Bad weeks in college baseball happen.
Just this weekend, the No. 2 Texas, No. 4 Georgia, No. 5 Florida State, No. 8 Alabama, and No. 9 Mississippi State all lost their three-game sets, with FSU, Alabama, and MSU getting swept (Texas lost, 2-0). Over the course of a season, bad results happen, and one disappointing weekend on the road does not put a death knell to a yearlong campaign. So, do not expect this article to sound the five-alarm fire.
With that said, however, Florida State needs to mature,
and Link Jarrett constantly used that word in his only media availability with local Atlanta press this weekend, because even though losses are part of the game, the way they occurred cannot become a trend for FSU moving forward.
“I have to have them respond by having better quality at-bats. That’s it,” Jarrett told the local media in Atlanta. “There’s nothing I can do about the win-loss. What gets you to the win-loss is more mature decision-making at the plate. We have a couple of guys who show signs of it. But, consistently, up and down, we’ve got to take that step forward to manage some of the things that you have to see and compete.”
The offense seems like the best place to start when it comes to Florida State baseball needing to mature. In four games this week, FSU scored three runs in each of them, rarely good enough to win any baseball game, much less ones against Top 25 competition. But even the run total does not explain how difficult the Noles had it at the plate. Florida State scored in nine of its 34 innings at the plate this week, and put up more than one run in two of those frames. Part of that is due to a lineup that cannot string together quality at-bats. Even though FSU bashed six homers in three games against Georgia Tech, only one came with another runner on base, a two-run home run from Cal Fisher. Jarrett often talks about wanting a lineup that turns over with veracity, and no Seminole took more than four at-bats in a game over the weekend, while GT’s best players recorded five ABs on Thursday and Friday.
As mentioned, the poor offensive output stems from a lack of productive plate appearances. Over the course of the three-game set, the Yellow Jackets saw 107 more pitches, even though they batted in three fewer frames due to not playing the bottom of the ninth on Thursday and Friday and the seventh on Saturday. Jarrett tried to spark the offense by bringing in a pinch hitter in all three games, but nothing worked.
Moving forward, the goal for the batting order should not revolve around anything else besides producing a quality at-bat, usually one with five or more pitches seen, and passing the baton to the next guy. Florida State lacks the star player to bail them out with Myles Bailey gone, and instead of each individual in the lineup trying to be the hero, like they have been the last few weeks, a patient approach with all nine players working together has to be the strategy moving forward.
The issue for the Seminoles, however, is that they are now struggling in multiple phases of the game, not just on offense. FSU put on a clinic this week on how not to manage a game, most notably, getting thrown out on the bases to lose on Thursday, 4-3. What is jarring about this weekend’s results is that FSU led in every game, albeit early, and never found a way to hold on. The next step in maturity will be finding ways to close those games out, and that means more than just better at-bats; it means better game management.
“We were right there in the games. The games felt very familiar when you got to the middle part of the game. But their ability to navigate the at-bat and manage our pitching clearly was a difference.”
The Seminoles also struggled with game management on the mound. Over the weekend, the Yellow Jackets combined to go 17-40 with two outs, with 19 two-out RBI, as the Noles could not put the potent GT lineup away. The worst example was on Friday, as Trey Beard had two outs with nobody on in the bottom of the third and had Drew Buress down 0-2. Six batters later, Georgia Tech posted four runs in the third to take a commanding 4-1 lead, which proved insurmountable for Florida State. Whenever the Noles desperately needed an out, it never came, and if this team is going to be led by their pitching down the stretch, they must close out frames when they are given the chance.
Florida State baseball is at the halfway point of its ACC schedule, going 4-1 across its first five weekend series, with a much more manageable docket to follow the next couple of months. Going 0-4 on the week does not derail FSU’s hopes of hosting a regional or being a Top 8 national seed. But after grinding through their first series without Myles Bailey last weekend against Virginia, the worries without their best hitter and team captain are starting to show, and FSU needs to find a solution quickly to prevent the season from spiraling.
