Florida State baseball is back home this weekend for their second weekend series of the 2022 season. Last weekend, the ‘Noles swept James Madison as they outscored the Dukes 27-7 in a three-game set. The Seminoles suffered a setback on Tuesday as they fell in a one-run game to the Jacksonville Dolphins in their first midweek game. They’ll look to regroup this weekend against Samford as the Bulldogs head to Tallahassee with a 0 still in the loss column.

FSU is 21-2 against Samford in the series history. Florida State and Samford last met in the 2018 Tallahassee Regional, where the Bulldogs topped FSU in game one of the regional. Over the last 10 full seasons, Samford has averaged 35.3 wins. The Bulldogs have a new head coach this season with Tony David at the helm. David was Samford’s associate head coach for the last 17 seasons. Last season, the Bulldogs were 35-24 and 20-10 in SoCon play. Their season ended in the Starkville Regional.

Samford has a team of many new faces after losing all their weekend starters and six of their nine starters in the lineup from last season. Samford started the season with a sweep of Arkansas State. On Tuesday evening, they moved to 4-0 with a 6-5 win over Alabama State. They’ve been led by second baseman Towns King, who has hit a home run in each of their games. LSU transfer Maurice Hampton Jr. is off to a scorching start with a .538 average. As a team, Samford is tied for sixth in the nation in home runs per game, averaging 2.25 homers per game so far this season.

Here is a preview of the pitching matchups this weekend:

Friday 2/25, 6:00 PM

Probable Starters: RHP Jacob Cravey (6.75 ERA, 4 IP) vs. LHP Parker Messick (1.59 ERA, 5.2 IP)

How to watch: ACC Network Extra

Saturday 2/26, 2:00 PM

Probable Starters: LHP Blake Bortak (4.15 ERA, 4.1 IP) vs. LHP Bryce Hubbart (0.00 ERA, 5 IP)

How to watch: ACC Network Extra

Sunday 2/27, 1:00 PM

Probable Starters: RHP Jalon Long (0.00 ERA, 5 IP) vs. LHP Ross Dunn (3.86 ERA, 2.1 IP)

How to watch: ACC Network Extra

---

Samford’s top performers

• RJr. INF Towns King: .400 AVG / 1.267 SLG% / 4 HR / 9 RBI
• Jr. OF Maurice Hampton Jr.: .538 AVG / .923 SLG% / 3 SB / 1 HR
• So. INF Garrett Howe: .471 AVG / .824 SLG% / 7 RBI / 1 HR

---

FSU projected lineup

C: Colton Vincent

1B: Alex Toral

2B: Treyton Rank

SS: Jordan Carrion

3B: Brett Roberts

LF: James Tibbs (vs. RHP)/AJ Shaver (vs. LHP)

CF: Logan Lacey

RF: Reese Albert (vs. RHP)/Isaiah Perry (vs. LHP)

DH: Jaime Ferrer

Injuries: Tyler Martin OUT (Shoulder)

---

Thursday Media availability

Head coach Mike Martin Jr.

FR OF James Tibbs

FR DH/OF Jaime Ferrer

---

Sunday Golds: A Florida State Baseball Podcast

JMU series recap:

Thoughts on Jacksonville loss, Samford preview:

---

JMU/JU recaps

Game one vs. JMU, 4-1 W: https://www.tomahawknation.com/florida-state-seminoles-baseball-fsu-noles/2022/2/18/22941309/three-up-three-down-parker-messick-james-madison-dukes-delauter-recap-box-score-acc

Game two vs. JMU, 13-2 W: https://www.tomahawknation.com/florida-state-seminoles-baseball-fsu-noles/2022/2/19/22942154/three-up-three-down-james-madison-chase-delauter-college-baseball-acc-hubbart

Game three vs. JMU, 10-4 W: https://www.tomahawknation.com/florida-state-seminoles-baseball-fsu-noles/2022/2/20/22943416/three-up-three-down-ross-dunn-chase-delauter-mlb-draft-box-score-recap-james-madison

Midweek game at JU, 3-2 L: https://www.tomahawknation.com/florida-state-seminoles-baseball-fsu-noles/2022/2/22/22946584/three-up-three-down-acc-college-baseball-carrion-carson-montgomery-box-score-recap-jacksonville