FSU baseball: Did we learn much from Noles sweeping Boston College?

FSU baseball (18-1, 3-0 ACC) rebounded from its first loss this season with a three-game sweep over the Boston College Eagles (7-9, 2-4 ACC).

First, I want to note it's difficult to sweep teams in conference play, even if the team isn't great. Boston College won two of three games against Virginia before traveling to Tallahassee. Virginia was the ACC preseason favorite, but they lost the first game in their series against California before scrambling to win the next two.

It probably says more about what Virginia is not than if Boston College was any good. I wrote in the series preview that Boston College wasn't impressive anywhere and a series FSU should win.

Did we learn anything from the series sweep?

Well, we learned FSU didn't allow the loss to Florida in the midweek to carry over into the weekend. FSU pitchers and hitters played with an edge all weekend, and I must give a tip of the cap to Link Jarrett, for allowing his guys to play that way. I mean hitting the Boston College batter the next time he came up to hit, who crowded the plate with a ton of protection on and slightly leaned into a pitch. I mean the Boston College third baseman standing in the path of Drew Faurot as he gets ready to touch third base on his home run trot, and Faurot doesn't budge and hits him as he goes by.

Opposing batters were hitting .309 against Boston College pitchers, and they didn't have overpowering stuff. I wrote: "Boston College doesn't have the arms that Florida does and should be more in line with what they faced early in the season."

If FSU didn't tee off, I would have been worried. Offensively, I wrote: "They are an older team but don't possess much power offensively. They only have 11 home runs in 13 games while batting .298 as a team. Their on-base percentage is .410, and they get active on the base paths with 38 steals on 42 attempts. They strike out in 23 percent of their at-bats."

It was a lineup FSU pitching should have dominated, and they did. Jamie Arnold returned to the lineup and was lights out. Wes Mendes continues to be arguably the best Sunday starter in the country.

It was a lineup FSU pitching should have dominated, and they did. The best part is only six walks in 27 innings. That is outstanding and will be a major key in FSU's success on the mound against stiffer competition.