FSU Baseball Preview: Noles Host Samford in Weekend Series
By Ty Ragans
FSU baseball failed to finish the game last time out, resulting in a home loss to USF. The Noles will look to bounce back this weekend against Samford.
Baseball can be a cruel sport, it likes to dole out tough and unexpected losses, and no one is immune to its malice. The beauty of it is there are many opportunities to bounce back, especially this early in a season.
After their disappointing loss to South Florida early in the week, FSU baseball will look to take advantage of their opportunity to rebound this weekend at home against the Samford Bulldogs of the Southern Conference.
Last Time Out
On Tuesday against South Florida the FSU lineup took a step back as they managed just one hit for the second time in the first four games of the season. The struggles on offense combined with a rough ninth inning for the Seminoles bullpen resulted in a 4-2 loss.
It wasn’t all bad for FSU against South Florida; sophomore pitcher Andrew Karp was sensational in his first start of the season. Karp was on the hill for seven strong innings, allowing only three hits while striking out nine batters and perhaps the most important stat: surrendering zero walks.
On Thursday, Mike Martin addressed the bullpen issues by naming former Friday starter Drew Carlton the new closer and announcing freshman leftie Drew Parrish as a weekend starter. If Karp can build on his performance and Parrish proves to be a solid starter, it is great news for FSU’s post season prospects, as starting pitching depth is the most important factor in a tournament setting.
Opponent Preview
This weekend FSU baseball will face off with the Samford Bulldogs in a three game series. Samford enters the series with a 2-1 record after winning the first two games of a weekend series against UNC-Ashville before dropping the Sunday finale. The weekend trip to Tallahassee will be the first time the Bulldogs hit the road in 2017. Samford scored a total of 14 runs against UNC-Ashville while giving up nine over the three game series.
Freshman shortstop and Florida Panhandle (Milton) native, Branden Fryman comes into the series swinging the hottest bat for Samford as he went 5-10 in the Bulldogs’ opening series. Another freshman, outfielder Ayrton Shafer, had himself a good time last weekend as he got his season started with three home runs last weekend. Miami native Kevin Williams Jr. added two home runs of his own to help Samford win their opening series. FSU will look to limit the long ball as it has been the main source of Samford’s production so far in this young season.
Right handed sophomore Jesse McCord, a Mississippi State transfer, is Samford’s Friday starter. Against UNC-Ashville McCord had a solid debut going 5.2 innings while only giving up one earned run and striking out seven. On Saturday the Noles will face another RHP in Mikhail Cazenave. Cazenave got his season started with a gem last weekend, he went six innings giving up only three hits while striking out seven batters and surrendering zero walks and zero runs.
On Sunday FSU will face Stephen Jones who will have some extra motivation as he is a product of Tallahassee Lawton Chiles High School. Jones went four innings giving up three hits and one earned run in Samford’s lone loss of the opening series. You can bet Jones will have plenty of support on hand when facing the home town team.
Where to Watch
As I’ve stated before, there’s nothing like taking in a baseball game in person. So if you’re able to get out to Dick Howser Stadium this weekend that would be my suggestion. For those of you that can’t make it or simply prefer watching from home, all games can be found on ACC Network Extra.
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The game times are Friday at 4 PM and Saturday and Sunday are both set to start at 1 PM.