FSU baseball (3-0) defeated James Madison in a three-game series to open the 2025 season over the weekend. They will travel to Tampa for its first road test this season when they take on the South Florida Bulls on Tuesday at 5 p.m. ET. The game will air on ESPN+, or you can listen via radio at WFLA 100.7 FM.
South Florida was not a good team last season, finishing (26-29, 11-16 AAC). FSU defeated the Bulls 12-4 in their lone matchup, with Conner Whittaker and Ben Barrett on the mound.
The Bulls (2-1) opened their 2025 season winning two of three against Iowa. Their offensive stats against Iowa were not great. They are hitting .198 and have a .300 on-base percentage. They hit four home runs and struck out in 35 percent of their at-bats.
Their pitchers have a 5.67 ERA and have 31 strikeouts and 15 walks in 17 innings. They allowed four home runs and opposing batters are hitting .280. Defensively, they made three errors in the three-game series.
What to look for?
Evan Chrest, a transfer from Jacksonville will get the nod on the mound. He's one of 7 or 8 guys in the mix as potential starters, and FSU will need quality pitching for midweek games.
He had 74 strikeouts and 25 walks in 68.2 innings last year, but opposing batters hit .317 against him. Can he consistently throw strikes and eat up innings while avoiding hard contact? FSU needs to develop other potential starters in the event injuries occur like last year.
Which guys from the bullpen will make their debut and will they throw strikes?
Some guys swung the bat well against JMU. Drew Faurot, Gage Harrelson, and Alex Lodise come to mind. FSU needs to see guys like Max Williams have better at-bats.
The quality of the at-bats must improve. I don't mind strikeouts too much if guys have good swings, but not swinging at strikes and chasing pitches out of the zone with two strikes is a no-no.
I'm curious to see if any young guys continue to get into the lineup and what their approach at the plate looks like. Myles Bailey had a strong game on Sunday, and I'm interested in his continued progression. Guys like Chase Williams, Cal Fisher, and Hunter Carns interest me as well.
Will the aggressiveness on the bases continue? FSU swiped nine bases against JMU and were aggressive on reading balls in the dirt to advance. That's something we didn't see last year. If they continue that aspect and still have the power element? It's going to be a hard offense to contain.
Overall, I'm also looking for good situational baseball. That's the difference between winning and losing against good teams a large percentage of the time.