FSU baseball: Takeaways from midweek loss against Mercer Bears

FSU baseball (30-6, 10-5 ACC) dropped its first midweek game this season with a 13-6 loss against the Mercer Bears. I wrote in the preview: "Mercer is a scrappy team that's played in a lot of close games. They have a knack for being competitive, although they are not an offensive juggernaut." I knew it would come down to FSU's pitching staff and the Noles started Yoel Tejada, who has struggled to throw strikes in most of his outings. Tejada had a clean first inning but ran into problems after allowing a solo home run in the top of the second. Conner Hults was strong in relief, but Hudson Rowan continued to struggle, allowing four earned runs without recording an out. The bullpen struggled all day as Link Jarrett tried to get some young guys and others who haven't played much experience. FSU pitchers issued 10 walks (and hit three batters) and surrendered 13 hits.

The FSU offense responded a couple of times when Mercer scored, but the FSU pitchers gave the runs right back. I never want FSU to lose a game, but this might have been a nice wake-up call before traveling to face Wake Forest on the road this weekend. Link Jarrett was experimenting with the pitching, and Mercer threw some of their best arms. I don't want to sound like Florida, but it was a midweek game before a big ACC series. FSU didn't commit any errors, pounded 12 hits, and had several hard-hit balls right at Mercer defenders. The loss doesn't bother me too much because the loss can be attributed mostly to pitchers who don't get to pitch much. However, the Noles had won nine of their last 10 games and five consecutive. The key will be responding and not allowing that loss to turn into a series loss against Wake Forest.