How about making a statement?
Until 72 hours ago, the Florida State baseball team (16-3, 3-0) didn’t appear to have the ceiling to make significant progress this season. Sure, the Seminoles had a strong pitching staff, one of the best hitters in the country in Myles Bailey, and a trustworthy coaching staff, but this approach still resulted in losses to their toughest opponents.
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Those concerns have been addressed after a sweep of No. 12 Wake Forest to begin ACC play.
Link Jarrett and company used a dominant performance on the road in a midweek loss to Florida to defeat the Demon Deacons in the first two games of the series, winning all three games by a combined score of 24-6.
The Noles’ three starters this weekend, Wes Mendez, Trey Beard and Bryson Moore, combined for 32 strikeouts in 19.1 innings, including just one earned run. Offensively, FSU finally got a run-rule win on Friday and shut down Wake Forest on Sunday with a John Stuetzer grand slam.
Perhaps no statistic explains this weekend better than Florida State hitting 10 home runs in this series, while Wake Forest managed just 12 hits, five of which came in the late innings of Game 3.
Last weekend’s results changed the course of Florida’s year. Not only have the Seminoles been better at analyzing and recovering, but their arm has proven that the start of the season was no fluke, with the Bats making a statement against a strong arm in Winston-Salem to counter a slow start.
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FSU doesn’t have an easy schedule, heading into a three-game series against No. 10 North Carolina State. But these three wins over the weekend provide a template for what Florida can do when it’s at full strength.
Mikami
Pitching, power and potential
First: Start pitching
It took a while to get all three pitchers on the field at the same time, but now that they have, it’s hard to ignore the potential of this trio.
Wes Mendez continued to do what he does best on Friday night, stripping away Wake Forest’s lineup and leading Florida State to a complete-game victory — the first of his career. What stands out the most about the youngster from Tampa is the variety of pitches he has in his arsenal. For Mendes, the cutter was a game-changer and paired perfectly with the knockout changeup. Combined with the feel of his slider and fastball that hit low in the zone, hitters had no idea what to look for.
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A day after Wake Forest saw a completely different left-handed arm in Trey Beard, the FAU transfer beat the Demon Deacons for a second straight day while striking out a career-high 14 batters. As advertised, Beard’s extremely high release point and ability to hide his pitch until the very last moment made him difficult to catch and left hitters overwhelmed. Bryson Moore got off to a stunning start on Sunday, allowing just one earned run and seven strikeouts in 5.2 runs. He dealt with traffic in multiple innings and hit his fastball at 95-96 velocity, which is pretty impressive for a third pitcher in the rotation.
There will certainly be bumps in the road for all three arms late in the season, but the rotation is good enough to carry Florida State to Omaha. It looks like the Seminoles have found a way to fill the shoes of Jamie Arnold and Joey Volini.
Second: attack power
Entering this weekend, Florida State had hit just 18 home runs in 16 games, six of which came from Myles Bailey. In this day and age of college and baseball, the long ball needs to be in the mix — and this weekend, they certainly did.
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The Seminoles hit five homers on Friday, one on Saturday and six in Sunday’s series finale. In the opener, Eli Putnam went deep into the lineup twice and entered the lineup as a substitute after the start of the season, which made the team’s order more popular than before. Nathan Cmeyla took over from Hunter Carns and went deep to break a 0-0 deadlock for the second day in a row on Saturday. Every batter in the 1-2-3 lineup hit a home run on Sunday.
Part of the reason for the increase in long balls is bringing Brayden Dodd, who appears to be the team’s second-best hitter, back into the lineup. Another explanation could be a feast-or-famine offensive style, with a high strikeout rate but also a high home run rate. Whatever the reason, FSU needs to put up those strong numbers while the rest of the offense struggles to connect the offense and control the game from the glass.
Third place: Freshman
A slew of injuries for the Seminoles this season has provided them with a glimmer of hope: seeing a dynamic freshman class play early and often.
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The trio of Stuzer, Kelvin Paulino Jr. and Will Bavaro has helped keep the team afloat with multiple starters out of the lineup and is now the No. 1 on the starting roster. With no one on base against Florida State, Paulino Jr. and Bavaro each had a hit, with Bavaro driving in two runs. The third baseman continued his hot week at the plate with at-bats on Friday and Saturday before two more first-year players took over on Sunday. Paulino Jr. went 3-4 with a double and an RBI in the series finale, and Stuzer capped the game and three innings with an eighth-inning grand slam as part of a multi-walk, multi-RBI day.
Jarrett has ramped up his recruiting efforts over the past few years and is seeing the fruits of his labor blossom before his eyes. Who knows if the freshman wall will catch up, but at least FSU has strong depth and enough pieces to handle an injury-plagued year.
3 down
Well, only two
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First: Strikeout
Some say strikeouts are overrated, but Florida State’s strikeout numbers so far this season border on the ridiculous.
In the Seminoles’ 6-3 loss to Florida, Jarrett’s offense struck out 18 times, including 11 of its final 13, with six batters striking out multiple times. The Gators did have some tough arm runs in the bullpen, but the strikeout numbers seemed to be spiraling after some were pleased.
FSU had 27 shutouts over the weekend, including 16 on Saturday, with three players having three or more shutouts. Maybe these numbers will get better over the year as experience grows, but for now, Ks are a feature, not a bug.
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Second place: Bullpen
I don’t want to cause panic, as the bullpen was outstanding earlier in the year, including John Abraham turning into a shutout multi-inning reliever.
However, some cracks appeared this week, starting with allowing five runs in the third inning, which effectively cost FSU the first few innings. All three of Jarrett’s relievers allowed runs on Sunday, including Kevil Maybill and Chris Knier, who gave up a run on Tuesday.
The main issue holding back the bullpen is the lack of reliable options other than Abraham. Second place appears to be Brodie Purcell, but he’s coming back from injury. Cole Stokes and Cade O’Leary are both capable but struggle with command, while Chris Knier’s control has been hit or miss. As time goes on and competition intensifies, Jarrett will need more from this team.