righty, will be USF's starting pitcher, but he was also the USF starting QB for eight games this season. 

    On the football field, Archie finished the 2024-2025 season with 9 TDs, 10 INTs, and 1,914 yards. He led the Bulls to a 5-3 record and a bowl game victory. In his lone baseball season with the Bulls, Archie's stat line looked like 15.0 IP, 15 K, 12 BB, and an 8.40 ERA. Not a great first season, but he's now had a whole offseason to work under coach Hannahs, so there could be a lot of improvement.

    Defensively, the Bulls were not terrible, but they definitely made some mistakes. They finished last weekend with three total errors and a 97.1 fielding percentage. 

    Although Lance Trippel's bat got off to a slow start, he has had a great start in the catcher's gear. He leads the team in total putouts with 31 and has already caught three runners stealing. 

    Look for the Bulls to clean up some of their mistakes, especially with the number nine team in the nation traveling to their home turf. 

FSU

    The Noles also played a decently clean opening series. Over their first three games, FSU committed just two errors and had 11 players with perfect fielding percentages. 

    It helps your defense statistically when your pitchers combine for 40 strikeouts across the weekend, but FSU's defense may turn into the true identity of this team. Led by Lodise, the infield made difficult plays time and time again to prevent runs from scoring. When balls did make it to the outfield, more often than not, there was a Seminole glove waiting to make a play or catch the ball. 

    One thing that will be something to watch for is USF's field. The entire infield of USF's baseball stadium is turf. This is different from FSU's because the only turf at Dick Howser is back by the warning track and in foul territory. This could change the way the Nole defenders see the ball into their glove and can alter the kinds of hops any groundballs will take. 

    On the mound, Evan Chrest will make his debut in an FSU uniform. The JU transfer was the Pre-season ASUN Pitcher of the Year a season ago. In 68.2 innings, Chrest held opponent bats to a .317 batting average, with 74 Ks, and 25 BBs. His ERA a season ago finished at 6.82. 

    Chrest has five different pitchers in his repertoire: fastball, cutter, slider, and curve. His fastball sits somewhere in the low 90s which is paired really well with his higher velocity cutter (high 80s). Look to see what some time with Coach Posey will do for Chrest later today.