Florida State takes on No. 23 Miami

Preview

Florida State (12-12, 3-6) renews its rivalry with Miami (16-9, 5-4) in Coral Gables. FSU is looking to snap its six-game losing streak while Miami is trying to grab an ACC series win after being swept by Wake Forest last week. The weekend will be tough for the Seminoles as they will once again be without Wyatt Crowell. In order to grab a few wins FSU pitchers much cut down on the walks and everybody needs to play with fewer mistakes.

Friday: Miami shuts down the Seminoles

FSU: RHP Jackson Baumeister (1-1, 4.62 ERA)

Miami: RHP Karson Ligon (2-1, 5.24 ERA)

Miami (17-9, 6-4) beat up Florida State (12-13, 3-7) to the tune of a 11-0 win in Coral Gables. It was a “same stuff, different game” situation for the ‘Noles as they didn’t provide many opportunities for themselves and gave the ‘Canes way to many opportunities to stay competitive.

Miami got on the board in the first with a lead off single followed by a double and a sac fly but Jackson Baumeister was able to stop the bleeding from there. Miami matched their first inning total in the third using a walk and two singles to take a 2-0 lead. In the fourth inning though, the wheels fell off as Miami was able to score two runs when Jaimie Ferrer dropped a pop up in left and another using a wild pitch and single.

Baumeister lasted four innings striking out five, walking two, giving up seven hits and two wild pitches. Too often Baumeister found himself in three ball counts and even though only two of the five runs he gave up were earned he also struggled to keep Miami batters off the base paths.

Brennen Oxford took over for Baumeister to start the fifth and recorded two outs to start the inning. Unfortunately he gave up a single, hit a batter and then gave up a home run to leave the game at the end of the fifth down 8-0 and pretty much ended the game.

Brandon Walker took over and put in a solid two innings of work. He was victimized by two errors in the sixth resulting in two runs but he was consistently around the plate recording two strike outs and no walks. Brett Barfield pitched the eighth inning giving up a home run and single.

FSU did very little on offense. They tried to be aggressive and look for pitches early in the count and it didn’t result in much of anything. Sure, they kept the strike outs low but they didn’t get any meaningful hits and helped keep starter Karson Lignon’s pitch count low, which allowed him to go eight innings. Florida State recorded almost as many errors as hits and it’s hard to imagine a scenario where that turns out well.

Saturday: Late inning rally falls short as Seminoles drop their 8th straight game

FSU: RHP Conner Whittaker (3-1, 4.85 ERA)

Miami: RHP Gage Ziehl (3-3, 5.40 ERA)

The Seminoles received a much needed boost from their starting rotation as Conner Whittaker tossed five innings allowing only two earned runs. Unfortunately, the bats once again failed to show life. The ‘Noles offense was quiet until late as FSU lost game two, 3-2, and dropped their third straight weekend series.

Whittaker kept Miami off the board to start the game before allowing his only two runs in the second. From there, Whitt blanked the Hurricanes and pitched into the sixth inning. To start that frame, Whittaker allowed a single and a double before being relieved by Andrew Armstrong. The junior answered the call and picked up three quick outs to prevent any further Miami runs until the next inning where he allowed a leadoff homerun to give Miami a 3-0 lead.

In the eighth, Titan Kamaka led off with a double before Treyton Rank and McGwire Holbrook recorded outs. The next batter, Colton Vincent finally delivered for the Seminoles and drove Kamaka in to break the shutout streak. Armstrong kept the Hurricane bats at bay in the bottom of the frame and Florida State was down to their final three outs. After the first two batters picked up outs, James Tibbs did what he could with a solo blast to bring FSU within one run, 3-2. But that was it for the Seminoles as Jaime Ferrer struck out to end the game and give the ‘Noles their eighth straight loss.

Florida State will look to salvage the series tomorrow at 2 PM.

Sunday: FSU drops ninth straight, gets swept

FSU: RHP Ben Barret (0-0, 2.79 ERA)

Miami: RHP Alejandro Rosario (1-3, 9.49 ERA)

Florida State lost to the Miami Hurricanes by a score of 13-4 scoring in only one inning and not doing much otherwise. FSU had just one more hit than errors, once again, and struck out 14 times on the day. The team continues to spiral near the half way mark of the season.

Miami took the lead early using a walk, error and double to plate a run. They added three more in the next inning by way of a hit batter, single, single (including an error on the play) and a single. As fans have witnessed during this losing streak Florida State did a lot of work to help put Miami into a position where they could score runs and Miami did just that.

FSU did tie the game up at 4-4 in the fourth. They loaded the bases with a couple of singles and a walk and got a big hit from Cam Smith. Smith put a charge into a ball sending it to right field for a bases clearing triple. He scored on a wild pitch tying up the game and giving FSU some much needed momentum.

Unfortunately that momentum wouldn’t last as Miami took a 6-4 lead on a two run shot by Zach Levenson and would then extend that lead one pitch later on a solo shot by Blake Cyr. FSU would hold Miami to just one run in the next three innings but also helped supply that run with a walk and wild pitch.

If the Seminoles were ever on the rails they certainly came off it in the bottom of the eighth. Doug Kirkland started the inning with a strike out and fly out but then surrendered a double, intentionally walked Levenson and unintentionally walked Cyr to load the bases. A couple of wild pitches scored two runs and ended Kirkland’s day. David Barrett took over and gave up a three run shot to Dominic Pitelli but was able to get a strike out to end the inning with the ‘Noles down just 13-4. Facing the just sixth pitcher they’ve seen all weekend FSU did force Miami to record four outs in the ninth as Jordan Carrion made it to first after striking out but was unable to do much more ending the game.

Up next: FSU hosts Jacksonville Tuesday at 6:00 PM