FSU Baseball 2018 Weekday Preview: vs. Jacksonville

Here’s a preview of FSU baseball and their next set of games during the 2018 baseball season.

The FSU baseball program began their second season this past weekend – I know it may be weird to think of it that way, but after losing your best starting pitcher (and likely an important field player when he wasn’t on the mound) just four and two thirds innings into the season, it felt like the Seminoles were starting all over this weekend when they hosted the Troy Trojans.

Luckily, the Noles went out and did their job in all three games – including their first walk off win of the season – to stay unbeaten in 2018 and prove that the sky did not in fact fall just because of the injury to Tyler Holton as they head away from Dick Howser Stadium for the first time this season.

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

The Last Time The ‘Noles Took The Field

FSU baseball welcomed the men from the state of Alabama down for a three game set this weekend. On Friday, the Seminoles jumped out to a 3-0 lead and padded it with a pinch-hit three run homer by Jonathan Foster in the sixth inning. That was more than enough for Cole Sands, who threw six shutout innings with five strikeouts in the 7-3 decision.

Saturday was a much tougher battle as the Noles would continue to take the lead only to see the Trojans fight back, tying the game at five in the seventh inning. In the ninth inning, Drew Mendoza would be the hero with an RBI single that brought home Mike Salvatore and gave the Seminoles a 6-5 victory.

Sunday, FSU baseball made quick work in getting the sweep – scoring five runs in the second inning and adding four more in the seventh en route to a 9-4 victory. J.C. Flowers had three RBI’s on the day while Steven Wells Jr. added two more to move the Seminoles to a 7-0 record on the season.

Opponent Preview

Head coach Chris Hayes brings the Dolphins into this contest with a record of 4-3 on the season, winning their first series of 2018 over West Virginia while taking a midweek game over Bethune Cookman before dropping two of three last weekend against Georgia State in Atlanta.

As a team, the Dolphins are batting .243 on the season while the pitching staff has been getting rocked to the tune of a 4.28 earned run average so far.

Next: Fans react to Tyler Holton missing rest of season

Interesting Fact

Through the history of FSU baseball, the only school that the Seminoles have played more than JU has been rivals Florida and Miami, with the teams meeting 161 times in the past with their first meeting taking place in 1964. The Noles took all three games between the teams last season, including two one run victories and a 21-2 decision with the game being called in the eighth inning.