FSU Baseball: Don’t blame Mike Martin for LSU CWS loss

FSU baseball found a way to give away a win against LSU in the opening game of the College World Series. It wasn’t Mike Martin’s fault though.

FSU baseball seemingly can’t catch a break in the College World Series. Coach Mike Martin has been numerous times and has come up short every single time.

Much like college football, a lot of things have to go your way to win a College World Series. A blooper here, a missed call there or a deflected ball off a pitchers glove can change a game.

I can assure you FSU baseball practices the fundamentals of fielding, base running and all the little things. A coach doesn’t make 15 CWS without doing them.

So I found it disrespectful of FSU fans blaming the loss to LSU Saturday night on Mike Martin.

Twitter reaction

It’s fair to debate if you thought Martin left Tyler Holton in the game too long although Holton looked fine. However, the fact of the matter is the difference in the game came down to two things:

• Errors(three of them on one play)
• Mental errors at the plate

Mike Martin can’t throw or hit it for these players. Gonna blame Martin for the ball thrown away on the strikeout that gave LSU their first run?

Thoughts

How about why was right fielder Steven Wells charging the ball so hard when he had his fielding error in the bottom of the eighth? The runner on first wasn’t trying go first to third, and Wells should have known it wasn’t a ball the runner would try to advance on as he didn’t want to risk getting thrown out since he was already in scoring position (we’ll revisit this later for FSU).

Then the throw into second should have been caught and the throw home should have been caught by Raleigh to tag the runner out trying to score.

Gonna blame all that on Mike Martin? There is nothing he could have done to affect either of those scenarios.

Mental errors

He gets criticism for bunting all year and now gets criticism for NOT bunting Saturday night. There was an instance where FSU had a runner on second with no outs and a left-handed batter up and the ‘Noles failed to get the runner over to third. In that situation, a left-handed batter should look to pull the ball to move the runner over to third. There’s no need to bunt there.

Where was J.C. Flowers going in the top of seventh? Why was he trying to go to third base when the third baseman checked him before going to first to get the hitter out?

Flowers was already in scoring position and the rule of thumb is you never make the first or third out third base. Another wasted opportunity.

Time after time FSU baseball had runners on the bases and didn’t fully cash in. That’s like settling for field goals in the red zone in football. Can’t beat elite teams that way.

Next: FSU Baseball Drops Heartbreaker against LSU in CWS

So again, Mike Martin isn’t the blame for this LSU loss. Coaches can practice situations all day, but ultimately it’s up to the players to execute.

The ‘Noles will take on Cal State Fullerton Monday at 2 p.m.