FSU Baseball: 3 ways Noles can avoid elimination against Texas Tech

FSU baseball had their offense silenced in their matchup against Michigan Monday night. They’ll need to win to avoid elimination Wednesday night.

FSU baseball is looking to stave off elimination against the Texas Tech Raiders Wednesday.

It’s new territory for the Noles who swept through regionals and super regionals. Howver, it’s nothing new to the program who always seems to be in this position when it comes to the College World Series.

It’s really quite simple too. FSU has gotten outstanding pitching since postseason play began. FSU pitching has only surrendered 21 runs in the past seven games.

However, the ‘Noles bats have gone ice-cold in College World Series play. They’ve scored one run and gotten a grand total of eight hits the last two games.

The Noles have left 13 runner’s on base the last two games and struck out 21 times. That means 39 percent of their outs the last two games have been from strike outs.

If a team isn’t putting the ball in play they’ll be hard pressed to put some runs on the board right?

3 Ways They Can Avoid Elimination

Good Pitching

They need to continue getting good pitching performances. CJ Van Eyk wasn’t his best in his last outing, but Michigan still only scored two runs. Two runs should never be enough to win, especially when going up against an opposing pitcher consistently around the strike zone. It should be noted the FSU relief pitchers have been outstanding in postseason play.

Play Solid Defense

This is something that’s been an Achille’s heel all season for the Noles. FSU struggles to play defense consistently. They had two errors against Michigan but were able to overcome them. However, giving  a good team extra outs isn’t a recipe for success.  It’s the same as a football team turning the ball over multiple times a game.

Hitting

This is the biggest issue with the Noles. They are striking out entirely too much. Also, their pitch selection to swing has been awful.  I’m watching guys take fastballs right down the middle and then swing at breaking pitches in the dirt. FSU hitters are trying to do too much at the plate.

They are trying to hit 3-run homeruns with nobody on base. I get their approach is to work the count, but if a pitcher grooves a fastball in the zone on the first pitch you have to crush it. If they get two strikes, choke up on the bat and put the ball in play.

That’s something Michigan did well against CJ Van Eyk and why he was at 100 pitches so quickly and had to exit the game.

The Noles have to be better at situational hitting too. They led off their first inning against Michigan with a lead-off double and didn’t score a run.

The next hitter needed to hit the ball to the right side of the field to advance the runner to third with only one out. Then that runner could score on a routine ground ball, fly out or base hit.

Final Thoughts

It’s do or die for Mike Martin and the FSU baseball squad. A win means they will face Michigan again on Friday at 2 p.m. ET. A loss means the end of the career of the greatest college baseball coach of all time.