FSU baseball: Takeaways from season opening win over James Madison

FSU baseball (1-0) got the Link Jarrett era off to a winning start with a 12-7 win over James Madison in the 2023 season opener Friday night.

Carson Montgomery got the start and went four innings, allowing three hits, one earned run, three walks, and one strikeout. He didn’t have his best stuff and struggled with his command at times, but it was something to build off of since he only threw right over 60 pitches.

Reliever David Barrett got rocked in 1.1 innings, allowing four hits, three earned runs, one walk, and one strikeout. Wyatt Crowell got the win in 2.2 innings of work, striking out four and only allowing one hit.

Defensively, FSU had two errors but made some excellent defensive plays, including three double plays.

FSU pounded 10 hits, with freshman leadoff hitter Ross DeAmez setting the tone with three hits, three runs scored, two stolen bases, and three RBI.

Jordan Carrion had three hits and two RBI.

Key Takeaways

-The FSU freshmen don’t look or play like freshmen
-Pitching will be a work in progress
-FSU’s approach at the plate already looks much improved

Ross DeAmez looks extremely comfortable at the plate, as evident in his three-hit performance. He’s going to be a weapon on the base paths too. Cam Smith missed his first college home run by about an inch as he tripled off the centerfield wall. He made some great defensive plays at third base too.

Carson Montgomery could have been a little more efficient with his pitches. He walked a batter on four pitches after getting ahead 0-2 in the count. Three walks in four innings are way too many. Wyatt Crowell looked like we expect, but it’s going to be a process to figure out who’s trustworthy out of the bullpen aside from him and Conner Whittaker. The good news is it looks like the offense will play.

FSU batters only struck out seven times but also had eight walks to go along with the 10 hits. They had three stolen bases and only had two innings where they went down in order and didn’t get anyone on.

The Noles will be back in action against James Madison Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. ET. The game will air on the ACC Network.