FSU baseball: Noles travel to Mercer in early-week matchup

FSU baseball (5-2, 0-0 ACC) will travel to take on the Mercer Bears Tuesday night in an early week matchup. The Noles come off of a series win over the Samford Bulldogs in their last outing.

Mercer (7-1) comes into the game winning a three-game series over SIUE. FSU defeated Mercer 8-1 last season in their lone meeting.

Mercer batters are hitting .310 with an on-base percentage of .412 and have hit 21 home runs, and 20 doubles.

Mercer pitchers will enter the contest with a 2.75 ERA, with opposing teams batting .182, with 96 strikeouts and 19 walks in 72 innings. They have allowed 10 home runs.

Defensively, Samford has 10 errors in eight games for a fielding percentage of .964.

FSU pitchers enter the contest with a 2.43 ERA, with opposing teams batting .183, with 97 strikeouts and 21 walks in 63 innings.

FSU batters are hitting .328 with an on-base percentage of .414 and have seven home runs, 18 doubles, and three triples.

Defensively, FSU has eight errors in seven games for a fielding percentage of .968.

Key To Victory

I’m not sure who the Noles will put on the mound Tuesday night, but it’s likely Carson Montgomery. Montgomery had a strong start against Jacksonsville in his last outing before fizzling out in the fifth inning. He was efficient with his pitches, but needed to do a better job of getting ahead in the count. Mercer hasn’t played any strong teams, but have shown incredible power with 20 home runs.

FSU hitters need to continue to hit at a high level while cutting down on the strikeouts. The middle of the lineup can’t have another outing like they did in the mid-week game against Jacksonville last week. Mercer pitchers will throw lots of strikes and can add up the K’s quickly. Defensively, FSU has to stop kicking the ball around and giving extra outs.

The first pitch will take place at 6 p.m. and the game will air on ESPN+.