FSU baseball: Why did bullpen collapse against Clemson?

FSU baseball (19-3, 3-3 ACC) went from sweeping Notre Dame last week to open ACC play to getting swept on the road against Clemson. The crazy part? FSU should have easily won two of three games against Clemson. The FSU offense played at an elite level overall, and two of the three starting pitchers were excellent. FSU played defense well, but the bullpen cost FSU two wins this weekend. Normally, I wouldn't point to one group to blame a loss on, but this is an exception. The FSU bullpen blew an 8-1 lead in the bottom of the ninth Saturday and an 11-2 lead late in the game on Sunday.

What happened?

Well, the bullpen has shown it's been a liability this season. It's the weakest unit on the team, so let's get that out of the way. The guys have struggled to throw strikes. They issued five walks and five hits in the bottom of the ninth on Saturday, allowing eight earned runs. They issued seven walks and five hits, allowing eight earned runs in three innings. Here's what I believe happened. The FSU bullpen started the bottom of the ninth, hitting the leadoff guy and walking the next guy. That's not unusual, but the next Clemson batter hit a home run to cut the lead to 8-4. That gave the Clemson crowd new life, which is an environment these guys haven't seen yet. They began to feel the pressure, knowing the wind was blowing out and Clemson had big power hitters. They tried to be perfect with pitches, which resulted in more hitter counts, walks, and eventually, the grand slam to tie the game. The game was basically over once that happened. Fast forward to Sunday's tournament, and Conner Whittaker pitched an excellent game but exited with the bases loaded and no outs. That's a tough spot for any relief pitcher, and they'll likely give up runs.

It was an 11-2 lead for FSU, with Clemson scoring five runs in the bottom of the sixth. That's not ideal, but understandable somewhat, considering Clemson had seven hits in the inning. However, it was the seventh inning when Clemson scored six runs on ONE hit and five walks. FSU walked the bases loaded and walked TWO runs in before allowing another grand slam to take the lead. It was all mental. FSU bullpen pitchers felt the pressure, buckled, and choked because of what Clemson had done Saturday. Nobody wanted the ball. They were scared, and that's a problem because that HAS to be the mentality of a bullpen pitcher. Can that be developed during a season? Not really, because it takes someone with confidence and good stuff. It can't be one or the other. Now teams know they can have some success if they can get the starters out of the game and get to the FSU bullpen. They can probably get by with it against subpar teams but against good-hitting teams. It's always going to rear its head because they are mentally weak, and the opposing team knows it. They will have every opportunity to prove me wrong, but that's what happened against Clemson. Who in the bullpen really wants the ball?