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FSU Baseball 2018 Weekend Preview: vs. North Carolina

By Jason Parker

ST. PETERSBURG, FL - AUGUST 4: Coach Mike Martin of the Florida State Seminoles throws out a ceremonial first pitch during pre-game ceremonies before play against the San Francisco Giants August 4, 2013 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays won 4 - 3. (Photo by Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images)
ST. PETERSBURG, FL - AUGUST 4: Coach Mike Martin of the Florida State Seminoles throws out a ceremonial first pitch during pre-game ceremonies before play against the San Francisco Giants August 4, 2013 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays won 4 - 3. (Photo by Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images) /
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Here’s a preview of FSU baseball and their next set of games during the 2018 baseball season.

If there was one word to describe the FSU baseball team during the 2018 season, that word might be streaky – after all, this was a team who won the first 14 games of their slate before dropping the next four straight games and starting to look like the Seminoles team we all know has a midseason slump every year.

However, it’s back to being a good streak for the Noles after winning their fourth straight game thanks to another mid-week non conference sweep before they head back into ACC play this weekend against one of the perennial powers not just in the conference, but in all of college baseball.

Here’s our preview of this weekend’s games between the Seminoles and the North Carolina Tar Heels.

The Last Time The ‘Noles Took The Field

After taking two out of three games last weekend against Notre Dame, the Seminoles stayed home for two games in the middle of the week against UCF. With no fake national titles on the line, the No. 21 Knights came in with a resume that included a sweep of Florida earlier in the season.

Tuesday night, the action got started when Jackson Lueck hit a two run homer in the third inning and the Seminoles tacked on three runs in the fourth – which would be more than enough for starting pitcher Andrew Karp, who went seven and a third innings and had 10 strikeouts as FSU baseball held on for a 6-4 victory.

Wednesday, the offense was on fire for both teams early as UCF scored two runs in the top of the first and Florida State scored three in the bottom half. It remained a one run game until the Seminoles scored nine runs in their final three offensive innings and cruised to a 13-3 victory. Nick Derr had four RBIs, including a three run homer, while Lueck and Drew Mendoza added two RBIs each.

Opponent Preview

After a slow start to the season, the Tar Heels have started to pick things up of late and improved their record to 13-8 on the season with six wins in their last seven games – including a weekend sweep of Pittsburgh and a midweek victory over former ACC member Maryland. The teams will play a double header on Friday followed by the series finale on Sunday due to weather expected in the region on Saturday.

Head coach Mike Fox and his team come into the weekend series in Chapel Hill batting .283 as a team with five players over .300 on the season, led by junior third baseman Kyle Datres (.357) and sophomore shortstop Ike Freeman (.355). The pitching staff has a combined ERA of 3.29 while opponents are batting just .224 against them on the year.

Interesting Fact

While FSU baseball has only been in the ACC for a quarter century now, the Seminoles and Tar Heels have actually met over 100 times dating back to their first contest in 1956. The Noles hold a 69-33 all time lead and are looking to avenge a sweep in Tallahassee last year by UNC.

Of course, the Seminoles got even somewhat already with a ACC tournament title game win later in the season. Of the team’s 13 games in the conference tournament, Florida State has lost just once to the Tar Heels.

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