FSU baseball: Takeaways ‘Noles doubleheader sweep over Jacksonville

FSU baseball (30-17, 13-11 ACC) swept a Tuesday doubleheader from Jacksonville in two must-win games to keep their chances of hosting a regional alive.

They won by scores 2-1 and 5-4. The first game was much like their first matchup, with the FSU offense struggling to get much going and wasting scoring opportunities.

They trailed 1-0 until the bottom of the fifth when FSU hit back-to-back singles to lead off the inning, and Brett Roberts executed a sacrifice bunt to move them up.

James Tibbs laced a double to score both runs, which turned out to be the eventual game-winning play. Ross Dunn had another short outing after struggling with control.

However, Jonah Scolaro provided 4.1 strong innings before Davis Hare, and Wyatt Crowell closed out the final two innings. FSU pitchers combined for seven strikeouts, two walks, and five hits in the seven inning affair.

FSU batters went 5-23, with five strikeouts and three hit batters. However, they were 2-15 with runners on base. The second game saw FSU get to Jacksonville early in the third inning, scoring five runs, with Jackson Baumeister mowing the Dolphins down early. Brock Mathis was 2-3 with a two RBI double.

Baumeister finished the game with five strikeouts, one run allowed, and three hits in 3.1 innings. Conner Whittaker came into a bases loaded two out situation in the top of the fourth inning and got a huge strikeout to get out of the jam.

However, Whittaker got into a bases loaded jam with no outs in the top of the sixth inning and Davis Hare got out of the jam with a strikeout and two flyouts with no runs allowed. Davis Hare got into another bases loaded jam in the top of the seventh with one out and a two-out single to cut the lead to 5-4 before he got the final out.

Key Takeaways

-Ross Dunn has to go back to the bullpen and pitching, overall created way too many jams against a mediocre offense
-FSU’s offense was what you’d expect, suspect in game one and hit the ball well in game two
-FSU defense was solid (made one error at the very end of the second game)

FSU got lucky in a couple of key spots when Jacksonville had the bases loaded with less than two outs in two different innings and only amassed three runs. These were two games FSU baseball desperately needed with a huge ACC series against Miami coming up this weekend. Miami is a No. 7 in the RPI standings and the Noles need win that series to have a shot at hosting a regional.

These two wins over Jacksonville should provide some confidence, and I’m sure Miami will be looking for revenge after FSU beat them in all four games last season. We’ll have the series preview Friday morning.