Three up, three down: FSU baseball stays hot with dominant win over No. 8 Miami

Florida State baseball continued their hot play tonight with a dominant 13-1 win at No. 8 Miami. FSU jumped out to an 8-0 lead after two innings and never looked back with their ace on the mound. The offense produced 14 hits and struck out just eight times. The ‘Noles were 6-12 with runners in scoring position. On the mound, FSU got another gem of a performance from a starter and the bullpen did their job in limited work. Florida State baseball is on a roll, as they picked up their sixth top-20 win of the season tonight.

Three up

• Parker Messick is built for big moments and he showed that again tonight. In every big game he’s thrown in his college career, he’s shown up and been an absolute bulldog. Messick got the start in the lineup and on the mound tonight. On the mound, he took advantage of a lefty heavy Miami lineup. Messick induced many bad swings on the night and rarely gave up any hard contact. The fastball, slider, and changeup were all on tonight. The FB was dominant up in the strike zone and led to multiple swing-and-misses. After a leadoff walk to start the game, he was in full command and efficient. He posted a final line of 6.2 IP, 4 H, 1 BB, 10 K, 1 ER, 98 P. He now holds a season ERA of 3.00 and 13.3 K/9. Messick made a difference in the box as well. He put FSU up 7-0 with a two-run single up the middle in the second. He finished the day with three RBI. Messick is an absolute gamer.
• Just like their last two games, FSU came out of the gates swinging. Tyler Martin got the ‘Noles going with a leadoff single up the middle. Logan Lacey followed with a double on a two-strike pitch to score Martin. Robby Martin then roped a one-hop grounder to second base, which would have gone down as a productive out, but a bobble brought Lacey home. Matheu Nelson followed with a double, before a productive ground-out from Messick made it a quick 3-0 game. Florida State followed the crooked number in the first with a second in the next inning. Ryan Romano got it started with a leadoff single, before Lacey had his second RBI base knock of the day. Robby Martin doubled for his second hit in as many innings, and Messick drove a single up the middle for a 2-RBI single. Wyatt Crowell capped off the scoring with another productive out, a sac-fly to left field. When Florida State is jumping on teams early and making productive outs, they’ll be hard to slow down. FSU scored six of seven times they had a runner on third and less than two outs. They also advanced runners 17 of 26 chances.
• FSU’s defense helped Messick early with a beautifully-executed relay. With one runner on first and two outs, Adrian Del Castillo shot a ball down the left-field line for a double. Wyatt Crowell got to the ball quick and hit Nander De Sedas right in the chest. De Sedas turned around and fired a bullet to Matheu Nelson. Nelson was able to handle the one-hop throw and apply the tag to Jordan Lala as he was sliding to his left. The play kept the momentum in FSU’s hands early and set the tone for the weekend.

• Bonus 1.0: The top of FSU’s order is on fire right now. One through four in tonight’s lineup were a combined 9-19 with 11 runs scored. They didn’t strike out once and had four doubles and two walks. Robby Martin continues to scorch the baseball, going three for five with two doubles. He’s now hitting .310. Tyler Martin scored three runs while reaching base in three of five plate appearances. He’s hitting .419. Nelson had a double of his own in a two-hit game. His average is up to .298. Lacey had another solid game with a two-hit game and was robbed of a second double late in the game. He’s hitting .277. FSU is raking in the top of their order, and they’re doing it without Reese Albert right now. With these bats setting the tone, FSU is going to put team in big holes a lot the rest of the season.
• Bonus 2.0: It was a slight glimpse, but a big positive for FSU when Elijah Cabell stepped up to the plate in the eighth inning. With Messick and Crowell starting, Cabell wasn’t in the starting lineup for the third straight game. He pinch hit for Messick in the 8th and drove in two runs with a line-drive single. It was in a blowout, but it was big for Cabell to get in there and see something positive happen. The very best version of Florida State will come when Cabell is right and an everyday contributor.

Three down

• In the second inning, Alex Toral skied a pop up high in the Miami night. Tyler Martin and Ryan Romano both converged on the ball. Martin went for the snag, but over ran it as the ball fell to the infield grass untouched. Toral reached second as Martin couldn’t get him with a snap throw. It was scored a double despite not passing the pitcher’s mound. The misplay never cost them, as Messick struck out the next two batters.
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