FSU baseball (20-3, 5-1 ACC) went to Miami and won its first conference series on the road over the weekend. The Noles pounded the Hurricanes in game one, beating them 14-1 in a seven-inning run-rule.
It looked like FSU was in good shape to easily win the series with Jamie Arnold on the mound for the Noles in game two. However, Arnold had his worst outing, exiting the game after four innings and allowing six earned runs. FSU battled back and had the tying runs on base in the top of the ninth but failed to deliver. FSU left 13 runners on base and committed two errors, and pitchers walked five guys.
FSU went into the rubber match with arguably the best third-game weekend starter in the nation. However, Wes Mendes struggled and only made it through four innings, allowing six earned runs on four walks and six hits. The FSU offense carried the day, responding with a seven-run fourth inning when the Noles trailed 3-2.
Peyton Prescott pitched four scoreless innings out of the bullpen, allowing two hits, two walks, and striking out seven. FSU won the third game 10-6 to clinch the series.
Here are some major takeaways:
It's hard to win on the road. The best way to look at these weekend series is to treat them like Super Regionals or the College World Series. Miami isn't a great team, but they have some talent on the roster.
One of the biggest takeaways is the FSU offense showed up when the pitching staff that's been money in the early part of the season struggled. Jamie Arnold isn't invincible and guys will have off days. He had a few outings last year that were not great. The same goes for Wes Mendes. However, both battled and got through four innings, which takes some pressure off the bullpen. FSU could have won the second game if they had a few more timely hits, as bad as they played.
The response FSU had in game three after losing game two with their ace starting is a great sign, especially considering Mendes wasn't on his "A" game and FSU trailed early.
Miami had some momentum after their win and their crowd was into it on Saturday, but FSU's response at the plate and Prescott's energy out of the bullpen shut all of that down.
Miami exposed a few things that Jamie Arnold and Mendes can learn from. Teams will look at the tape, with how they attacked hitters, and why Miami had success at the plate and on the basepaths.
The good news? FSU can do the same thing and work on those weaknesses. I'd rather those bad outings happen now than later in the year.
We knew the team's biggest strength would be its pitching, and the biggest question marks would be on offense. The offense continues to find its identity, and there will continue to be growing pains as they leave too many guys on base.
They struck out in 26 percent of their at-bats, and that's way too much. However, they are getting plenty of hits but need to turn some of those strikeouts into walks by not chasing pitches out of the zone.
I think the pitching will be fine going forward, but it's the offense improving in these areas, and hopefully, finding a little more power turns this team into a title contender.
We'll get to see if that's possible thon Tuesday night when the Noles face the Florida Gators again.