3 up, 3 down: Florida State drills Miami as Mike Martin ties all-time wins record

Florida State looked to talented freshman CJ Van Eyk to secure the series win over Miami and get Mike Martin a share of college baseball’s all time win record and he was up to the task. Van Eyk got plenty of help from his offense but Van Eyk pitched to his ability and led the ‘Noles to victory against the rival Miami Hurricanes.

Three up

• CJ Van Eyk was a freshman we picked to be a break out star and while he’s been a bit up and down at times he certainly showed his talent tonight. Van Eyk pitched into the 8th and only gave up 1 run on 7 hits, 1 walk and 10 strike outs. While the number of hits was high so was the number of strike outs (10). He wasn’t perfect but when you touch 96 with your fastball and have a hammer of a curve you don’t have to be perfect. Most importantly he wasn’t tentative. He just let it loose.

Clayton Kwiatowski was not shabby either. Entering the game with only 1 out and runners at 2nd and 3rd the sophomore south paw got 2 fly outs to end the inning and then put Miami down in order to secure the win in the 9th.

• There are many arguments to be made for the importance of any given offensive stat and FSU gave pros to pretty much all of them tonight. Of FSU’s 9 hits 4 were extra base hits. FSU only walked 5 times so moving runners over is key. Not only did FSU get extra base hits but their outs were productive. Florida State plated 3 early runs on the backs of outs that moved the runner over.
• Productive outs only matter if you have runners on base and FSU did an excellent job of that early. The 1st 3 runs the Seminoles scored were due to the lead off runner getting on base. Florida State left 7 runners on base but scored 10 runs. Miami left 7 runners on base and only scored 1 run. The difference early on was the fact that the Seminoles were getting a runner on base with 0 outs while Miami usually had 2 outs when a runner reached.

Three down

• FSU played as well as you can expect against Miami. Evan McKendry is an excellent pitcher having grabbed ACC Player of the Week honors multiple times but FSU stuck to their offensive approach, kept the pressure up and scored runs. However they did give up outs. The Seminoles laid down a sac bunt with their #3 (Rhett Aplin) hitter in the 4th; Drew Mendoza got lost between 1st and 2nd in the 5th trying to stretch a single into a double; Foster was asked to bunt in the 8th while FSU was up 7-1. While some of these plays paid off this time they aren’t likely to in the future.

Florida State won 10-1 against Miami to not only win the series but also get Mike Martin the tie for the most wins in college baseball history on a day in which the temperatures were in the mid-80s to 70’s. How can you have three down on a night like this?

Florida State looks to sweep Miami on Sunday at 1 PM. If FSU wins Mike Martin will have the most wins in college baseball history.