FSU Baseball Preview: Noles Hope to Avoid Series Sweep Against Florida

Here’s a preview of FSU baseball and their next game during the 2017 baseball season as they host the hated rival Florida Gators.

To say that the FSU baseball program is in panic mode might be the understatement of the year. After starting the 2017 season as one of the top teams in the country – even being ranked No. 1 at points, the Seminoles enter this week unranked with a 21-13 record and losses in six of their last night games.

Now, after dropping another ACC series this past weekend (their third conference series loss in the last four), Florida State returns to Dick Howser Stadium to face their hated rivals from Gainesville – a Florida team who has owned the rivalry of late and is in danger of doing something that has NEVER been done in the 61 seasons the programs have played.

Here’s our preview of this week’s game between the Seminoles and the Gators.

The Last Time The ‘Noles Took The Field

Everything started off well last weekend in Raleigh, as the Seminoles took game one of their series against N.C. State thanks to a 10 run seventh inning – part of a night where 10 Seminoles had at least one RBI while Taylor Walls had three and Drew Mendoza had four – that gave FSU baseball a 16-7 victory.

Unfortunately, that would be the bright spot of the weekend as the ‘Noles dropped the next two games in the series. Saturday, FSU spotted the Wolfpack four runs and could only come up with three in return, while Sunday saw the Seminoles again fall behind early and trail by as many as five runs, losing 8-4 to complete the series loss.

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Opponent Preview

While the Gators were at the top of the polls with FSU baseball at the start of the year, they have also experienced some ups and downs this season and come into this game with a 21-11 record and a ranking as high as 12^th in one of the many baseball polls out there. Florida also dropped their series last weekend, losing two of three against Tennessee following their infamous incident over the week where they refused to play the end of a game they were losing to Stetson that was delayed for rain.

Florida, who has won eight of their last eleven games after being swept in the middle of March by Auburn, will send freshman Tyler Dyson to the mound for his first start of the season – while the Seminole will counter with redshirt sophomore Andrew Karp. The Winter Gardens native is 0-2 on the season with an ERA just south of five runs an outing this year.

Interesting Fact

This is not something that fans of FSU baseball want to hear, but the sad reality is that a loss by the Seminoles will make history in this series. While Florida State holds the all-time lead by a 128-114-1 margin, the Gators have won 17 of the last 22 games played between the schools dating back to the 2012 season and hold a 29-21 advantage since the series went from weekend meetings to three midweek games each season.

A win by Florida would mean that the Gators would have swept FSU baseball for the second straight regular season – something that has NEVER happened in the series history dating back to their first meeting in 1956.