Three up, three down: ‘Noles take doubleheader, series from Wake Forest

Winston Salem, NC - The Florida State Seminoles baseball team bounced back after their Friday night loss to sweep Wake Forest in a Sunday afternoon doubleheader. The FSU pitching staff flexed their muscles fanning Wake Forest 30 times across both games. The ‘Noles ended the day with no errors and a few nice plays in the field.

Game 1

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After the offense struggled Friday to turn hits into runs, the Seminoles bounced back To win the first game of Sunday’s doubleheader against Wake Forest, 5-1. Overall, FSU outhit the Demon Deacons 13-4 with Jaime Ferrer leading the way. The freshman went 4-5 with 3 doubles and 1 RBI. Jackson Greene smoked his first homerun of the season, a 2-run bomb and Bryce Hubbart and the FSU bullpen limited the hot hitting Deacons to just one run.

Hubbart’s day was 5.2 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 5 BB, 9K. Hubbart had trouble with his fastball and faced a roulette wheel of a strike zone from the home plate umpire. Jonah Scolaro tossed 3.1 scoreless innings to help boost a struggling bullpen.

Game 2

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Ross Dunn allowed a 2-run shot in the first inning to Brock Wilken and then settled down to hold the Demon Deacons hitless over the next five innings. The Seminoles stole back the lead in the second inning behind a solo homerun from Alex Toral, a sacrifice fly from Greene and an RBI single from Ferrer. But the story was Dunn, who left the Deacons baffled at the plate, fanning 14 through seven innings. Dunn gave up two runs on four hits and three walks on 118 pitches. Davis Hare came in and struck out four Demon Deacons in two scoreless frames after pitching just one full inning on the year. FSU won the game, 3-2, and clinched the series.

Three up

Ross Dunn was the ace of the weekend

Dunn entered the weekend with no decisions in his first three starts of the year, but still carrying just a 1.46 ERA. And though Parker Messick and Bryce Hubbart are the names that get the hype, Dunn made sure that everyone knew this FSU weekend staff is a three-headed beast. Dunn struck out a career-high 14 Demon Deacons, with only three walks. The Demon Deacons scored two runs in the first off a homerun, but then failed to record another hit until the 7th inning. On the weekend FSU starters asked the pen to throw 9.1 innings leaving with the lead twice and a one run deficient once. That’ll win you a few games.

FSU lineup changes pay off

In game one, Coach Mike Martin Jr gave the start to Brock Mathis at catcher. Colton Vincent has struggled so far at the plate this year, while being solid behind the plate. Mathis on the other hand has been hot with the bat, but is still working to improve on the defensive side of the ball. The decision to start Mathis paid off as he went 2-3, with one walk. Mathis also threw out a runner in the third.

Martin rewarded Mathis with a start at DH in game two, with Vincent behind the plate. Mathis once again reached base and though Vincent was held hitless, he was exactly what Dunn needed, blocking several breaking balls in the dirt. Martin will have to continue to find the right balance between his catching pair.

Jamie Ferrer hit second in game one today going four for five with three doubles and lead off in game two adding another hit and run on four plate appearances. In game two FSU put out a line up with five players hitting over .300 proving that FSU has quite a bit of options for Meat to play with.

The bullpen finds it’s footing

After a disaster of a performance in Friday’s game, the FSU bullpen threw five scoreless innings across the the doubleheader. Scolaro and Hare pitched multiple innings, giving Crowell and others from the pen a break.

Three down

Offense lacked consistency

FSU put up 20 hits on the day but struggled to convert those to runs. In game one the ‘Noles had 13 hits, six going for extra bases, to go along with three walks but ended up leaving 10 on base. In game two Florida State had seven hits, two of the extra base variety, and only left three on base but hit into two double plays and had a runner picked off. Frankly the offense doesn’t need to do much but it does need to take advantage of the opportunities when they present themselves. Most of the year they have but today wasn’t the best

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Next up: On Tuesday, the Seminoles travel to Gainesville for a game against the Florida Gators. Carson Montgomery will get the start.