FSU baseball: Takeaways from ‘Noles series sweep over Mercer

FSU baseball (18-28, 6-18 ACC) got a rare series sweep over the weekend against the Mercer Bears. The season isn’t anywhere near what we thought it would be, with FSU losing its best pitcher for the season after a few games and playing so many young players.

However, I said weeks ago the biggest issue was the lack of quality starting pitching, while others blamed the offense. However, Link Jarrett also agrees everything starts with quality starting pitching. FSU got that in the first two games of the series against Mercer.

Jackson Baumeister went seven innings in game one, allowing two earned runs, five hits, and ZERO walks while striking out eight. Connor Whittaker went eight innings in game two, allowing no runs, three hits, one walk, and seven strikeouts.

Carson Montgomery was Carson Montgomery in game three, pitching one inning, allowing three hits, two earned runs, and two walks. However, Andrew Armstrong picked him up with five scoreless innings, allowing three hits while striking out five and zero walks.

Do you notice anything? When FSU pitchers don’t walk guys and hit batters, good things happen. FSU only walked six batters in the series. The offense lost confidence in the pitching staff shortly after Wyatt Crowell was lost for the season. It felt like no lead was safe, and it usually wasn’t. However, they lit up Mercer for 26 runs in the series.

They are hitting .278 as a team, and young guys like Cam Smith and D’Amez Ross have joined James Tibbs and Jaime Ferrer as productive bats in the lineup. Treyton Rank has become productive, and Colton Vincent had a solid series offensively. Andrew Armstrong and Doug Kirkland have emerged as dependable arms in the FSU bullpen.

Defensively, the Noles only made one error in the series and turned several double plays. Mercer isn’t a terrible ball club, but they aren’t close to elite, but it was good to see the guys play good baseball and get a series sweep.

They have a winnable game against Jacksonville Tuesday before playing No. 2 Wake Forest over the weekend. Then they’ll host Kennesaw State in midweek action and play Louisville to close out ACC play next week. Maybe they gained some confidence that will carry them out to a strong finish.