The Florida State Seminoles (33-17, 15-8) will face off against the Miami Hurricanes (41-9, 19-6), owners of the best overall record in the ACC, this weekend in Tallahassee. The 'Noles currently sit in second place in the Atlantic Division, four games behind first place Louisville, and third overall in the ACC.
Offensively for FSU, it continues to get led by the top of the order in Taylor Walls, John Sansone and Cal Raleigh. Their success and ability to get on base has been prevalent all season long, and they have done so playing in all 50 games thus far. Sansone currently leads the trio with a .384 batting average with seven homers and 57 RBI, 14 more than the catcher Raleigh, who sits in second. At short, Walls has a .490 on base percentage to go along with a .379 batting average and six home runs after not hitting any long balls in 2015. The Georgia native has also improved on his fielding, committing 10 errors to this point of the season compared to 20 last year. Raleigh is looking to wrap up a freshman year to remember as he currently holds a .308 average with a team leading nine home runs.
Miami has a catcher of their own in junior Zack Collins who comes into this weekend hitting .379 with 10 homers and 48 RBI to go along with his .555 on-base-percentage, third in the nation. Brandon Lopez however owns the high mark on the team with a .404 batting average in 44 games. Overall, the Hurricanes have a high octane offense that combine for a .307 batting average and .404 on base percentage, which both rank inside the top 25 nationally.
With coach Mike Martin announcing that Mike Compton will miss another start this weekend, sophomore Drew Carlton (6-3, 4.24 ERA) will make his team leading 14th start of the season on Thurday. The right hander is coming off a loss at Duke where he went seven innings deep and allowed five earned runs while striking out two. Miami will counter with counter with righty Andrew Cabezas (2-1, 5.18 ERA), who will only be making his second start of the season. In 40 innings pitched, the Miami native has struck out 45 hitters and walked 17. He has the highest ERA on the Hurricanes amongst pitchers with more than 11 innings pitched.
Friday will see southpaw freshman Cole Sands (4-5, 4.08 ERA) take the mound for Florida State against fellow left hander Michael Mediavilla (9-1, 3.14 ERA). Sands continues to pitch to contact and has struggled with his command all season, striking out 37 and walking 29 in his 53 innings pitched. Mediavilla is a similar type of pitcher, throwing to contact, as he has struck out 59 batters while walking 29 in 71 2/3 innings. The Miami pitcher saw action against the 'Noles last season in the memorable 17 inning FSU victory, pitching 1 1/3 scoreless innings.
Wrapping up the series on Saturday will be RHP Ed Voyles (1-1, 2.81 ERA) facing off against Miami's LHP Danny Garcia (9-3, 3.19 ERA). Voyles started the only victory of last weekend's series at Duke, going 3 2/3 innings allowing one earned run. Garcia, who leads the 'Canes with 73 1/3 innings pitched, has seen success this season despite only striking out 38 hitters and walking 27. He is coming off a five inning performance where he gave up two earned runs while walking four en route to a victory over Pitt.
Game one of the series is set to begin tonight from Dick Howser at 6 PM with games two and three of the series to follow the next two days at 6 PM and 1 PM respectively.
Stay tuned to the official Tomahawk Nation Facebook page for a live series preview prior to tonight's game.