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FSU baseball: Noles take on Ole Miss in regional winner’s bracket

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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No. 3 seed FSU baseball (31-22) came from behind to defeat No. 2 seed Southern Miss to advance to the winner’s bracket Friday afternoon.

They will face regional host and No. 1 seed Ole Miss (42-19), who defeated No. 4 seed Southeast Missouri Friday night.

Ole Miss batters hit .292 with an on-base percentage of .389 and have slugged 76 home runs, nine triples, and 100 doubles.

Ole Miss pitchers will likely throw their ace Doug Nikhazy who features a 2.18 ERA, with opposing teams batting .179, 114 strikeouts, and 27 walks in 78.1 innings. Nikhazy allowed seven home runs this season.

Defensively, Ole Miss has 54 errors for a fielding percentage of .974.

FSU baseball will likely send Bryce Hubbart to the mound as he looks to rebound from his last outing, where he didn’t record an out. He enters the contest with a 3.97 ERA, with opposing teams batting .212, with 92 strikeouts and 27 walks in 65.2 innings. Hubbart allowed nine home runs this season.

FSU batters are hitting .244 with an on-base percentage of .359 and have 77 home runs, three triples, and 78 doubles.

Defensively, FSU has 61 errors for a fielding percentage of .969.

FSU Keys To Victory

FSU has nearly the same challenge as they had against Southern Miss on Friday. They will be facing a pitcher that doesn’t give up much and strikes out a lot of batters. One thing I noticed from FSU batters is a more aggressive approach Friday, and they put the ball in play much more than normal.

It paid off, as they only struck out seven times and had seven hits, with four walks. They capitalized when they did get runners on and only left six runners on base as three of those hits were home runs.

Bryce Hubbart will need to avoid walks and getting behind in the count. He’s struggled at times with those areas this year, and Ole Miss is too good offensively to make those types of mistakes.

The Rebels strike out 25 percent of their at-bats this season, and the FSU defense will need to avoid the errors that plagued them early against Southern Miss.

The Noles are a scrappy bunch, and I think they should continue to be aggressive offensively Saturday against Nikhazy. If Hubbart can keep them in the game similar to how Parker Messick did against Southern Miss? The Noles have a shot to bring home the win in front of the Ole Miss home crowd. The game will begin at 6 p.m. ET and will air on ESPN3 via ESPN.com/watch.

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