FSU Baseball Recap: Noles Drop Important Series at NC State

FSU baseball won convincingly in the first game at NC State, but the Noles lost the next two games and dropped an important series to the Wolfpack.

FSU baseball entered their weekend series at North Carolina State hoping to build on their two big midweek wins, things didn’t go as planned. The Noles took a high scoring game one from the Wolfpack, 16-7 on Friday. On Saturday FSU dropped a close 4-3 game. The Noles were thoroughly outplayed on Sunday in an 8-4 loss.

The two losses dropped FSU’s record to 21-13 on the season and their conference record to below .500 at 7-8. NC State struggled leading up to the series and this is one the Noles should have expected to win. FSU has a tough schedule ahead and they’ll need to get healthy and get it going if they want to host a regional.

Friday

FSU was without Jackson Lueck this weekend, their best hitter to date. However, after Friday it looked as if FSU would be able to handle the Wolfpack without him. The Noles racked up 16 hits and eight walks in a 16-7 victory against NC State on Friday.  Every player in FSU’s lineup scored at least one run.

The biggest inning for FSU was the top of the 7th. The Noles entered the inning up 4-3 and left it up 14-3. In the inning FSU had six hits, four walks, one hit by pitch, and one batter reaching on error.

Leading the way at the plate was freshman Drew Mendoza who went 3-5 with four RBI. Taylor Walls was 3-6 with three RBI’s of his own.

Cole Sands earned the win in another solid outing to improve to 5-2. Sands’s line for the day read 6 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K.

Friday’s box score can be found here.

Saturday

The second game was much different from the first, the Wolfpack came away with a 4-3 victory.

NC State jumped on FSU early courtesy of a three run home run in the first inning for Evan Mendoza. Noles starter Tyler Holton gave up another home run in the top of the fourth to make the score 4-0, Wolfpack. FSU pulled one back in the top of the 5th when Drew Mendoza scored on a Matt Henderson sac fly. Rhett Aplin went oppo for a two run home run to make it 4-3 in the seventh. FSU threatened in the 9th but couldn’t extend the game or come up with a lead.

Tyler Holton picked up his first loss of the year to bring his record to 4-1. Holton’s final line read 5.1 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 6 K.

The leading hitter for FSU was Rhett Aplin whose pinch hit home run was his sixth dinger of the season. Drew Mendoza kept it going with a 1-3 night at the plate.

Saturday’s box score can be seen here.

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Sunday

FSU baseball was outplayed by NC State in every facet of the game on Sunday and it resulted in NC State taking the game 8-4 and the series 2-1.

The Wolfpack again wasted no time and jumped on FSU in the first inning when they scored four runs. All four runs came after starter Drew Parrish retired the first two batters. NC State was able to tack on another run in the third to extend their lead to 5-0. FSU responded in 4th with Drew Mendoza’s first career home run. However, FSU’s momentum was erased when NC State scored two of their own in the bottom of the inning. NC State got an insurance run in the 6th to make it 8-2. The Noles threatened to make it a game with a run in each of the last two innings but never got too close as the game ended 8-4.

Drew Parrish struggled with a line of 3.1 IP, 8 H, 7 ER, 1 BB, 3 K. Grant Stewart relieved Parrish and went two innings allowing three hits and one earned run. Will Zirzow, Jim Voyles, and Drew Carlton combined to finish the game for FSU.

FSU’s leading hitter was Drew Mendoza who was 2-4 with a monster shot home run, his first as a Nole. Mendoza struggled to start but is now finding himself. On the weekend Mendoza was 6-12 with a home run, two doubles, and six RBI.

The box score for Sunday’s game can be found here.

Ramifications

This was a series that FSU baseball needed to win and its one they should have won. It was unfortunate to for the Noles to not have their best hitter in Jackson Lueck but they needed other veterans to step up and they didn’t.

The Noles have plenty of chances to make good impressions with a tough schedule ahead, but if they don’t clean things up they won’t win many of those series. FSU needs to improve greatly if they are going to host a regional this post-season.

The Noles host Florida on Tuesday, check in then for our preview of the game.