No. 14 Florida State baseball (33-14, 15-9) looks to finish off its five-game homestand with a 5-0 record as they take on Jacksonville (26-20, 13-11) on Tuesday night in FSU’s final midweek game of the season. Tonight’s game will also be the last iteration of the Noles’ “Turn it back Tuesday” as Link Jarrett’s club will wear its throwback yellow jerseys.
As mentioned, the Seminoles are coming into their midweek matchup on a four-game winning streak, including a series sweep of Pitt over the weekend. Florida State’s offense did an excellent job putting the ball in play on Saturday and Sunday and pressuring the Panthers’ defense to handle their athleticism, which Pitt struggled to do. Along with stellar pitching from Wes Mendes and an impressive weekend from the bullpen, FSU got itself back on track and has everything still in front of it with two weeks to go in the regular season.
Florida State is looking for a series sweep over JU after taking the first two meetings of the series, 13-3, in Jacksonville, and 7-6 back in Tallahassee. The Seminoles will also have an advantage as the Dolphins have not yet seen midweek starter Cooper Whited, who did not appear in either of the two previous games. Whited has been phenomenal since taking over the midweek role and went 4.0 innings last week while allowing only one run to earn his third-straight decision. FSU’s bullpen should also be fresh after Chris Knier went 4.0 innings on Sunday and John Abraham went 3.0 frames a day earlier. On the offensive side, the focus turns to the lineup card as Jarrett deals with injuries from a couple of his better players, Chase Williams and Brayden Dowd. Williams did not play last weekend and Dowd has been managing a nagging ailment for the better part of the season.
Switching gears to Jacksonville, the Dolphins are coming off a series loss to UNF after getting blown out in the rubber match, 10-0. However, in its last midweek contest, JU defeated Florida 7-5 in Gainesville. Jacksonville ranks 128th in RPI and will need to make a run in the ASUN tournament to qualify for the NCAA tournament.
Dolphin hitters to know:
- Sr. 2B Roger Vergara: Slashing .346/.392/.463 with a team-leading 39 RBI…Spent last season at East Carolina before transferring to JU for senior year.
- R-So. SS Sammy Mummau: Slashing .295/.399/.365 while starting every game for the Dolphins…Has combined to go 1-6 in two games against FSU this year.
- R-Jr. RF Derek Bermudez: .265/.352/.444 with a team-leading seven home runs…Went 2-4 with a home run and three RBI in first matchup against FSU.
FSU vs. JU: How to watch, stream, pitching matchup
Tuesday, May 5, 6 p.m.
- Pitching matchup: Jr. LHP Cooper Whited (3-2, 3.19 ERA) vs. Gr. RHP Ben Baker-Livingston (1-1, 4.88 ERA)
- How to watch: ACC Network Extra
- How to listen: WFLA 100.7 FM/seminoles.leanplayer.com
