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FSU baseball: Can Noles make a statement against No. 7 Louisville?

By Kelvin Hunt

TALLAHASSEE, FL - FEBRUARY 15: A general view of the Florida State Seminoles Baseball Team in the dugout during the game against the Maine Black Bears at Dick Howser Stadium on the campus of Florida State University on February 15, 2019 in Tallahassee, Florida. The 11th Ranked Florida State defeated the Maine Black Bears on Opening Day in a no-hitter 11 to 0. (Photo by Don Juan Moore/Getty Images)
TALLAHASSEE, FL - FEBRUARY 15: A general view of the Florida State Seminoles Baseball Team in the dugout during the game against the Maine Black Bears at Dick Howser Stadium on the campus of Florida State University on February 15, 2019 in Tallahassee, Florida. The 11th Ranked Florida State defeated the Maine Black Bears on Opening Day in a no-hitter 11 to 0. (Photo by Don Juan Moore/Getty Images) /
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FSU baseball (15-10, 10-8 ACC) will look to get back on the winning side of things when they travel to No. 7 Louisville (18-9, 10-4 ACC) for a three-game series.

On paper, it’s a top 20 matchup between the No. 2 and No. 3 teams in the ACC Atlantic Division.

Louisville batters are hitting .296 with an on-base percentage of .393 and have slugged s31 home runs, 10 triples, and 53 doubles.

Louisville pitchers will enter the contest with a 4.36 ERA, with opposing teams batting .239, with 252 strikeouts and 129 walks in 239.2 innings. They have allowed 25 home runs.

Defensively, Louisville has 35 errors in 27 games for a fielding percentage of .963.

FSU pitchers enter the contest with a 3.07 ERA, with opposing teams batting .205, with 301 strikeouts and 96 walks in 229 innings.

FSU batters are hitting .245 with an on-base percentage of .363 and have 36 home runs, one triple, and 36 doubles.

Defensively, FSU has 27 errors in 25 games for a fielding percentage of .971.

FSU Keys To Victory

FSU pitchers are going to have their hands full with the Louisville offense. They only strike out 20 percent of the time and hit for power and average.

They also cause havoc on the base paths, with 90 stolen base attempts(76 successful), compared to only 18 attempts for the Noles. Their offense will pressure the FSU defense, who’ll need to make the routine outs and avoid giving their offense extra outs.

Matheu Nelson has been solid behind the plate throwing runners out, and FSU has several left-handed pitchers that could help keep them on check on the bases.

Nole pitchers will need to avoid walks at all costs.

FSU batters strike out 33 percent of the time, and we’ll likely see more of that this weekend. Louisville isn’t great defensively, so putting the ball in play and not stranding runners in scoring position will be huge keys for the offense.

FSU baseball needs to win this series or at least avoid the sweep coming off the embarrassing loss against Jacksonville in their last outing. The game will air on the ACC Network with the first pitch at 6 p.m. ET.

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