FSU baseball: No. 16 Noles welcome USF Bulls in midweek action

FSU baseball (6-1) took a series win over No. 8 TCU over the weekend to make their first appearance in the top 25 at No. 16.

Ironically, TCU only fell two spots to No. 10, although they lost the series to previously unranked FSU at home. The rankings don’t mean much right now, and the Noles have a midweek matchup Wednesday at 5 p.m . ET when they host the USF Bulls.

USF is 3-5 this season, but one of their wins was against No. 7 Florida on the road. They are hitting .254 as a team with an on-base percentage of .343. They struck out in 30.4 percent of their at-bats but have hit 10 home runs.

USF pitchers bring a 6.72 ERA into the matchup, with batters hitting .303. They have struck out 60 batters, walked 39, and allowed 13 home runs in 72 innings pitched. The Bulls have a .972 fielding percentage.

FSU baseball is hitting .315 as a team with an on-base percentage of .412. FSU pitchers bring a 3.19 ERA into the matchup, and the Noles have a .955 fielding percentage through seven games.

Freshman Ben Barrett got the midweek start against Jacksonville last week and went two innings, allowing one hit, one strikeout, one walk, and two earned runs. It’s unclear if he’ll get the midweek start this week at the time I’m writing this.

Link Jarrett took a committee approach last week and will likely do the same regardless of who starts the game. However, there is a need for FSU pitchers to begin defining their roles outside of the weekend starters and 2-3 relief pitchers like Wyatt Crowell and Conner Whittaker.

USF pitches are not overpowering and have given up the home run at a high rate through a few games. I look for the FSU offense to get back on track after getting shut down against TCU in Sunday’s game. The game will air on the ACCNX channel and you can listen here.