#8 FSU Baseball Team Struggles in All Facets in Loss to FGCU
By Curt Weiler
In FSU Baseball’s win over Florida Gulf Coast on Tuesday, everything seemed to be going right for the ‘Noles. They committed just 1 error, scored 5 runs, and threw a shutout across 2 pitchers. In Wednesday’s series finale against FGCU, it seemed to be a frustrating case of Murphy’s Law where just about everything that could go wrong, went very wrong. The Eagles trounced the Seminoles 5-0 to split the season series.
As recently as yesterday’s post game press conference, FSU Head Coach Mike Martin was unsure who would be starting today’s matchup. In the end, he went with sophomore Jim Voyles, who had a hard time of it and was chased in the 3rd inning after going just 2 1/3 innings, allowed a run in each of the first 3 innings on 7 total hits. After Voyles was taken out of the game, it became a carousel of pitchers for Florida State as 6 total pitchers were used by the Seminoles, none going longer than 3 innings. The relievers did better to shut down the FGCU bats as they allowed just 3 hits and 2 runs in the final 6 2/3 innings. However, control was an issue for the FSU pitchers who issued 6 walks and threw 69 balls to the 104 strikes, an undesirable ratio.
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Offensively, the Noles struggled due in no small part to the absence of some of the team veterans. DJ Stewart missed the game with stomach issues and Danny De La Calle was given a day off due to the large amount of innings he has caught so far this season. Without them, the offense lacked the spark that those 2 can provide. Through 5 innings, the Seminoles had mustered just 1 hit. The offense awakened in the later innings but were never able to break through and score a run, leaving multiple runners on base in the sixth, seventh, and ninth innings. For the game, the ‘Noles batted just 3-16 (.188) with runners on base and 0-7 with runners in scoring position.
Nick Deckert, a Leon High grad and Tallahassee native, Jordan Desguin, a former FSU infielder, and Adam Eggnatz combined for 9 innings of shutout, 7-hit baseball for FGCU, a complete 180 from yesterday’s 5-0 FSU win.
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Defensively, many of Florida State’s woes came roaring back as the Seminoles committed 2 errors in the first 2 innings and 3 on the game, 2 by backup catcher Gage West who played due to De La Calle getting the day off. It seems inevitable that this team is destined to consistently make defensive mistakes for the remainder of the season, considering it is now past the mid-way point of the season and the error numbers are not improving. However, many days, the FSU bats have been able to bail out the defensive mistakes. Today, with DJ and De La Calle out, the bats were not clicking and thus, the errors buried the Seminoles.
With the loss, FSU drops to 26-9 on the season. The ‘Noles are next in action when they travel to South Bend this weekend to take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. They will next play at home on next Tuesday, March 14th, when the Gators come to town for the rubber match of the in-state rivalry.