Chop Chat
Fansided

FSU Baseball Preview: Noles Open ACC Slate Against Boston College

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 /
facebooktwitterreddit

The FSU baseball team is heating up. After a 2-2 start, the Noles have won nine straight. Conference play starts this weekend as FSU hosts Boston College.

FSU baseball had a shaky start to the season when they dropped two of their first four games. The Noles seem to have found themselves as they’ve rattled off nine straight victories to bring their record to 11-2.

FSU has shown they can win in a multitude of fashions. Some nights they have had to outslug their opponents (18-10 win vs Oakland). And some nights the Noles win with pitching and defense (5-0 victory at UCF).

Mike Martin and company will look to ride their recent momentum into the weekend when FSU will open up ACC play by hosting a three game series against Boston College.

Last Time Out

FSU baseball collected a couple of nice road victories this week when they swept UCF in a two game series on the road. The two wins brought the Noles road record to 3-0 on the year.

It was a solid performance in all facets of the game. FSU won the first game 5-2 and got the shutout in a 5-0 victory in the second matchup.

The FSU bullpen was key to the two game sweep. Three Seminole relievers combined for five no-hit innings to finish off the first game. The second game of the series was another strong showing for the bullpen, especially Will Zirzow who allowed just one hit through five innings while striking out seven and earning the victory.

Dylan Busby had a solid series at the plate with three hits, two RBI, and two runs scored in the two games. Quincy Nieporte has been an RBI machine this year. Nieporte’s three RBI in game one brought his team leading total to 22 through just 11 games.

Rhett Aplin was the three-hole hitter for the series and he performed like you would expect a three-hole hitter to perform. Aplin was 4-7 with two RBI and two runs scored in the two-game set.

It’s been tough sledding at the plate so far this season for senior second basemen Matt Henderson. However, Henderson had a nice couple of days against UCF going 3-7 with an RBI, a run, and two walks. Two of Henderson’s hits came on bunt singles.

FSU played well on defense in the series. The Noles committed just one error through-out the two games.

More from FSU Baseball

Opponent Preview

The Boston College Eagles are coming off a 2016 campaign that saw them win a regional tournament. BC will look to get back to the post season in 2017 but they’ve had a tough start to the season thus far.

Boston College comes to Tallahassee having yet to play a home game. The Eagles are 5-6 overall in the young season with all five of their wins coming at neutral sites and an 0-4 road record. The Eagles are certainly not strangers to close games. Seven of BC’s 11 games this season have been decided by one run. Boston College is 2-5 in said one-run games.

BC’s pitching has been effective so far this season; they enter the series against FSU with a 2.88 team ERA. In Friday’s game FSU is likely to face right handed sophomore, Jacob Stephens. On the season Stephens boasts a 1.37 ERA in three starts.

On Saturday the Noles are likely to face Matt Gill. Gill is 1-2 through three starts with an ERA of 6.00. The Eagles’ probable starter for Sunday will be sophomore southpaw, Dan Metzdorf. Metzdorf is 1-1 this season with a solid ERA of 2.60.

Boston College’s best hitter is sophomore catcher Gian Martellini. To go along with a great name, Martellini leads the Eagles in batting average at .310 and RBI with nine. As a team, BC is hitting just .235; don’t expect a lot of power out of the Eagles as they have just one homerun through 11 games.

How To Watch

First pitch for Friday will be at 6 PM, Saturday will start at the same time. Sunday’s game is set to begin at 1 PM. All three games can be streamed on ACC Network Extra and the radio broadcast will be available locally at 106.1 FM.

Home/FSU Baseball