After a 3-3 start in conference play against the top 2 teams in the Coastal division FSU returns to Tallahassee to face off against their favorite team. The ‘Noles are an astounding 57-3 lifetime against Maryland with their last loss coming in March of 1998. Maryland is not a baseball program and has struggled to compete in the ACC for a long time, last year was the first time since 1972 that they won 10 games in conference play which apparently wasn't good enough to save the Head Coach from being fired. The 2010 Maryland Terrapins team has a new head coach and quite a bit of roster turnover but so far this season has seen similar results as year's past.
Pitching Preview:
As you can see by the above stats Maryland ranks near the bottom in every pitching category. Inside we highlight the projected starters:
Friday March 26th - 6 PM - Tallahassee, FL - Radio: 1270 the Team/94.3 FM - TV: Fox Sports Florida - GameTracker
Game 1 will feature FSU's lefty Sophomore Sean Gilmartin against Maryland's righty Junior Brett Harman.
Harman is the Terps only returning weekend starter from last year and as you can see he was not terribly effective as their Sunday starter.
Harman is off to a good start in 2010 having shut out Virginia Tech and holding a potent Georgia Tech offense to two runs over 8 innings. This has the potential to be a good matchup.
Saturday March 27th - 6 PM - Tallahassee, FL - Radio: 100.7 FM - TV: Fox Sports Florida - GameTracker
Game 2 will star Junior lefty John Gast against Junior left Adam Kolarek.
Much like Gast, Kolarek saw minimal work in 2009 and when he did he did not pitch well.
As you can see ACC play is much different than out of conference games and Gast has struggled. As we will see below the Maryland offense is not too threatening giving FSU an edge in this game 2 matchup.
Sunday March 28th - 1 PM - Tallahassee, FL - Radio: 1270 the Team/94.3 FM - GameTracker
Game 3 will see matchup Junior righty Geoff Parker against Sophomore righty Sander Beck.
In his freshman season Beck saw very little action and when he did pitch he did not pitch well.
In 2 ACC starts a piece both pitchers have been absolutely awful. Geoff Parker will be starting against the softest lineup he has faced all year while Beck will be going against a similar line up as he face against GT where he was rocked for 9 runs in 3 1/3 innings.
Offensive Preview:
Looking at the stats below you will see that Maryland does very little well offensively.
As mentioned earlier Maryland has quite a bit of turner from 2009 which might not be a bad thing considered the above rankings. They do return their best hitter from last year, Dustin Poutier who posted a slash of .321/.403/.436, to put those numbers into prospective he would rank somewhere in between Tommy Oravetz and Ohmed Danesh. One Terrapin hitter to keep an eye on is RS Sophomore Brandon Padula who transferred from West Virginia and has posted a .486./527/.676 slash which is quite impressive.
Florida State just finished two series against the two best pitching staffs in the ACC and still averaged over 5 runs a game. For those who are worried don't be, FSU will get back to their mashing ways this weekend and I would expect them to put up runs in a similar fashion as the Georgia series. We should see similar lineup as we have in the pass with the exception of Jayce Boyd at first base, he injured himself in the Wednesday game against Stetson. Mike Meschke could see his first starts of the season.
I know baseball is a quirky game where the favorite doesn't always win and I know FSU is 57-3 lifetime against Maryland and I know the Terrapins have yet to have been swept in an ACC series so far this year but there really is no reason FSU shouldn't end this weekend with 3 wins at home.
Enjoy the games and Go Noles!
Other Seminole Baseball News:
Noles Double Up Hatters - Seminoles defeated Stetson this past Wednesday and everyone's favorite coach needlessly interjected himself into the game after he inexplicably pulled Freshman pitcher Robert Benincasa after only 2 innings and 44 pitches.
Pitcher Of The Year Watch List - Sean Gilmartin and John Gast named to the watch list for 2010 National Pitcher of the Year.
Cardullo still delivering for Noles – ESPN article by Ivan Maisel