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FSU Baseball Recap: Noles Face CWS Elimination vs. Cal State Fullerton

By Ty Ragans

Jun 17, 2017; Omaha, NE, USA; Florida State Seminoles breaks huddle prior to their game against the LSU Tigers at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha. Mandatory Credit: Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 17, 2017; Omaha, NE, USA; Florida State Seminoles breaks huddle prior to their game against the LSU Tigers at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha. Mandatory Credit: Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports /
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FSU baseball lost a heartbreaker to LSU to open the College World Series. The Noles will face Cal State Fullerton in an elimination game on Monday.

FSU baseball finds themselves in a precarious position after giving the game away late to LSU in the CWS opener. The Noles have a mountain to climb and must now win four consecutive games to reach the CWS final series. In order to reach that final series FSU will need to take it one game at a time, starting Monday with Cal State Fullerton.

Opponent Preview

Like FSU, Cal State Fullerton dropped their CWS opener in heartbreaking fashion. The opening games were actually very similar. Fullerton jumped on top seeded Oregon State in the top of the 1st with a three run homer, comparable to Dylan Busby’s two run bomb against LSU in the 1st. While it was a play full of errors that did FSU in, walks were the killer for Fullerton.

The Titans gave up four runs to Oregon State to tie the game at five in the 6th inning, the Beavers would take a 6-5 lead in the 8th and that’s how the game finished. It will be interesting to see the psyche of each team after tough losses in the openers.

Fullerton will enter the game with a 39-23 overall record. Drew Parrish will get the start for FSU. Fullerton is likely to start junior southpaw, John Gavin. In 16 starts, Gavin is 8-2 with an ERA of 2.67. In 101 innings Gavin has allowed 86 hits while accumulating 89 K’s and allowing 30 walks.

The strength of this Fullerton team lies in their pitching and defense. The Titan’s .980 fielding percentage is the best of any team in the tournament. Fullerton has committed 46 errors in their 62 games.

Fullerton has a team batting average of .268. The Titans have hit 45 home runs this season. The top hitter for the Titans is junior outfielder, Scott Hurst. Hurst is batting .328 this season with an OPS of 1.000 and 12 homers. Just behind him is freshman infielder Sahid Valenzuela who is batting a cool .320 on the season.

As I said earlier, the Noles have a mountain to climb after their opening loss. However, this team has thrived with their back against the wall so lets see what happens.

Related Story: FSU Baseball Drops Heartbreaker in CWS Opener vs. LSU

How To Watch

The game will be Monday afternoon at 2:00 PM Eastern time and will be televised on ESPN. As always the radio broadcast can be found locally on 106.1 FM or nationwide on the FSU Game Day app.

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