FSU baseball rebounds against North Florida, but questions linger in early season

FSU baseball (5-2) got its fifth win this season, defeating North Florida 14-9 in a high-scoring affair. The win ended a two-game losing streak and helped restore some confidence in the offense. Myles Bailey crushed two home runs to the opposite field, going 3-3 with four RBI.

Noah Sheffield had two hits with four RBI. Hunter Carns went 2-3, and Kelvyn Paulino got his first career start and took advantage, going 2-5 with three RBI.

The strikeouts continue to mount, striking out 12 times, but they drew nine walks and had 11 hits, five for extra bases.

The pitching continues to be a work in progress. Rhett Vaughn got the start and was solid in 2.1 innings. Cade O’Leary and Ben Barrett struggled out of the bullpen, allowing five walks in .2 innings pitched. John Abraham looked good after a shaky start, and Payton Manca found his form out of the bullpen in 2.1 innings pitched. Manca has six strikeouts and no walks.

FSU took a 6-1 lead after two innings, but allowed North Florida to get back into the game with the Osprey's scoring one in the third inning and four in the top of the sixth. The FSU offense had a good response from that barrage, scoring three runs in the bottom half of the frame, and three more in the bottom of the eighth. FSU relief pitcher Cole Stokes came in to close the game and promptly hit a batter, walked two batters, threw three wild pitches, and allowed an infield hit. Chris Knier came into te game with the bases loaded and one out. He struck out the first batter, and walked a run in before getting a ground out to end the game.

FSU batters had several hits to the opposite field which was good to see. The majority of the strikeouts were from Chase Williams (3), Carter McCulley (2), and Braydon Dowd (2). I'd sit Chase Williams because he has no confidence at the plate and he's trying to be a power hitter instead of using his speed.

All in all, I liked what I saw from the offense after the last two games where they were nonexistent. It's the pitching that I'm continuing to assess as they try to find the right roles for everyone.