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FSU Baseball Preview: Noles Travel to UCF For Midweek Series

By Ty Ragans

Feb 14, 2017; Port St. Lucie, FL, USA; a general view of a baseball bat and glove on the field during New York Mets spring training workouts at Tradition Field. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 14, 2017; Port St. Lucie, FL, USA; a general view of a baseball bat and glove on the field during New York Mets spring training workouts at Tradition Field. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports /
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FSU baseball opens up ACC play this weekend, but first the Noles head to Orlando for a two game series against the Knights of Central Florida.

After a weekend sweep of the Oakland University Grizzlies, FSU baseball improved their record to 9-2 and extended their winning streak to seven games. It’s been a solid start to the season for FSU, but the competition is about to stiffen as the Noles are set to take on a talented UCF team in the mid-week before entering ACC play this weekend.

Last Time Out

Starting pitching and defense are major factors in FSU’s success so far this season. That wasn’t the case against Oakland. Starting pitchers Cole Sands and Drew Parrish struggled on the mound and the defense committed six total errors through the three games.  It was business as usual for Tyler Holton as he topped his career high in strike outs for the second consecutive outing. Holton fanned 13 Grizzlies in total on Saturday.

FSU was able to overcome some pitching and defensive deficiencies by scoring 44 runs over the course of the weekend. Quincy Nieporte continues to produce; Nieporte was 4-7 on the weekend with two home runs, eight RBI, and four runs scored. Nieporte now has a team leading 19 RBI through just nine games.

It has been a sluggish start to the season for Dylan Busby, but he was able to get things going a bit  against Oakland. Busby was 6-14 on the weekend with four RBI and five runs scored. Busby’s improvement is a good sign for FSU as they’ll need him to produce like he is capable in order for the team to reach its full potential.

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Opponent Preview

It’s been a great start to the season for the University of Central Florida Knights. UCF enters their home series against FSU baseball with an 11-1 record, their only blemish is a 4-3 road loss to the second ranked Florida Gators. UCF went on to win the home game in their series vs UF in convincing fashion, 11-2.

Offensively UCF is off to a hot start as they enter the series against FSU with a team batting average of .326 while their opponents are batting just .211 against them. Senior outfielder Luke Hamblin leads the way for the UCF lineup with a .462 batting average in 39 at bats. Redshirt sophomore infielder Kyle Marsh is just behind Hamblin with a batting average of .429. 11 of Marsh’s 18 hits on the season have gone for extra bases, including eight doubles, one triple, and two home runs.

On Tuesday FSU’s Andrew Karp is likely to face off against RHP Chris Williams of UCF. Williams is 0-1 on the season with an impressive ERA of 2.61. Against UF, Williams had a solid outing allowing just two hits and two earned runs through five innings. FSU is likely to use a multitude of arms in Wednesday’s match up. Freshman lefty Joe Sheridan is likely to get the start for UCF on Wednesday. Through one start and five total appearances Sheridan has a 2-0 record with an ERA of 0.96. In his start against UF, Sheridan went five innings allowing four hits and just one earned run on his way to the win.

How to Watch

The UCF Knights are off to a hot start and should be a nice test for the Seminoles as they gear up for conference play. Both games will be in Orlando this week with Tuesday’s game starting at 6:00 PM and Wednesday at 4:30. The games can be streamed on UCF TV or if you’re local you can tune into 106.1 FM to catch the radio broadcast.

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