FSU softball: No. 5 Noles travel to No. 22 Virginia Tech

FSU softball (36-8, 13-2 ACC) will look to build on staying in first place in the ACC when they travel to Virginia Tech (33-12, 12-6 ACC).

FSU defeated Stetson 7-2 Tuesday night, and Virginia Tech defeated Radford 12-1 Tuesday night.

The Hokies are batting .301 with a .385 on-base percentage. They only strike out in 13 percent of their at-bats and are successful on 43 of 47stolen base attempts.

Virginia Tech batters have hit 84 home runs, 55 doubles, and eight triples. Virginia Tech pitchers bring a 3.52 ERA into the contest, striking out 329 batters in 290 innings.

They have only walked 62 batters and allowed 45 home runs. Virginia Tech is solid on defense, with a .973 fielding percentage.

Virginia Tech’s strength is its power offensively and solid defense, but they allow a lot of runs.

FSU softball batters come into the game hitting .305 with a .413 on-base percentage. The Noles are 98 of 109 on stolen base attempts.

FSU pitchers bring a 1.69 ERA into the contest, striking out 239 batters in 277.1 innings. They have only allowed 12 home runs and 85 walks.

FSU’s defense needs improvement, with a .966 fielding percentage but they have been a bit better lately.

This series is all about FSU pitchers avoiding walks and keeping the ball inside the ballpark. Virginia Tech doesn’t manufacture a ton of runs and doesn’t get on base at a high-rate.

Virginia Tech pitchers strike out a lot of batters, but they allow a TON of home runs. Plus, FSU is better at manufacturing runs with their aggressiveness on the base paths.

I’m curious if Coach Alameda will use the same pitching rotation as she did against Virginia last week. I feel her not using the same rotation she did against Clemson cost them a lost against Virginia.

The game will begin at 7 p.m. ET and air on ESPN2.