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Florida State beat Miami in extra innings, coming from behind for the win | Peyton Baker/ Tomahawk Nation
It turns out that Florida State’s meltdown against Pitt did not hurt them in the long run.
The Seminoles were projected to be around a No. 10 seed coming into the weekend, and that is where they ended up. FSU received a fair draw, with no SEC team in its regional, and paired with a Tuscaloosa regional headlined by an inconsistent Alabama team and an Oklahoma State squad that seems certain to make some noise.
However, even though there was no harm and no foul regarding tournament seeding, new and concerning issues surfaced for Florida State in Charlotte. Its defense let them down, and the Noles were uncharacteristically not ready to play. FSU should get out of its own regional if it plays to the standard it set at the beginning of May. If not, they will be in serious trouble against a more than capable St. John’s team and Coastal Carolina, who will have no fear coming into Dick Howser Stadium. Here are three improvements the Seminoles must make to get out of the Tallahassee regional.
No. 1: Defense
On the first at-bat of the game, Florida State’s day already started to go awry against Pitt. A hardly-hit groundball kicked off Ben Barrett’s glove, and what should have been the first out of the afternoon put stress on Wes Mendes from the opening batter. Who knows if Pitt would have scored in the inning anyway, but it continued a concerning trend for the Noles. A week earlier, Miami’s four-run fourth inning all started because Cal Fisher could not glove a sharply hit grounder, which was ruled a hit, but the play needed to be made. In the loss to the Hurricanes two days later, FSU committed two errors, while UM’s maligned defense made none.
Besides the obvious, the Seminoles need to bring their best defensive effort for two reasons. First, they need to keep the pitch counts down for their starters, the main advantage FSU has over the other schools in the regional. Mendes fired 69 pitches through three against Pitt, and only went five innings, his shortest start since April 2. The games will be hot and intense, and the faster FSU can get its starters in the dugout and deep into the game, the better. The other reason is the teams coming into the Tallahassee regional. Coastal Carolina ranks 36th in the country in stolen bases with 112. Given the struggles FSU has faced all season behind the plate and throwing runners out, the Noles cannot afford to be allowing free baserunners and cracking the door open for the Chanticleers.
No. 2: Quality of at-bat
At the beginning of May, it seemed that FSU turned a corner with its strikeout total. They struck out less than 10 times in two of their three games against Miami. Against Clemson, Florida State struck out only eight times in the series opener and recreated its offensive identity by focusing on small ball rather than relying on slugging to score runs. All of that progress may still not be lost, but it was damaged in just one afternoon against the Panthers. To open the game, seven of the Seminoles’ first nine outs were via the punchout, including the first five. In total, Link Jarrett’s team was set down on strikes 14 times, with everyone in the lineup striking out at least one time. Worst of all, they often came at the worst time as FSU left 12 runners on base and went 2-16 (.125) with runners in scoring position. As the postseason gets deeper, Florida State will face teams with better lineups. In order to match its opponents’ caliber, quality at-bats, specifically with runners in scoring position, will be the difference.
No. 3: Bullpen
When Jarrett spoke to the local Tallahassee media after Selection Monday, he seemed confident in John Abraham’s availability this weekend. What a sight for sore eyes that will be for Florida State. Since Abraham went down in the ninth inning against Clemson, the once reliable FSU bullpen has wobbled. Starting with that game, Clemson brought the tying run to the plate in an 8-4 contest, Jarrett used three pitchers in the inning, and the Tigers were about 10 feet short of a game-tying grand slam. A week later, against Miami, Chris Knier got rocked by the Hurricanes in Game 3 of the weekend set after pitching in the series opener, as the Seminole bullpen allowed five runs in 2⅓ innings. The woes continued versus Pitt as a three-run home run with two outs in the ninth inning off Brodie Purcell flipped a Nole victory into a crushing defeat.
Without Abraham, Jarrett has had to use his relievers in roles he would prefer not to. Needing Knier to pitch more than once in a weekend was a symptom of Abraham’s absence. The same goes for using Purcell to protect a one-run lead in the ninth inning as a closer. If Abraham can get close to full strength, it will push the rest of the arms into their regular roles and should right the bullpen’s course after a rough few weeks.
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