Florida State baseball had a decided advantage against the Pittsburgh Panthers in the ACC Tournament Quarterfinal game on Friday night. Pittsburgh was playing its third game in four days, while Florida State had a well-rested pitching staff.
It would be up to the Florida State offense to take advantage of a depleted Pittsburgh staff, a staff that isn’t great to begin with. However, as has happened many times this year, the Florida State offensive flaws showed themselves and ultimately cost FSU the game in an 8-6 loss.
Four of the FSU runs came on one swing from a guy who just started hitting after a three-year hiatus. I wrote about one of the keys being Florida State striking out 10 or fewer times when they’ve had offensive success this year.
They struck out 14 times against Pittsburgh, but the real killer stat was that they left 12 runners on base in prime opportunities to open up a lead. The inability to put the ball in play when it matters the most has killed Florida State all year, and forces the FSU pitching staff to operate with the thinnest margins.
It has been an issue all year and Link Jarrett must make some changes to address it.
Did the home plate umpire miss a call late in the game? Probably, but he also missed one that favored FSU on the pitch before that. Ultimately, the inability to score runs consistently against good teams is what has cost Florida State in nearly every loss this year. It’s what will likely cost them in the postseason unless they find something they haven’t had all year.
They had eight hits in 37 at-bats (.216 batting average) in Friday’s game. One was a double, and the other was a grand slam. Pitt had 10 hits, three were home runs, and a double. Â
The loss cost Florida State any shot to earn a national top-eight seed, but their offense hasn’t been good enough to realistically consider them a national seed. They will host a regional in Tallahassee, but now they most hope for a favorable Super Regional matchup if they advance.
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