FSU baseball: Noles will host Florida Gulf Coast in weekend series

FSU baseball (7-1) had an improbably come-from-behind victory over USF at Dick Howser Stadium Wednesday night. The Noles will look to build off of that momentum when they host Florida Gulf Coast (8-1) for a three-game series beginning Friday evening.

FGCU is hitting .350 as a team with an on-base percentage of .462. They struck out only 18 percent of their at-bats but have hit 16 home runs.

FGCU pitchers bring a 4.03 ERA into the matchup, with batters hitting .232. They have struck out 72 batters, walked 30, and allowed five home runs in 76 innings pitched. The Eagles have a .968 fielding percentage.

FSU baseball is hitting .299 as a team with an on-base percentage of .396. FSU pitchers bring a 3.24 ERA into the matchup, and the Noles have a .962 fielding percentage through seven games.

Jackson Baumeister will get the nod in the first game for the second consecutive week. He’ll look to build on the quality start against TCU last week, where he went 5.2 innings and struck out eight.

It’ll be interesting to see who comes out of the bullpen, as Link Jarrett used Wyatt Crowell and Conner Whittaker in the win over USF. They threw multiple innings, but neither threw over 50 pitches.

Carson Montgomery and Jamie Arnold will see time on the mound this weekend, although Arnold started Wednesday’s game. The FSU offense has been somewhat anemic since winning the second game against TCU Saturday, with guys striking out at a much higher rate than earlier in the season.

The injury to freshman leadoff batter DeAmez Ross has impacted things, and he’ll be out this weekend. FGCU has some inflated numbers against poor teams, and the Noles defeated the Eagles 10-4 in their lone matchup last season.

The game will air on the ACCNX channel, and you can listen here.