3 up 3 down: No. 18 FSU sweeps BC on the road

After a wild first game where Florida State won in extra innings and a hit show at Fenway Park in the second game, the Seminoles were efficient today in game three. A strong pitching start and just enough offense gave the Noles’ a 6 - 1 victory. The win now puts Mike Martin just 3 wins away from history.

Three Up:

• After Saturday’s short outing for C.J. Van Eyk the Seminoles needed 7 innings from their bullpen to finish out the game. They couldn’t afford another start like from Andrew Karp who got the weekend start because of a shoulder injury to Cole Sands. The right-hander did not disappoint as he threw 6 innings allowing only a single run in the third inning. Karp was not extremely efficient as he scattered 6 hits, 3 walks and a hit batter over the 6 innings pitched but he relied on his defense and untimely hitting by Boston College to earn the much needed quality start.
• The Florida State offense scored just 9 runs in 3 games last week. This week they averaged 10 runs per game over the 5 games played. The talent level of opponents was not as great but it was excellent to see the bats take advantage of inferior opponents up and down the lineup. On the week Florida State batted .300 with 23 of their 55 hits going for extra bases while walking 9 more times than they struck out.
• For the second straight day the bullpen got the job done. Jonah Scolaro took over for Karp in the 7th inning and pitched three scoreless inning in relief. The five strikeouts were impressive but coupled with 2 hits, a walk and a hit batter it wasn’t always pretty.

Three Down:

• You typically expect more out of the Florida State offense than five hits, seven strikeouts and only five walks. On Sunday though it was good enough to score 6 runs. Only 4 FSU batters recorded a hit while 6 Noles struck out.
• While not evident today or for the last 7 innings of yesterday’s game the Florida State pitching staff is a big liability right now. The Noles’ already lost their ace, Tyler Holton, for the season and now they are without Cole Sands with a shoulder tendinitis. There is a tremendous amount of inconsistency and uncertainty of what type of outing the remaining arms will have on any given day. For all the hype around the talent level on this team they sure have not lived up to it.
• Because it was a solid game for the Seminoles today we are once again going to complain about the lack of television coverage of this game.

Florida State travels to Deland on Tuesday to face Stetson.