3 up, 3 down: Florida State heading back to Super Regionals after win over Auburn

Florida State baseball avenged a regional opening loss by winning its fourth game in three days on Monday, and after a 6-0 victory, FSU is heading to Super Regionals for the third consecutive season.

Three Up:

• Starting Pitcher Will Zirzow, who hadn’t pitched in nearly a month, put together one of the best starts by any FSU pitcher in recent memory given the circumstances. In a do-or-die game 7, Zirzow threw a complete game two-hit shutout, striking out 11 and not walking a batter. All of those tired arms in the bullpen that had been worked during the regionals did not have to be used after all. The performance may have been good enough to give the redshirt junior a spot in the rotation for this upcoming weekend’s Super Regionals given Cole Sands’ struggles.
• The teams’ offense came alive on Monday. more than half of the team’s 10 hits went for extra bases (five doubles and one home run) and five different players recorded at least one RBI. Additionally, Dylan Busby, Jackson Lueck, and Steven Wells Jr. all had multi-hit games.
• With a Texas Tech loss to Sam Houston State, the ‘Noles will more than likely be hosting — yes, hosting — the upcoming Super Regionals. A mere three weeks ago it was questionable if FSU was even going to reach the postseason. Instead, FSU is just two wins away from reaching the College World Series for the first time since 2012. Florida State also brings its momentum built over the past 19 games (16-3 record) into the upcoming series.

Three down:

• Everyone knows that Mike Martin loves to bunt and it was apparent once again on Monday. There were more questionable bunting decisions, including having Jackson Lueck and Quincy Nieporte, who were No. 3 and 4 in the starting lineup respectively, lay down a bunt. Take a look at this article from 2009, which still holds truth, on how these antics are costing FSU runs.
• Although FSU’s offense made a statement on Monday, some aspects of its situational hitting did not get the memo. Florida State was just 2-11 (.182) with two outs and 1-11 (.091) with runners in scoring position.
• After an 0-4 performance on Monday, JC Flowers finished the Tallahassee Regional going 1-14 at the plate. Combined with his ACC Tournament, and Flowers is just one for his last 30. Despite the struggles at the plate, his defense makes it difficult to take the freshman out of the lineup.

Although the official site of the Super Regional will not be announced until later on Tuesday, it is more than likely it will be held in Tallahassee for the first time since 2013 when FSU got swept by Indiana.