The high FSU baseball (21-4, 5-2 ACC) fans enjoyed after walking off the rival Florida Gators and winning the series against the rival Miami Hurricanes was short-lived as FSU got rolled by Notre Dame 16-9 in the weekend series opener on Friday.
Notre Dame hit seven home runs and scored 16 runs on 15 hits and nine walks allowed by FSU pitchers. Notre Dame came into the game with 20 home runs as a team, and the wind was blowing out. The FSU offense hit six home runs in the losing effort. Many FSU baseball fans had meltdowns on social media, but the game was flukish. FSU beat itself with walks and costly errors and Notre Dame took advantage.
My main takeaway is the offense responded a few times and tried to keep FSU in the game when Notre Dame scored several runs. Jamie Arnold had another subpar start and seems to be pressing somewhat. I think he needs to tighten up his mechanics to improve his control issues, but it's something he'll likely work through. FSU can't afford to allow Friday's loss to morph into two more losses on Saturday in their doubleheader.
It's a long season, and their goal is to work out all of the kinks so they're playing their best baseball in May and June. FSU has the talent to make a deep run in the postseason, but it's all about executing pitch after pitch and at-bat after at-bat.
FSU softball (31-5, 7-0 ACC) won its 11th consecutive game 6-1 over NC State on Friday. The usual suspects carried the offense, but Jahni Kerr and Katie Dack continue to show up in the box score. Annabelle Widra pitched five innings for the win, allowing five hits, one earned run, no walks, and striking out two. Jazzy Francik pitched the final two innings, allowing one hit, no runs, no walks, and striking out one. FSU will look to win the series on Saturday and go for its third consecutive ACC sweep on Sunday.
FSU football will hold its first scrimmage on Saturday. It will be of the situational variety. FSU coaches will dictate much of the action by deciding on different scenarios to put the players in. FSU has a handful of players who will miss the remainder of spring camp, and that should allow others to step up and get more reps and develop.