FSU Baseball 2019 Weekday Preview: vs. UCF and FIU

Here’s a preview of FSU baseball and their next set of games during the 2019 season.

After a hot start to the season that saw the FSU baseball team look like a group that was destined to make it back to Omaha in the final season under Mike Martin, the Seminoles had a week that was one to forget as they played ranked foes for the first time this season and it showed.

Following one of the worst losses to their hated rivals from Gainesville in the middle of the week, the Seminoles got a rude awakening in their first road ACC series of the season and even blew a chance to capitalize on a history making moment from one of their star players.

Now, Martin’s team heads back to Tallahassee for a pair of midweek games against two Sunshine State foes in an attempt to regain a little bit of the swagger lost over the previous four games. Here’s our preview of this week’s games between the Seminoles and their foe during this week of action.

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The Last Time The ‘Noles Took The Field

After giving up 20 runs in their midweek loss to the Florida Gators last Tuesday, FSU baseball hit the road to face a N.C. State Wolfpack team who was one of just two teams in the country who was undefeated at that point – and the first two games of the series showed why.

Friday night, the Wolfpack rocked the Seminoles’ starting pitcher Drew Parrish for eight runs in the second inning and N.C. State coasted for a 16-0 victory. On Saturday, the Noles got a great effort from Mike Salvatore as he became the ninth player in program history to hit for the cycle – and the Noles still blew a three run lead to lose the game 9-8 on a two out walk off single.

On Sunday, FSU baseball avoided the dreaded sweep with two RBIs each from Reese Albert and Nander DeSedas and a solo homer from J.C. Flowers while holding off a late Wolfpack rally to escape Raleigh with a 7-5 victory.

Opponent Preview

On Tuesday, the 14-6 UCF Knights will come to Dick Howser Stadium for just their second road game of the season – of course, the other was when they went to Gainesville and beat the Gators – after winning two midweek games against Yale and taking two out of three games from Virginia Commonwealth this weekend.

Wednesday, the FIU Panthers come to Tallahassee with a 10-9 record after losing a midweek game to Stetson and dropping two out of three games this weekend at Marshall. It will be just the fifth time the teams have played since the 1992 season, with the last meetings coming during a three game series in the 2012 season.

Interesting Fact

With FSU baseball dropping three out of four games last week against ranked foes, the Seminoles have continue their recent woes in the regular season against teams with numbers by their name – extending their record to 16-24 since the start of the 2017 season.

Over that same span, the Noles are 9-2 against ranked teams in the postseason with both losses coming in the 2017 College World Series to LSU.