Florida State (24-14) relied on some timely hitting and another strong outing from their starter as they defeated Virginia (23-18) by a 5-1 score in the first game of today’s doubleheader. The second game was another matter as the Cavaliers got revenge on the Seminoles to the tune of 13-3

Three Up

• For the second weekend in a row the starting pitching in the first two games of the series was excellent. C.J. Van Eyk gave the Seminoles 6 strong innings in which he allowed 5 hits, 1 walk and 4 strikeouts. He mixed his pitches well all day and surrendered only one run despite his defense playing poorly behind him.
• Reese Albert has battled injury all season but when he is in the lineup he is arguably Florida State’s toughest out. He followed up yesterday’s 3 run scored and 2 RBI performance by reaching base 4 times in game one, driving in and scoring a run.
• J.C. Flowers didn’t have an especially memorable outing, as he secured the save by giving up just one hit and striking out one, but the extra work he dealt with was impressive. Flowers quickly disposed of the first two batters he faced but a Drew Mendoza throwing error lead to a wild pitch, single to third and stolen base leaving FSU up two with runners on second and third. In his first year as a starter Flowers could have buckled under the circumstances and the sparse crowd getting loud for the first time all day but he bounced back and struck out the next batter to secure the save.

Three Down

• It seems like a broken record but the fielding by the Seminoles continues to be abysmal and with five more errors in game one, FSU should consider themselves lucky they did not lead to more runs surrendered.
• It is still baffling that Florida State continues to put players in the lineup who consistently give you no production. Coming into today Nico Baldor (.165/.287/.200) has been given plenty opportunities to prove himself and has not produced. Despite doubling he was extremely futile in his four other at-bats with 1 strikeout, a weak grounder to second and a foul out and a flyout to the track. The Seminoles need to explore better options for the remainder of the season.
• Nothing went right for FSU in game two. Neither Shane Drohan, Jonah Scolaro, Chase Haney, Gage Hutchinson, Clayton Kwiatowski nor Austin Pollock able to keep Virginia off the board. The Cavaliers mashed four home runs and a double in those 13 hits to FSU’s six singles. Florida State did not score a run until they were down 7-1. Oftentimes it looked like the team was uninterested in playing the second game of the double header. Oh, and they made sure to record an error.

Game 1

Game Thread

Box Score

Game 2

Game Thread

Box Score

Florida State returns to the diamond on Tuesday and Wednesday at home with a set against Stetson.