Florida State baseball blanked in series opener at Wake Forest

Florida State (22-10, 9-3) arguably played their worst game of the season on Friday, losing to the Wake Forest Demon Deacons (21-16, 6-10) by a final score of 0-9.

3 Up:

Despite the final score, there were some positive outcomes. Mike Compton pitched extremely well through the first five innings, only allowing a single run on two hits and a walk. Of those three runners to reach, Compton was able to get double plays twice, giving Florida State every chance to come back. He struggled to open the sixth, allowing runners to reach the corners with no one out before getting relieved by Matthew Kinney who would allow those inherited runners to score, charging Compton with a total of three earned runs.

The 'Noles were facing Wake Forest starting pitcher Parker Dunshee who came into the game striking out more than one hitter per inning. In his seven innings on the mound, Florida State only struck out four times and did not get strike three called against them from any of their relievers. Although the zero runs on the board, they still did their best to get the bat on the ball.

As the losing streak continues on, another streak came to an end for FSU. After committing at least one error in their last five games, the 'Noles were perfect in the field today. The only miscue came when outfielder Nick Graganella lost a ball in the lights which dropped in for a double. They still rank outside the top-125 in the country in fielding percentage, however this is a step in the right direction.

3 Down:

The whole lineup, after a red hot weekend against Louisville, looked like a completely different team against Wake Forest. In total, FSU had three hits which marked the fourth time this season they did not have more than three base hits in a game. In addition, they only had four more batters reach by way of walk.

When Seminoles runners did get on base or batters came up with two outs in the inning, they were only able to record a single hit; Going 0-8 with runners on, 0-6 with runners in scoring position and 1-10 with two outs, which came in the ninth inning. It was the second consecutive game that FSU had one or fewer hits in all three situations, only scoring two runs in that prior game vs. UF.

Normally stellar, the Florida State 'pen did no favors tonight. In addition to the two Compton inherited runners scoring with Kinney on the mound, the lefty allowed a run of his own and could not get out of the inning, needing Will Zirzow to come in. Zirzow would allow a run of his own before Alec Byrd came in, the only FSU pitcher to not allow an earned run. In the eighth, the Demon Deacons' sealed up the game with a grand slam off of Andrew Karp. In all, the bullpen gave up six earned runs in their three innings pitched.

Florida State will look to bounce back with a win in game two of the series tomorrow from Winston-Salem, North Carolina at 4 PM.